How do you get to HiFi Nirvana?

[Overdose]

I've been wondering about this for as long as I've had an interest in Hi-Fi, but just how far do you have to go to get the perfect system?

With exotic systems costing as much as a small terraced house down to one box affairs for a few hundred, at what price point going up does an audible and quantifiable improvement start to become entirely subjective?

Basically, at what point does the law of diminishing returns really kick in and is it perhaps different for the various types of equipment, say £1000 for a DAC and £2000 for an amp?

 

[jaxwired]

Great question! I love a purely philosophical topic like this. Of course there's no pat answer for your question, and many many people get on a never ending treadmill of equipment upgrades looking for the perfect system. It's easy to do since there is no way to measure improvement or perfection. However, the journey can be so very much fun. I've been loving it. And, IMO, it's so very worth it. I used to enjoy my hifi, but I was never entranced. My Bryston / Dynaudio system can be so engaging I have to force myself away to get some sleep some nights. For some people, it's not a worthwhile pursuit because they simply won't get the same kick out of it that I get. But for a person that is truly a music lover, that last 10% of performance you get from an excellent hifi system is everything. It's the difference between, "sounds quite nice" and "OMG!".

How do you get there? Money and patience.

 

[Helmut80]

jaxwired:
Great question! I love a purely philosophical topic like this. Of course there's no pat answer for your question, and many many people get on a never ending treadmill of equipment upgrades looking for the perfect system. It's easy to do since there is no way to measure improvement or perfection. However, the journey can be so very much fun. I've been loving it. And, IMO, it's so very worth it. I used to enjoy my hifi, but I was never entranced. My Bryston / Dynaudio system can be so engaging I have to force myself away to get some sleep some nights. For some people, it's not a worthwhile pursuit because they simply won't get the same kick out of it that I get. But for a person that is truly a music lover, that last 10% of performance you get from an excellent hifi system is everything. It's the difference between, "sounds quite nice" and "OMG!".

How do you get there? Money and patience.

I beg to differ

music lovers and hifi lovers are two rather different species.

 

[Anonymous]

You turn left at the lights. About 50 yards down there's a pub on the corner...

 

[Richard Allen]

How do you get there?? You don't. But the fun of this hobby is the trying.

 

[Jason36]

You buy a good quality 180g issue of MTV Unplugged or Nevermind and spin this on your turntable, sit down and enjoy with a glass of red wine or two in hand............HiFi Nirvana

But seriously I dont think you ever do.....as much as you like the sound your system produces at any one time...you are always under the impression you can improve or tweak the sound......I think that is the frustrating but enjoyable part of Hifi and Music. As various people have said its the fun of trying to reach that state that drives people on to better there system.

At the same time it is a very personal thing what one person may say is HiFi nirvana the next may hate.......I think thats what makes forums like this so enjoyable

 

[Overdose]

Some good answers there.

How about the price point though? Where does the 'sweet spot' sit?

A £100 CD player should sound inferior to a £1000 pound alternative, but does £2000 buy you an improvement or just a different sound?

Asthetics aside, I would imagine £10K CD player would not sound twice as good as a cheapo £5K one.

 

[sweety7272]

I reckon the sweet spot sits in a different place for different people. Certainly the law of 1/3rds seems to apply though....my thoughts are you need to triple the budget per item to get a really big noticeable change in quality. ie don't be surprised if you swap a £400 item for a £600 one and you really can't tell much difference. Or rather, it's different but not necessarily better!

Also, it's very easy to spoil your enjoyment of the listening experience by worrying about what you need to change to make it sound better.

So presumably the route to true Nirvana is to want what you have, not what you don't have.

 

[basshead]

i think reaching hi fi nirvana is limited by the music you listen to and the source material. i will never reach it as the type of music i listen to tends not to have amazing production or recording standards.

most of my music collection sounds horrid on expensive systems, they are too revealing.

i dont mean mp3 Vs wav Vs vinyl ect, i mean the production standards and mastering of certain music.

 

[Rob998]

basshead:
i think reaching hi fi nirvana is limited by the music you listen to and the source material. i will never reach it as the type of music i listen to tends not to have amazing production or recording standards.

most of my music collection sounds horrid on expensive systems, they are too revealing.

i dont mean mp3 Vs wav Vs vinyl ect, i mean the production standards and mastering of certain music.

I don't know if you're right there. I was in a hifi shop a few weeks ago and one of the staff was playing a bunch of punk & new wave singles on a Roksan Xerxes (dunno which arm) through an expensive (to me) amp & speaker set up. I wasn't really paying attention to brand names, as everything apart from the deck was way beyond my means. IIRC, the amps cost circa £30k and the speakers were about £12k.

They sounded bloody brilliant.

 

[Anonymous]

With hifi the cost is exponential to the performance and also, annoyingly, also to the satisfaction acheived.

Therefore a £150 CD player can be superb and every doubling in price will only add a very low single figure % improvement in quality at most and, accordingly, little extra satisfaction.

Therefore hifi nirvana to me is not about spending lots to achive the ultimate rather it is about experimenting with old and new hardware and old and new ideas to achieve a positive result, its about taking a holstic approach ensuring the whole is greater than the sum of a multitude of parts.

Regards.

 

[idc]

Chill and enjoy the music and stop worrying about upgrading and cables in particular.

 

[plastic penguin]

The closest one can get is to have realistic expectations of what your budget will give you. I'm afraid the end of the rainbow is unobtainable, so just enjoy what you have.

 

[Anonymous]

idc:Chill and enjoy the music and stop worrying about upgrading and cables in particular.

ditto

- well said idc