Review WOW moments in Hifi journey!!

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Happy new year everyone!!
Had my Eversolo DMP A6 delivered today. Bought it openbox from RS.
Got this to replace my ieast receiver and irdac.
Sound wise there is no improvement, nor was I expecting any. This purchase is more for convenience than anything else.
However, xlr connection does make everything louder.
Whatever little I have learned from this hobby over the years is that, nothing will give you bigger WOW than the speaker upgrade. There have been 3 occasions in my hifi journey when I was genuinely awestruck: when I upgraded my system to Creek evoA50 and BW CM5, secondly with Leema Tucana (amp on this occasion) and now, thirdly with R3 meta.
Please share your WOW moments.

 

[Integralista]

Happy new year everyone!!
Had my Eversolo DMP A6 delivered today. Bought it openbox from RS.
Got this to replace my ieast receiver and irdac.
Sound wise there is no improvement, nor was I expecting any. This purchase is more for convenience than anything else.
However, xlr connection does make everything louder.
Whatever little I have learned from this hobby over the years is that, nothing will give you bigger WOW than the speaker upgrade. There have been 3 occasions in my hifi journey when I was genuinely awestruck: when I upgraded my system to Creek evoA50 and BW CM5, secondly with Leema Tucana (amp on this occasion) and now, thirdly with R3 meta.
Please share your WOW moments.

Hi, Happy New Year 2025 to you!

Leema Tucana is one amazing amp and same for Kef R3 Meta speakers!

 

[DougK1]

Hearing a proper stereo image for the first time... astounding and intoxicating! Plus my first listen to my current Marantz Ruby pair... initially a confusing experience until I got my head around what I was hearing

 

[The_Lecht_Rocks]

Agree regarding speakers but recent EXA EXN upgrade and back to back listening with Naim SN3 and NDX2 have sold me on the EXA long term ownership (my account balance hopes)…..The new CA equipment is seriously good…
New AlChris TX9 speakers also inbound !

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_664715932]

Hearing a proper stereo image for the first time... astounding and intoxicating! Plus my first listen to my current Marantz Ruby pair... initially a confusing experience until I got my head around what I was hearing

I too remember my first stereo experience. I was still in india, about 10 yrs old, mid 80s, one of the uncles bought a sanyo cassette player with speakers on either side, and he said this gives stereo sound and his explanation of stereo was: vocals come from left speaker and all the instruments play on the right. We were bit confused tbh, but didn’t argue as we all enjoyed the stereo sound.

 

[Messiah]

For me there have been several WOW moments.

First one (and probably the whole reason I am ‘into’ HiFi) is when I listened to a friends Fischer HiFi system. Growing up listening to my Mums ghetto blaster and later my own Alba midi system, what I didn’t realise at the time was that I was never hearing any proper bass. Once I heard his system and the bass it produced I was blown away. The obsession had begun….

The first time I had a truly hair raising experience was when I had demoed some systems at a local hifi shop (Jefffries - now an Audio T). My friend and I had gone there to listen to a few different set-ups. We had been dabbling with Hifi and this shop looked to take it to another level.
After a few different systems, the dealer rolled out a Meridian 551 Amp, 506 CD player and A500 speakers. Absolutely amazing and from the first few notes I just had a massive grin on my face. Until that point I had never heard anything like it.

I go to the Bristol Show (better when it was Sound AND Vision imo 😊) every year and whilst these shows produce more WOW moments I was again super impressed when I heard the Meridian DSP8000. Simply amazing! A shame they no longer do this show.

As much as a love HiFi, I love Home Cinema more and this has brought plenty of WOW moments. From the first time I heard the Star Ship Voyager (Star Trek Voyager series for those that don’t know) warp from the front of the screen to the rear effect of my Dolby Pro-Logic set-up, all the way to a full blown Dolby Atmos set-up (via HiFi show demos), it never fails to impress me.

 

[SallyB]

Hearing Roxy Music and Phil Collins coming from the first Philips CD player in the early 1980s. No going back to vinyl for 20 years!

Hearing JS Bach’s piano Aria played through a Leben valve amp and thinking how can I possibly get one of these.

 

[matthewpianist]

My first 'Wow' moment was the day Dad set my first system up in my bedroom, using spare bits of hi-fi he had. It was a Pioneer PL12D with an Amstrad amp, and some Wharfedale Chevins. Nothing flash, but I'll never forget putting the first record on (Dvorak) and sitting with Dad hearing the sound of a full orchestra coming from those small speakers. The change to a Sansui amp was another wow moment.

I was 8 then, and over the 38 years since, there have been plenty of wow moments, many of which have turned out to be superficial and short-lived. There has been moments where I've heard or bought new kit and been swayed by the name and/or 'audiophile credentials', and most of that has been nonsense. The longest lasting impressions from shows have been a Sugden Masterclass system, and a simple combination of Marantz CD and amp with Mordaunt-Short Aviano 2 speakers. The Audio Note room usually leaves a lasting impression too.

As for my own purchases, initial enthusiasm has often turned to disappointment - kit that appears to offer so much in some respects but leaves other aspects wanting, and I've come to the conclusion that whilst hi-fi may have moved forward in some technical respects, it has moved backwards in others. I feel speakers are a great example of this. Most remotely affordable speakers made now are inherently unbalanced, and voiced to produce more bass than they are naturally capable of, and a level of soundstaging which begins to feel quite exaggerated compared to the live experience. Detail is often over-hyped, and quite a lot of equipment has a clinical quality to it. CD players have mostly taken a step back too, and I haven't found anything to match the Technics MASH players, the Philips Bitstream or 80s/90s Sony models.

Some of my truest wow movements have been subtle, and more about how long the system keeps me listening rather than those first impressions. This is happening to me currently, with an unassuming late 80s/early 90s system, centered around a JVC amp that is more musically persuasive than any current amp I've owned, feeding 90s British made speakers that produce a natural sound, in keeping with their proportions. No bloating, no harshness, just the music pouring forth with life, tonal depth and a coherence that engages. The wow moments keep coming, and it's the music that produces them because the system puts me in touch with it rather than getting in the way. The phono stage is also considerably better than those found in most modern integrateds.

 

[RoA]

I guess my current speakers which replaced a pair of Stirlings and before that some active designs from B&W and KEF.

 

[matt49]

As for my own purchases, initial enthusiasm has often turned to disappointment - kit that appears to offer so much in some respects but leaves other aspects wanting, and I've come to the conclusion that whilst hi-fi may have moved forward in some technical respects, it has moved backwards in others. I feel speakers are a great example of this. Most remotely affordable speakers made now are inherently unbalanced, and voiced to produce more bass than they are naturally capable of [...] Some of my truest wow movements have been subtle, and more about how long the system keeps me listening rather than those first impressions. This is happening to me currently, with an unassuming late 80s/early 90s system, centered around a JVC amp that is more musically persuasive than any current amp I've owned, feeding 90s British made speakers that produce a natural sound, in keeping with their proportions.

I'd second this strongly, especially the bit about modern speakers, but the whole post corresponds closely to my experience.

My main landmark experiences have been:
1. my very first hifi in 1978: Pioneer PL512 turntable, NAD 3020 amp, AR18s speakers. I played Springsteen's Darkness on the Edge of Town to death on that system.
Then there were a lot of incremental steps until ...
2. my first pair of (nearly) full-range speakers: JBL 4429. The revelation was suddenly being able to hear the full content of the music with all its dynamics. And then ...
3. Sorting out lumps in the low frequencies with DSP room correction. I wouldn't be without it now.