Name one product that should be included in your HiFi setup?

[Paul AJ]

I'm still using physical media--LP for jazz and CD for everything else.
(I like the nostalgic vibe of jazz on analog vinyl, especially with a snifter of brandy.)
I also still use a terrestrial radio tuner as well.

Obviously, then, what I most need is a modern music streamer, but I'm an old dog who has trouble with new tricks.
Streaming seems too complicated for a luddite like me. I only use the 1990 flip phone functions on my cell phone.
Pretty bad, I admit.

Same here 🙂 I find it hard going to make my way onto something like streaming because at 77ys in July the old brain don't work with technology like all these younger people out there so the streaming I have is when I'm driving in my Ford Fiesta at 50 MPH 🙂👍.When I read about Streamers I must admit that I don't really understand much about them because at one time I decided to cut down my system by getting rid of the Receiver & Cassette deck to give us more room in the area so I've never thought about increasing it anymore so I just stick with my records & CDs which I understand 🎼 🙂🎼

 

[RoA]

https://amzn.eu/d/0gAil4ec

 

[Gray]

Same here 🙂 I find it hard going to make my way onto something like streaming because at 77ys in July the old brain don't work with technology like all these younger people out there so the streaming I have is when I'm driving in my Ford Fiesta at 50 MPH 🙂👍.When I read about Streamers I must admit that I don't really understand much about them because at one time I decided to cut down my system by getting rid of the Receiver & Cassette deck to give us more room in the area so I've never thought about increasing it anymore so I just stick with my records & CDs which I understand 🎼 🙂🎼

Don't worry Paul, a few of us here aren't much younger than you.
Can't blame you sticking with vinyl and CD....no software updates required.

Not much technically superior about streamers when compared to your CDP either.
I'm allergic to monthly subscriptions myself, so a streamer's ability to handle Spotify, Tidal, old uncle Tom Cobbly and all is of no interest to me (I use streamers mainly to play my own CD collection, stored on hard drives).
Many of them are unnecessarily expensive for what they are too.
But Wiim is a brand worth investigating for anyone with an interest in starting out with a streamer - and they take up less space than full sized hi-fi - if space is an issue.

 

[Paul AJ]

The main thing to have is the wife !! then the HiFi gear comes along easy 🙂 👍 Just bought the Serene Stabilizer from Stack Audio !!! working on what to say that will convince her was it a great purchase 😏🙂 that's the hard part 🤣👍

 

[ninanina]

What product/device in your HiFi setup you consider to be the most essential and why?


I use three digital transports for each of my HiFi setups in the Study, Bedroom and Diner but the one product that really shines is my Vovofox AP05S.

If you have all your music on a hard drive or like to access your NAS server, I think Vovofox AP05S Music Player and DAC with bespoke FPGA technology is an important inclusion to your HiFi setup. As a DAC it is able to support up to 32-bit/384kHz PCM & DSD512 decoding. It has two headphone sockets but nothing special, it's there if you need it.

As a DAC, the sound quality is really good but I'm using it mainly as a digital transport, the USB output feeds into my DAC/Streamer Matrix Mini I-4 and is able to play DSD natively, I have 2TB internal NVME M.2 SSD installed.

If you want to access the music remotely from your PC or laptop, it's fairly seamless, just enter \\192.168.* in the Window's Explorer address bar. You can access the internal M.2 SSD by entering *(IP address of this device).

It really is the most versatile product, you can have it standalone in your bedroom, plug in your headphones and you're fixed. I would add a good headamp, if that is something you're thinking about doing.

Probably the most under rated product in my HiFi collection but it's the vital cog in the wheel that turns and like magic, we have music.

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For me it’s my ATC 19 speakers…

Music just flows from them in a very natural and neutral way that is totally addictive

I’m running them with my Naim XS3 and they sound incredible but I’m also sure that other amp’s will do wonders for the 19’s

If I ever changed the Naim amp I will definitely keep the ATC’s as they are so good

I’ve had home demo of the SCM 11’s and the 19’s and the 19’s were just so incredible sounding and I will definitely be keeping them in the long run

The 19’s are amazing sounding speakers and are highly recommend from me

 

[twinkletoes]

For me it’s my ATC 19 speakers…

Music just flows from them in a very natural and neutral way that is totally addictive

I’m running them with my Naim XS3 and they sound incredible but I’m also sure that other amp’s will do wonders for the 19’s

If I ever changed the Naim amp I will definitely keep the ATC’s as they are so good

I’ve had home demo of the SCM 11’s and the 19’s and the 19’s were just so incredible sounding and I will definitely be keeping them in the long run

The 19’s are amazing sounding speakers and are highly recommend from me

Never got on with 19s or any of atc passive offerings. Not enough excitement for me. Glad you like them though.

 

[abacus]

Never got on with 19s or any of atc passive offerings. Not enough excitement for me. Glad you like them though.

Yes you need an amp with plenty of umph to get them to sing, otherwise they just sound flat.

Bill

 

[twinkletoes]

Yes you need an amp with plenty of umph to get them to sing, otherwise they just sound flat.

Bill

Had 500 watt monster up there backside just not for me. Revel m106 were just a better fit for more me (at the time). More my type of exciting they just had more of everything

 

[ninanina]

I

Never got on with 19s or any of atc passive offerings. Not enough excitement for me. Glad you like them though.

I totally understand twil

Never got on with 19s or any of atc passive offerings. Not enough excitement for me. Glad you like them though.

Everyone is different twinkletoes

I love everything ATC… and I’ve heard a few now including active 19’s

In my opinion the active 19’s lacked what I love about the passive 19’s

 

[Rui]

I love and . Both really work well with music, but maybe at different times of the day.

i used to love them too but it ended as my health was close to be in bad shape, so to speak and now i re-started to buy records and cheap cds,

so much money left at the end of the month, when tired after a day of work, spotify when with time records playing or cds,

didn´t bought anything from 97 to 2017, downloaded all i could want and the system i was using in the living room , had great sound quality and two good sets of speakers to choose from ,

sometimes both working at the same time, in my bedroom i had some technics SB-F3 with a 79 philips F series system with a Technics quality cd player in silver(bellow the top of the line in 1989).

Even buying new components now ,only i never sold anything since the start, and a room is filled with boxes all around, not a tiny room but was my home office,

or place to be alone "Don´t bother your father he´s working now" , "but he´s playing Sepultura very loud", "that´s how he worked better, always".

Was my way of canceling thoughts that could take my capacity of thinking better about the task i had ahead, even when studying was when i had much more clarity about what i had to learn, loud good metal bands,

not only Sepultura was just a example of music i can´t hear no more, maybe related with age,

the other day in a sitcom or movie that was being seen on tv i noticed the start from Metallica "for whom the bells tool", that i have in picture disc one year after the album released, was ofered ,

never bought pictur discs but all say they sound bad only this sounds amazing better than any cd or recent re-released records in black vinyl , the master of puppets sounds so bad,

and the original version had a very high quality sound, now i don´tr even play the last vinyl version ,seems almost a joke the way it sounds, tried to play it in at least 3 of my turntables and the same, bad sound, like a badly recorded cassette,

i have a old TDK SA that i recorded when i bought the record, still sounds amazing, i was using a very good condition pioneer CT-F1000 cassette deck

 

[Rui]

A comfortable chair so I can enjoy the music
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My type of prefered couch, good leather lasts a lifetime and i´m starting to look like that only longer hair, with not 50 but several shades of grey

 

[Rui]

I

I totally understand twil

Everyone is different twinkletoes

I love everything ATC… and I’ve heard a few now including active 19’s

In my opinion the active 19’s lacked what I love about the passive 19’s

Never heard them but already heard a lot of active speakers but none as good as passive speakers and are a lot.

 

[Rui]

Same here 🙂 I find it hard going to make my way onto something like streaming because at 77ys in July the old brain don't work with technology like all these younger people out there so the streaming I have is when I'm driving in my Ford Fiesta at 50 MPH 🙂👍.When I read about Streamers I must admit that I don't really understand much about them because at one time I decided to cut down my system by getting rid of the Receiver & Cassette deck to give us more room in the area so I've never thought about increasing it anymore so I just stick with my records & CDs which I understand 🎼 🙂🎼

Jazz can only sound correct in record in cd John Coltrane seems to be playing keyboards, nothing of the original sound of a sax. Only my opinion, can´t explain it well in english ,

but certain vibrations done by instruments are just cutted as if they were noise, also live cds albums are a joke except the oldest version of Miles Davis "Agharta",

is very aceptable, on spotify sounds very bad compared to any of those two formats. my opinion some might like those jazz albums in cd from late 30´s to late 70´s