Barriers to Hi-Fi

[davide256]

8 hours ago, GUTB said:

... People who say that you can EQ a HD6XX into a Utopia. 

This is not new. Its a particular mindset, usually associated with owning a bad headphone amplifier choice. There are a lot of bad headphone amplifiers out there at price points below $500

I despaired of headphones sounding good until I went past that amplifier price point.

[davide256]

27 minutes ago, firedog said:

Agreed. For $1 or $2K you can get something with very high quality sound-most of the basic high end attributes other than very deep bass and the ability to play loudly/fill a large-ish space. The diminishing returns curve is very steep after that and you have to go to increments of $5k, $10K, and so on for small improvements. Once you reach even $10-$15k the very small additional improvements start costing astronomical amounts of money.

 

I have nothing against people who want to spend those amounts. But let's keep some perspective and admit that a well chosen but modest system in the audiophile world is still giving you fantastic sound, especially in a relative sense to lesser setups and historical setups.

It would be interesting if as CA members we could all agree on a budget system that gets a beginner  started with a bang.

An initial thought

 

KEF LS50 wireless with Aries mini, a complete system in 3 boxes for $2700; speaker stands, SSD drive adds another $500

 

 

[davide256]

4 hours ago, esldude said:

Firstly, I don't know of anywhere that online discussions are the way you describe them.  Not on any audio forum. 

 

Secondly, you are doing what seems your ingrained idea to do, and making it all about the money spent.  

 

In defense of the low cost, but high performing end of things I offer the following.  I'll use something I am familiar with.  The JBL LSR305 or 308 speakers are ridiculously good for what they cost.  Get those and a $500 DAC fed from a computer and you have a good system...

Looks like folks on Headfi agree with you for under $500. Half the trick with hobbyist audio is getting gear that lets one realize there is more than you thought there was to a recording. Hard to go backwards once that occurs

 

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/review-of-jbl-lsr305.779350/

[davide256]

3 hours ago, PeterSt said:

...

 

(side note : 25 years ago my system comprised of ~100K - today it is about half of that and infinitely better; it is not about money at all but about the investment in time to sort out things)

Kind of like taking that marble block and pulling the "David" out of it that you know is inside. You break a few "blocks" getting there but you learn from each mistake. :,<)

 

The problem though is that most don't have the time or the dedication to initially travel this path. When you want a young adult to develop a passion for something, you need to "softball" them a few early successes, positive reinforcement.  That's why "bang for the buck" beginner systems matter to grow the number of hobbyists.