Hello forumers, I'm in the States at the moment and well away from my beloved hi-fi. I'm spending a lot of my time with my ipod classic and my ultimate ears triple fi 10s. Where detail retrieval, power, scale, pace and timing is concerned it kinda makes my hi-fi seem very overpriced. Another great quality it has that while it is very revealing it can still playback less flattering tracks well enough for them to be enjoyable, I haven't listened to Jay-z in a long time. Maybe the only downside is that perhaps it lacks the final bit of sophistication as my hi-fi mainly in vocal and instrument realism. Instrument and vocal realism doesn't matter for a lot of music genres such as rap, hip hop, trance, dubstep etc. I really would recommend the ultimate ears to anyone who don't mind in ears (and the fit), they sound mind bogglingly good paired with an ipod and not just for the price.
Now think about this, I have what I consider moderately expensive speakers, a well regarded budget dac and an expensive amp along with decent interconnects and the fattest speaker wires I could find. The price of any of these is more than my ipod (except the cables). Therefore, I think the thing that matters the most is your speakers. Dacs, cables, amps can only add sophistican and realism and trim around the rough edges. Do you agree?
Now think about this, I have what I consider moderately expensive speakers, a well regarded budget dac and an expensive amp along with decent interconnects and the fattest speaker wires I could find. The price of any of these is more than my ipod (except the cables). Therefore, I think the thing that matters the most is your speakers. Dacs, cables, amps can only add sophistican and realism and trim around the rough edges. Do you agree?