mfsoa

If I may expand on the theme of this thread (getting the most from one's PC😉) I want to buy a pre-built PC for general home use, Roon, HQPlayer and music server web stuff etc.. Some of the good deals that I see use a single nvme drive for the OS and everything else. Is this an automatic no-no? Is it better to leave the OS on the nvme and all else on a second drive? Thanks

That's what I use, but it has an onboard dac. Very nice unit, though

Parasound? It's fun spending your money.

All of the gear my good buddy Tommy O'Brian of the Digital Amp Co (please, if you consider class D, check them out, you will be happy) makes is fully balanced only and he includes rca/xlr adapters in case you have rca outs on your source. When i used to need them, i upgraded to ones made by Cardas which were a noticeable improvement over the supplied ones (Neutric?). Im not competant to say that they will work in all situations. Great story on the Room! Congrats!

IMO there is a sliding scale. Crappy systems, sure we can talk about accuracy to a general concept of what a decent system can do, or how faithful it is to the general idea of what a violin or bass drum sounds like. But the better the systems get, these gross anomalies are reduced and personal preference rears it ugly head. There, everyone in this thread is now labelled as being correct. Kumbaya.

The most underwhelming, disappointing, worst-bang-for-the-buck-and-effort system I ever heard was at Ralph Glaskal(?)'s mansion, in an Ambiophonic setup with, I forget, dozens(?) of SoundLab(?) speakers arranged around the listener (It was a while ago...). A system set up with soundstaging as the number one priority and I thought the overall SQ it was terrible. Surely not helped by having at least some of the panel speakers simply buzzing with electrical noise... My subjective taste in imaging was clearly different from Ralph's (who was a very kind and gracious host). Please let me

Not really sure what this has to do with what I said but if I had to guess, I'd answer that minimonitors present the soundstage in one way. Planar speakers present the image in another. Please tell me which is better so I can make sure I don't make the wrong choice as subjective preference for a one or the other is apparently the wrong way to go about this.

I love it! Perfectly captures what we want out of our systems. To those who are trying to accurately replay the sound on the disc -The disc has no sound. You are trying to replay what you think is the sound on the disc. Very different... Since no two people think that a disc should sound the same way, it then comes down to personal preference and boom - it's all subjective ultimately.

A little off-topic - not directly audio-related: I was using a super cheapo USB cable to charge my phone. I heard a strange bubbling noise (the plastic melting/boiling) before I smelled the smoke. Very lucky I was right there to yank the thing - who knows how bad this could have been if we were away. Makes me wary as these suckers can carry lots of amps

Glasses. Do we listen with glasses on or off. Makes a big difference. Which is accurate?

Just thinking out loud - not directed at anyone- Ooooh I hate the term "Accurately" or "Accuracy" in these discussions. Accurate to what? The sound on the recording medium? Sorry, it has no sound, it is grooves or bits. No sound there. You have no way to know what those pits are "supposed" to sound like. Accurate to what was heard by the recording or mastering engineer? Unless you have the same speakers and room (not to mention ear/brain) etc. that's out the window. Accurate to what the musicians heard in playback? In the studio? In their head? Which musici

...got my grumpy pants on today I guess...

MMG's? Would have been nice to evaluate the bass and treble performance of the dacs but oh well. Why go through all that trouble and then use MMGs? Great write-up as always, appreciate the effort you put into it. I appreciate that Shiit is bringing quality products at reasonable prices but personally the whole frat-boy "Shiit" and "Shiiter" thing is such a huge turn-off for me I would never buy into this. That's just me, I don't know why I have a such an issue. I find it repulsive, yet understand that they are trying to counter the repulsive exclusivity and snobbery of

When someone tells me something that seems absolutely impossible while providing no supporting evidence, my reaction is to question what I am told. Maybe that's just the analytical chemist in me... Yet the Stereophile stance is that until such claims are proven to be false, they stand as-is. Therefore as MQA does not allow their claims to be proven false, they are by definition accepted as fact. Wow that's some serious hard-hittin' journalism there. There is a pink elephant behind my couch. I have no pictures, only my word. Does anyone really believe there is a pin

JA, thank you for the reply, and I must compliment you for engaging with this community when we are often somewhat rude and abrasive. My apologies if I have come off this way. You have a thick skin and/or justifiable confidence in your knowledge. Your contribution is truly appreciated. The reason we look to you is BECAUSE you are so well positioned to shed light on this issue, and convey information to a large number of readers. But man, are we frustrated with this MQA deal. We have to wonder, 7 years after the introduction of MQA, why their claims remain completely unverified.