You've got £250 to spend.. Go!

SteveR750

Well-known member
I've had a random bonus of £250 in the form of amazon vouchers, I'd like to use it add/upgrade/enhance my listening pleasure.
Options considered thus far:-
Streamer - binned that off for time being as I can't see the vfm in changing from what I've got already. Maybe the WiiM Pro or the NAD CS1 might change that view.
New amp - £250 doesn't get a lot, but I could trade my current amp, but I can't find anything exciting or worthwhile under £700. Tbh there's little wrong with the baby Denon.
Headphones - Already have a very good desktop setup, nothing I can add there.
Speakers & sub - perfectly happy with what I've got, they're both new.

There must be something I could do, apart from invest it all in new vinyl to add to the collection, or worse fritter it away on non essential household items....
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
CDs rather than vinyl would get you a lot more music for your money, sound better, last longer and be a lot easier to transfer to hard drive (if you ever wanted to).

Or, back on the subject of DACs, I've found this to be a good 'un:
Agreed they're better technically, but I love the ritual of vinyl. Just put a new AT VM95ML onto my turntable, and slowly replacing my favourite vinyl that I lost years ago.
That DAC looks interesting, brave to put the noise and distortion measure up! The thing is, the connect is limited to 96dB as a Streamer, so it's already the limit in my digital chain. Plus it's connected optically so jitter errors are more likely. I'm probably (definitely maybe) going to try out the NAD when it's released to fix that.
 
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SteveR750

Well-known member
I'll buy either speaker cable or speaker Isolation to see if any of that costing 250 quid makes a blind bit of difference to the sound of my hi-fi system.
I already made a big investment in QED79 over mains 13A from Wickes only because one speaker has to route over a door frame, and mains cable looks ugly.
Dunno how speaker isolation works, but I use some target stands I bought as a student in the 80s. Good rigid platform, but mostly stick the tweeter on vertical axis
 

MrReaper182

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Apr 6, 2014
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I already made a big investment in QED79 over mains 13A from Wickes only because one speaker has to route over a door frame, and mains cable looks ugly.
Dunno how speaker isolation works, but I use some target stands I bought as a student in the 80s. Good rigid platform, but mostly stick the tweeter on vertical axis
Speaker isolation is supposed to improve sound quality by getting rid of vibrations that speakers make. I've been meaning to buy some cheap speaker isolation for my floorstanding speakers to see if it works or not for a while now as my floorstanding speakers are on my living room carpet without any speaker isolation but as yet I've not done it so it might be snake oil.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
Amazon Music subscription?
NAS drive?
I already use Qobuz, and actually considering reverting back to Tidal standard (CD) quality. Already have a NAS, though it's an utterly useless unreliable piece of shhh and has spent more time offline than on in the 5 years I've owned it!

Speaker isolation is supposed to improve sound quality by getting rid of vibrations that speakers make. I've been meaning to buy some cheap speaker isolation for my floorstanding speakers to see if it works or not for a while now as my floorstanding speakers are on my living room carpet without any speaker isolation but as yet I've not done it so it might be snake oil.

I think the stands I use, spiked, sat on a granite slab, with absorbent pads under each speaker itself probably does the same thing. There's no noticeable transmission of sound into the floor mechanically, acoustically another matter, my room is horrendous!
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
There are 2 itches atm; Denon PMA-900HNE or a Yamaha A-S701. The cost to change for both would be around £200, the problem is that the Yamaha is not available from Amazon, only the 501 which is more sideways. The Rotel and the Audiolab are similar options, but I'm less sure they're what i'd appreciate. What I really need is a big meaty class D amp with a decent phono and dac stage, but not uncovered that yet.
 

AJM1981

Well-known member
I have completed my audio mission

If I had to choose for someone else who demands some good budget hi-fi. I would get an Arylic A50+ Amp for 175 pounds and a pair of Madison bookshelf speakers for 65. No budget left for music, so be it.
 

SteveR750

Well-known member
If the Yamaha doesn't add anything, then I'll keep the little Denon. It reminds me of my first serious amp, the NAD 3130; it was always surprising each track you played, better than you remembered last time, and it seemed unbreakable. Turn it up and it just keeps getting louder. You could also spill beer on it, I'm sure that improved it even further.
Of course nostalgia is yet another psychosomatic presentation, but it's real. The older you get, the more you realise these things are important, after all isn't music a tether to our past memories. Favourite tracks and favourite times & places.
 

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