What Hifi component should be the first priority?

[Jasonovich]

Back in the day, when people wore flared collars on their shirts, when Joan Collins was never seen without her shoulder pads, when dinosaurs turntables roamed the pages of What Hifi.

It was the view that the source was key component of your Hifi.
What comes through the window (your source component) is what is excreted out from your speaker.
Rubbish in is rubbish out
Back then, there was so much emphasis on your turntable as this was likely to be the primary source component.

Nowadays the message is rather diluted.
It appears to have shifted away to the amplifier and speakers.

Trying to avoid answering my own question, digital sourced medium isn't so critical as setting up as it is with vinyl but now that we have a renaissance, more people getting into vinyl.

Should we start going back to the basic principles, what goes in is what goes out?

Your thoughts on this please 🙂

 

[Kenneth Fernandes]

Is it difficult to launch an all in one digital mixing console at the Studio end and mix, monitor, record and master full digitally without any analog feedback or monitoring?
It’s absolutely possible and are already in the making and will be put in practice anytime soon.
So, the renaissance of going bank to vinyl listening now is irrelevant.

 

[jjbomber]

Your ears!

 

[Gray]

Is it difficult to launch an all in one digital mixing console at the Studio end and mix, monitor, record and master full digitally without any analog feedback or monitoring?

Difficult? Impossible more like.

For singers and listeners at least, analogue will always be involved in and out of mics and speakers.
And regardless of any fancy or 'perfect' intermediate digital cleverness, the sound will only be as good as those transducers will allow.

In answer to the thread title, I reckon most people now will say that speakers should be the priority (subject to appropriate room and driving amp being up to the tasks).

 

[Al ears]

Difficult? Impossible more like.

For singers and listeners at least, analogue will always be involved in and out of mics and speakers.
And regardless of any fancy or 'perfect' intermediate digital cleverness, the sound will only be as good as those transducers will allow.

In answer to the thread title, I reckon most people now will say that speakers should be the priority (subject to appropriate room and driving amp being up to the tasks).

My thoughts exactly.
The wrong speakers will make a mockery of the garbage in / garbage out theory.
With vinyl it was a different matter. Getting a good cartridge / tonearm was essential to extract the most you could from those grooves, however with digital input there is little you can do to improve the quality of the incoming data so source is no longer the main priority.

 

[Shrek]

My thoughts exactly.
The wrong speakers will make a mockery of the garbage in / garbage out theory.
With vinyl it was a different matter. Getting a good cartridge / tonearm was essential to extract the most you could from those grooves, however with digital input there is little you can do to improve the quality of the incoming data so source is no longer the main priority.

A faster relaiable ISP will improve sound and picture quality with Digital .

 

[Fandango Andy]

The simple answer is that its all about balance, a system is only as good as the weakest element. Over time different components have gone up in price at different rates, so you can't necessarily differentiate by price alone. At the turn of the century there were several great entry level amps for around £150, a matching CD player would cost about the same and a pair of speakers would be about the same again.

If you want to buy a modern equivalent today, the amp will be £350 to £400. The CD player would be replaced my a streamer such as a WiiM Mini for £80 to £90. The speakers could be anything from £200 to £600. However, if you only have one source do you need a traditional amp with lots inputs? all of a sudden you have the option of a small Class D amp such as those made by Fosi Audio.

It still all boils down to how it sounds!

 

[RTHerringbone]

A good source can sound great with the right amp / speaker pairing, but a bad source can't really be masked. So source is probably still key, but it can't be fully appreciated unless given the right supporting cast.

On that basis, I think it probably makes sense to get those source(s) nailed down first and then when you *know* one piece of the puzzle is in place, you can start shuffling tiles to get the amp and speakers to match.

But the journey is the fun part.

 

[Jasonovich]

The simple answer is that its all about balance, a system is only as good as the weakest element. Over time different components have gone up in price at different rates, so you can't necessarily differentiate by price alone. At the turn of the century there were several great entry level amps for around £150, a matching CD player would cost about the same and a pair of speakers would be about the same again.

If you want to buy a modern equivalent today, the amp will be £350 to £400. The CD player would be replaced my a streamer such as a WiiM Mini for £80 to £90. The speakers could be anything from £200 to £600. However, if you only have one source do you need a traditional amp with lots inputs? all of a sudden you have the option of a small Class D amp such as those made by Fosi Audio.

It still all boils down to how it sounds!

I'm veering towards a balanced system.
A well design amp will deliver the source faithfully and the juggling act is finding a speaker that compliments the sonic characteristics of the amp.
😌

 

[Witterings]

I don't think the fundamental Rubbish in = Rubbish out has changed .... BUT .... I think generallly the level of what goes in has probably been lifted / become more standardised with remastering / modern equipment making it a more level playing field. Many people are unable to tell the difference between lower quality Spotify feed vs a high res 24/192 source.

Assuming that is the case and there aren't any specific weaknesses in the chain, I'd say speakers will prbably make the biggest difference.

 

[davidf]

The biggest perceivable differences will always be between loudspeakers and turntables - both analogue based technology that requires precise engineering, and quality parts.

 

[RoA]

Tricky. If we forget vinyl for a moment (good engineering costs money) I would say most of the money, perhaps equal amounts, should go to speakers and amplification. Streaming can be done relatively cost effective these days but it depends how far you want to take it.

If I divide a (non turntable) system into 5ths, I'd spend 4/5 on amp/speakers and the remaining in to a streamer/DAC. Cabling extra.

 

[Stuart83]

Staying with the firm belief that the primary reasons behind what you hear are the speakers then the amp then the ancilieries in that order.

I've had enough systems to know a speaker swap is the biggest change then the amp to what you hear, I'm guessing most here will agree.
After that system tweaks or rather further tuning can be had with ancilieries ie the CDP etc, I do not however buy into the cable debate, as long as it's decent I've yet to hear much difference.

After that trying to keep the price of the chosen ancilieries equal "ISH" to avoid obvious weaknesses is best, obviously your most used ancillary is what the budget should reflect next.

Always demoing should be a priority in itself

 

[davidf]

You can't just throw any speakers on the end of any system though, as the system can limit the speaker's capabilities.

The important word to note in what I wrote previously is "perceivable". A speaker change stand sour more instantly to most ears, so is perceived to be the biggest change. Because electronics changes aren't as easily and instantly apparent, many think they make very little difference.

 

[Stuart83]

I agree 👍 I'm unsure if that's a continuation to your last message or a part reply to mine, however I did initially write-

"After that trying to keep the price of the chosen ancilieries equal "ISH" to avoid obvious weaknesses is best, obviously your most used ancillary is what the budget should reflect next"

"Always demoing should be a priority in itself"


I say equal"ISH" because providing the system is balanced usually then the differences made by any ancilieries are that subtle on their own they are hard to heard BUT it's those collective small subtle changes in quality that add up to the upgrade path some of us get on.

I upgraded amps a few weeks ago to a Hegal H190 following a fault with the original intended upgrade and the huge jump in sound quality has had me enjoying it that much I've not gotten round to updating my prior post on the fiasco.
Having speakers capable of utilising the upgrade is obviously essential and as you say that collectively has a knock on effect throughout the entire system.

 

[Jasonovich]

If your focus is on a non-analogue setup (source), I think the amp resumes the top spot in terms of priority.
A DAC/Streamer or CD/SACD player is hatched right out of the box, therefore very little room for tweaking.
Cables are conductors and the ones that are well designed are more effective in shielding out the RF frequencies. I am of the opinion they make a difference but not greatly, the variation between different brands are subtle. This is the last consideration when setting up a system.

The amp is the beating heart. It will have it's own unique tonal signature and capability, in terms of power and technical specs. Once you have the measure of the amp, you can then decide on the speakers that work best with the amp.

 

[record_spot]

Have to say that in 2025, if you've bought gear that sounds like dreck, you've i) bought dreck and ii) landed on that niche range of products that somehow are poorly designed.

For the most part, I think you could almost buy a bunch of gear off a shelf, hook it up and be done with it.

As for GIGO, that does apply, but it applied far far more years ago than ever it does today. The quality of streams and other digital services via either a streamer or through an even basic DAC render high quality playback at a fraction of the cost you once needed to spend.

My take? Research what you might be interested in buying, get a hold of some reviews, buy the gear preferably online and then try at home. That's been my approach for the last near 15 years and it's worked a treat.

 

[davidf]

As for GIGO, that does apply, but it applied far far more years ago than ever it does today. The quality of streams and other digital services via either a streamer or through an even basic DAC render high quality playback at a fraction of the cost you once needed to spend.

As long as the service has used a decent master. I once tried Walk On The Wild Side on a service and it sounded really bad compared to how I've heard it sound on CD and hi-res.

 

[DiggyGun]

Still the source.

Even with the best amps and speakers, they will still only be unusable lumps without a source.

DG…

 

[Amormusic]

I think there's a balancing act in play here.

Firstly, if your speakers are good enough to show what's in front of them, as you scale the rest of your kit up the cost/performance ranks, this will have the largest effect in showing what's there.

Plus, to get the best result from said speakers, you will need a decent amp in front of them.

Then once you have this combo nailed on, you should more easily hear changes in source and the comparative quality of these. At this point rubbish in and out really comes into play with greater clarity.

 

[record_spot]

As long as the service has used a decent master. I once tried Walk On The Wild Side on a service and it sounded really bad compared to how I've heard it sound on CD and hi-res.

I've assumed that's a given regardless of source though; granted with physical media, you can seek out the mastering you like if you with the right info, though I find Qobuz has been pretty stellar over the last year of using it. I took an annual subscription out at the turn of the year and it's been excellent.

 

[The_Lecht_Rocks]

my 2p.

the amp must be punchy with a load of current and be suited to the speakers sensitivity and impedance demands. fundamental no.1 pre-requisite.
the speakers must've been selected to accurately work in the room. positioning in the room having a huge effect on sound staging.

the source thereafter can be selected on preference.