New Year: My Best Advice In Regards To Audio is...

[Paul R]

Well? Tell us what your best advice is!

 

Please restrict your advice to something at least tangentially connected to the Audio Hobby, and of course, no sniping at other folks. Thanks

-Paul

[Paul R]

My best advice for just about anything in the audio world: Don't be intimidated by any one, any thing, or any idea. Especially those ideas that "everybody knows" about! Amazing how often they can turn out to be incorrect assumptions!

 

For example, if you like your CD Player, don't be intimidated into giving it up for CA. Or if you really like CA, don't believe anyone else saying that a CD Player sounds better! At least, not until you hear it for yourself and agree!

 

That doesn't mean not to listen to other people, that is the best part of this hobby! Hearing what other people think and do.

 

But remember, in the end, what you choose in audio, gear, music, software, etc. - should be what pleases, excites, or delights *you*.

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

Don't spend money on snake oil.

 

Excellent Advice Indeed! Of course, one man's snake oil is another man's balm...

[Paul R]

I think we all agree that snake oil is being sold even if we differ on the specifics.

 

Yep.

[Paul R]

One service that's generally lacking is help in properly setting up a system afterwards. You listen to some gear in an acoustically treated environment, spend your hard earned cash on it based on that only to struggle with the sound once set up at home. That's usually when the endless upgrade merry-go-round begins. I suppose some dealers may view this as a good thing but they might want to look into offering better after sales advice as a means to keep customers happy and hopefully less prone to buying online.

Bottom line - you can't get good hands on advice and service online. Dealers should consider capitalizing on that. Just saying...

 

Just adding $0.02 along the lines of this subject - do not ignore equipment usually snubbed by audiophiles, like Audio/Video receivers, Sonos, and even some soundbars. You may find gold there, especially the products that offer some form of DSP.

 

Nothing fixes a room with poor acoustics save changing/treating the room. But good DSP can go a long way without costing very much at all. And with good equipment in a moderately well treated room, it can work near miracles. Not a be-all end-all, but as others have suggested, don't snub it.

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

I agree and still own a lowly SB Touch despite what many say. After having owned/sold an A/V receiver years ago I have recently began pondering if it might be possible to enjoy good stereo (music) AND the convenience of an A/V receiver's DSP function. In other words - are there any musically satisfying A/V receivers out there that don't cost the price of a Ferrari?

 

Lots and lots of them in the $1K-$2.5K range. NAD, Cambridge Audio, Onkyo, Anthem, Marantz, come to mind for me, but there are plenty of others. Even the higher end Sony, Pioneer, and other "consumer" brands can do an admirable job depending upon what you are looking for. If you want to put a little more money into it, you can get units that compete with most audiophile choices. ($4K - $6K).

 

The Outlaw Audio model 975 is a steal in my opinion, though you have to add your own amps to it.

[Paul R]

Get all flash memory based storage devices out of your audio system.

 

Okay... That one just makes me curious as all get out. Would you explain your reasoning there please? Unless of course, you were joking. .

[Paul R]

Nope, not joking. Give it a shot.

 

PXE/ISCSI boot enabled consolidation of all boot, system and music storage for the audio and server PCs into one 4TB WD red drive.

 

LOL, yes a BIOS chip is required, so there are practical limits.

 

Removing flash devices delivered the largest step change in SQ I have ever experienced from a tweak, with a stunning improvement in richness and clarity.

 

I typically IPL most of my machines from local storage (usually a SSD) but access the music libraries either via SAN (Fibre or iSCSI) or via a network share. Keeping the music on SAN or a network server seems to provide the best sound for me. I thought I was being a little extreme with that setup!

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

"IPL", are you a mainframe guy?

 

My server is a QNAP NAS device, that has been de-QNAPped, and is running Archlinux with a realtime kernel hosting Samba, ISCSI target, and DNSMASQ. Boot, system and Music virtual drives are stored on a single WD 4TB HDD, as are the two virtual drives (LUNs) used to boot the audiopc with Audiolinux(Archlinux) or Windows 10.

 

Well with ISCSI done already, you have the tough part of becoming "flash-less" finished already. You should give it a go. PM me if I can help in anyway.

 

Yep - definitely have dino DNA in me, as well a dozen or so other systems, including my 9track BSD source tapes, PDP-11/45 boot programs (keyed in at the console), and so on.

 

But what I meant to say, but did not communicate clearly, is that my systems sound the same whether "booted" (IPLed) from SSD or "booted" from SAN. No difference in iSCSI or Fibre. Either of which sounds a little better to me than a spinning disk.

 

However, having said that, I cannot reliably immediatly pick out the difference between them based upon the device they are "booted" from- not in an AB/X test.

 

I can reliably say which is which after listening for a while. Little or no listening fatigue from SAN, noticeable fatigue from a local spinning disk after a couple hours. Have not pushed either one to the point at which fatigue makes me turn off the music though.

 

YMMV!!!!!

[Paul R]

Bingo!

 

Maybe we are overthinking this a bit? Not many stand speakers have the same low bass capability that most floor standers have. I wonder if that is pretty much what we are talking about here?

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

Sorry but I beg to differ and yet this is likely semantics or language differences. This implies that the floor stander has larger drivers and/or deeper bass. Neither are directly implied. Nikhil has a point in that many rooms smaller rooms get overloaded, and many might be better served with a "smaller" speaker providing a shorter RT60 in that room.

 

Well, that certainly makes sense when you put it that way.

[Paul R]

Heh... Sorry if I was being pedantic.

 

As a side note, something like the Audio Kinesis Swarm might be of value to those smaller (and larger?) rooms. It uses multiple subs in varied positions to reduce room node excitement. And btw, my Tannoys have 15" drivers and are on (short) stands. Just sayin'...

 

LOL! I see your point!

 

I just did a roughly and loosely scientific survey, and the averge siz of the woofers in stand speakeds id 5-6", and in floor speakers 5-10". While by no means authoritive, I suggest it is indicative of why there might be a idea around that stand speakers have smaller woofers and less bass.

 

My my my, how easily one can be misled in this subject area! Even me!

 

So to rephrase- the advice is, for smaller rooms consider stand mounted speakers, and for larger rooms, consider floor standing speakers. That s not a hard and fast rule, because the reason for those consideratikns is room acoustics, and each room is going to be different.

 

Does that summarize up what you guys were saying?

[Paul R]

Try not to make more than 1 (equipment, mains, positioning, treatment, etc) change/upgrade at a time, otherwise you can open up a minefield if the outcome isn't as desired.

 

I've stitched myself up this way more times than I wish to remember.

 

;-)

 

Excellent advice - I can not count the number of times plans that invoice multiple pieces of equipment have not gone exactly as planned...

[Paul R]

Occasionally - make time to listen to a piece of music you have not listened to for a few years, even if you have to listen all by yourself.

 

-Paul

[Paul R]

Don't believe the hype. Question everything.

 

Boy Howdy - that is *good* advice.

 

The corollary is not to take any of the hype too personally. Sometimes it is innocent and harmless, sometimes it is from a source that truly believes in what they are selling, and sometimes, it is from hucksters that want nothing other than your cash. Telling the difference can be irksome sometimes.

 

-Paul