What was your most inexpensive or most cost effective HiFi discovery

[Jasonovich]

I'm not going to start a cable debate - until cables get their own sub thread.

I will just say though that I've just skimmed through 4 or 5 pages of cable reviews and recommendations in a Hi-fi Choice magazine that I'm reading.
The descriptions of the cables' 'sound' that I accidentally saw, made me feel a bit dirty - for having paid (£1) for the magazine - to partially encourage such complete and utter b****cks 😞.

...thought I'd get away from such filth and have a look at the forum....and it's here too 😆

(No offence Jason 🤣)

No offence Gray. I welcome everybody's view. Some people see the merits of cables, some don't.
We should not shy away from discussion but I'm also mindful of not sending people up the wrong way.
Lessons learnt 😄🍺

 

[nopiano]

Is it the same with speaker terminals as well, I have Wharfedale 9.1 speakers, there seems to be a hard plastic bung in there, wonder if you could drill that out (and other speakers) and use plugs instead.

You can sometimes unscrew the fastener fully, then tweak out the ‘stopper’ with your fingernail or a small screwdriver. Or with the fastener in place, a sharp point (remember a pair of compasses at school?) should do it.

 

[nopiano]

then got a pack of fiscule?

Fisual I think is the brand.

 

[Cricketbat70]

Fisual I think is the brand.

Thanks, that sounds more like it. 🤣

 

[Dom]

The Creative G6 DAC which can be had for £90.

Pro's: It produces a bright clear sound with natural detailed bass.

Cons: The treble can be harsh at times and the bass can feel under developed, I suspect its due to being a USB powered DAC?

Conclusion: I took a risk on a cheaper DAC and am pleased with its performance, its sound doesn't try to go beyond its means.

 

[plastic penguin]

The Creative G6 DAC which can be had for £90.

Pro's: It produces a bright clear sound with natural detailed bass.

Cons: The treble can be harsh at times and the bass can feel under developed, I suspect its due to being a USB powered DAC?

Conclusion: I took a risk on a cheaper DAC and am pleased with its performance, its sound doesn't try to go beyond its means.

What amp have you got the Dac married to, Dom?

 

[Dom]

What amp have you got the Dac married to, Dom?

The Musical Fidelity M2si.

 

[Cricketbat70]

The Creative G6 DAC which can be had for £90.

Pro's: It produces a bright clear sound with natural detailed bass.

Cons: The treble can be harsh at times and the bass can feel under developed, I suspect its due to being a USB powered DAC?

Conclusion: I took a risk on a cheaper DAC and am pleased with its performance, its sound doesn't try to go beyond its means.

That's the very thing my son has plugged into his PC driving his headset. I wondered about getting one myself and if it would make a difference in my set up.

 

[JDL]

A couple of things. I don't know if any one here has a B&W PV-1 Subwoofer.
On eBay a nicely made granite stand cost £300.
I spent 15 minutes looking on the internet and got one made out of polished black cast acrylic. 50mm thick, 200mm diameter,for £60 or so.

 

[JDL]

A couple of things. I don't know if any one here has a B&W PV-1 Subwoofer.
On eBay a nicely made granite stand cost £300.
I spent 15 minutes looking on the intView attachment 5280View attachment 5279ernet and got one made out of polished black cast acrylic. 50mm thick, 200mm diameter,for £60 or so.

Oh yeah the other thing. I bought this second hand B&W PV-1 Subwoofer from you know where
When it arrived, I had a choice of 2 power leads. One had been attached to a 3 pin British type plug, the other was a 2 pin Euro plug for which I had no adapter.
I used the 3 pin. The subwoofer was humming. After a week I couldn't tolerate it any longer.
I read as much as I could find about getting rid of the hum. The easiest suggestion was to spin round the 2 pin and see if that would cure it.
I went back on to you know where, and bought an adapter. The type where the 2 pin Euro plug snaps into a 3 pin British type plug and is enclosed within it and then done up with a screw.
I plugged it in........silence. Needless to say I was chuffed, no more unwarranted hum. It's a good sub. I don't notice it's presence at all apart from the low down extension it adds to my 2 channel system.
It's wired to the speaker terminals on the amp, in parallel with the speakers, because B&W suggest that you connect it this way, with 2 channel systems.
They're not mentioned much on here as far as subwoofers go, but I think it's pretty good.

 

[Gray]

A couple of things. I don't know if any one here has a B&W PV-1 Subwoofer.
On eBay a nicely made granite stand cost £300.
I spent 15 minutes looking on the intView attachment 5280View attachment 5279ernet and got one made out of polished black cast acrylic. 50mm thick, 200mm diameter,for £60 or so.

Sixty quid for that 😱
You must have money to burn John.

As for a £300 granite one, words fail me.
(Which is just as well, otherwise I'd be banned again).

 

[JDL]

Sixty quid for that 😱
You must have money to burn John.

As for a £300 granite one, words fail me.
(Which is just as well, otherwise I'd be banned again).

No I haven't got money to burn, it's just that I'm rather obsessive when it comes to my audio system. I had the sub standing on a scruffy old quarry tile before.
When I've got my living room sorted and the Hi-Fi goes in there onto a nice proper stand with glass shelves that cost me £40 brand new from you know where, I want everything to look nice and smart.
I've been selling things I've had for years on, you know where to find my Hi-Fi stuff. I thought £60 was ok. Clearly some work went into making the cast acrylic circle and it's beautifully finished. I think plenty of people on here have spent far more than I have on their systems, probably even on cables, dare I say it. Cables....ha ha "micro aggression".✌🏻

 

[Gray]

...plenty of people on here have spent far more than I have on their systems, probably even on cables, dare I say it. Cables....ha ha "micro aggression".✌🏻

OK, bit of a desperate mention of cables to make me think of your bit of plastic as a bargain.
But it worked 😆

 

[Jasonovich]

The Creative G6 DAC which can be had for £90.

Pro's: It produces a bright clear sound with natural detailed bass.

Cons: The treble can be harsh at times and the bass can feel under developed, I suspect its due to being a USB powered DAC?

Conclusion: I took a risk on a cheaper DAC and am pleased with its performance, its sound doesn't try to go beyond its means.

I've seen the DAC on eBay, looks really decent, reminds me of the iFi DACs in terms of appearance.
The budget king at the moment is SMSL SU1 DAC, I believe Amazon is selling for £79.99
It'll be great if one of HiFi publications can do a side by side comparison with the Creative G6.

There's quite a few of these budget gems that gets overlooked, particularly WHF in favour of mid or high range DACs.

My first DAC was FX Audio bargain basement price of £49, it wasn't bad, better than the DAC on my Blueray player. Then I upgraded to Topping E30 £109, it was truly top class, I had it for just over a year, there was a power surge and it died. That's why I have gone totally anal with mains protection. As it was outside the warranty Topping offered to repair it for £71 + postage to China, was it worth it?

The Topping E50 for £150 was my replacement DAC and it was everything E30 was but with wider sound stage, more richer textured detail. Shame Topping has raked up the E50 price to £199, so I don't really think it qualifies as a budget DAC any more.
Sorry gone on a bit but yes, really nice looking DAC the G6.

 

[Jasonovich]

Oh yeah the other thing. I bought this second hand B&W PV-1 Subwoofer from you know where
When it arrived, I had a choice of 2 power leads. One had been attached to a 3 pin British type plug, the other was a 2 pin Euro plug for which I had no adapter.
I used the 3 pin. The subwoofer was humming. After a week I couldn't tolerate it any longer.
I read as much as I could find about getting rid of the hum. The easiest suggestion was to spin round the 2 pin and see if that would cure it.
I went back on to you know where, and bought an adapter. The type where the 2 pin Euro plug snaps into a 3 pin British type plug and is enclosed within it and then done up with a screw.
I plugged it in........silence. Needless to say I was chuffed, no more unwarranted hum. It's a good sub. I don't notice it's presence at all apart from the low down extension it adds to my 2 channel system.
It's wired to the speaker terminals on the amp, in parallel with the speakers, because B&W suggest that you connect it this way, with 2 channel systems.
They're not mentioned much on here as far as subwoofers go, but I think it's pretty good.

B&W is part of the Sound United family. It is the dream team of HiFi products.
Sound United is comprised of Denon®, Marantz®, Polk Audio, Bowers and Wilkins, Definitive Technology, Polk BOOM, HEOS®, Classé Audio and Boston Acoustics®.

It's good that all the companies within the holding company, all managed to hold on to their unique signature.
Marantz sibling is Denon but they are so different. Polk is the complete opposite of B&W. I like what Sound United are doing, keeping all the colours separate, no wishy washy
Love the eccentricity of the B&Ws, they just do things, differently.

 

[Gray]

...Topping offered to repair it for £71 + postage to China, was it worth it?

No doubt you did the obvious check to see whether there was still 5v DC coming out of the power supply?

 

[plastic penguin]

The Musical Fidelity M2si.

Ah, right. Nice.

 

[plastic penguin]

No I haven't got money to burn, it's just that I'm rather obsessive when it comes to my audio system. I had the sub standing on a scruffy old quarry tile before.
When I've got my living room sorted and the Hi-Fi goes in there onto a nice proper stand with glass shelves that cost me £40 brand new from you know where, I want everything to look nice and smart.
I've been selling things I've had for years on, you know where to find my Hi-Fi stuff. I thought £60 was ok. Clearly some work went into making the cast acrylic circle and it's beautifully finished. I think plenty of people on here have spent far more than I have on their systems, probably even on cables, dare I say it. Cables....ha ha "micro aggression".✌🏻

Don't mention the 'c' word. Sorry. All cables sound the same. Sorry, they don't. They are very individual... sorry, it's like having an inert plate of spaghetti at the rear. Sorry, it's not....

 

[JDL]

Oh......tut.....micro aggression detected. Hee hee.

 

[Jasonovich]

No doubt you did the obvious check to see whether there was still 5v DC coming out of the power supply?

The 5v DC power supply was completely cooked, I checked inside for safety fuse but there was none, the circuitry was baked. The E30 comes on with the ERR message, there's no access to CMOS to reboot software, my only option it seems is to return it to Topping for repair, shame.
I really can't stress enough, the importance of investing in a good quality mains protection. The town in Bedfordshire where I'm from is so prone to these surges, it has doubled it's population in the last fifteen years, not sure the GRID is sufficiently able to cope!

 

[Deleted member 201267]

The 5v DC power supply was completely cooked, I checked inside for safety fuse but there was none, the circuitry was baked. The E30 comes on with the ERR message, there's no access to CMOS to reboot software, my only option it seems is to return it to Topping for repair, shame.
I really can't stress enough, the importance of investing in a good quality mains protection. The town in Bedfordshire where I'm from is so prone to these surges, it has doubled it's population in the last fifteen years, not sure the GRID is sufficiently able to cope!
View attachment 5282

Some interesting looking mains cables there.
Can i ask what make / models they are ?

 

[Jasonovich]

Some interesting looking mains cables there.
Can i ask what make / models they are ?

Hang on I got to bend down low, glad I had an early breakfast
Courtesy of AliExpress and eBay - see below:

Some of the mains cable, the silver coloured ones in the photo, I made myself about half the price as the one's listed below.







Just to add if any of you were thinking about purchasing the Audiowalle Mains Filter power protection (eBay), it has six UK plug sockets and four US plug sockets. It's really bizarre on Aliexpress the UK plugs are more expensive than the US ones (I use both), and it's made from the same mains cable, how odd?

 

[Gray]

The 5v DC power supply was completely cooked, I checked inside for safety fuse but there was none, the circuitry was baked. The E30 comes on with the ERR message, there's no access to CMOS to reboot software, my only option it seems is to return it to Topping for repair, shame.
I really can't stress enough, the importance of investing in a good quality mains protection. The town in Bedfordshire where I'm from is so prone to these surges, it has doubled it's population in the last fifteen years, not sure the GRID is sufficiently able to cope!
View attachment 5282

That's a rough outcome.
Doesn't help to think that a small VDR in your mains plug might have taken the hit instead.
(Think they worked out at 13p each in the pack I bought, ages ago).

Still, hopefully you're well protected now 👍

 

[plastic penguin]

Oh......tut.....micro aggression detected. Hee hee.

What is "micro aggression"? Is it angry midget?

 

[JDL]

It's anything that a certain category of males say or do. Anything and everything.