2. misc-audio
  3. 149871-2693

Any other lone audiophiles here?

By "Lone" I mean you have no other local audiophile buddies. That describes my experience. My wife and I usually listen together. I have no other friends to borrow equipment or to audition theirs. In spite of that I believe I've done a pretty good job of putting together a system which is very good. I've done it strictly by reading reviews, etc and lots of research. I see the situation as both an advantage and maybe a curse. The advantage is that Maybe I don't know what I'm missing. The curse is may be that I often wonder IF I need to upgrade? Or am m missing something.? Like right now. I just bought a CJ CT5 preamp which is silly good.So now I wonder about my amp? The CJ retails for 8x more than my silly little tube amp...a Bob Latino ST-70. Yet I believe that amp is fully pulling its weight while hooked to a preamp which is silly good. Surely, this amp can't be the be all end all. However It did replace an amp which retails for 4x its price. Who knows? maybe its the ST-70 which needed a better preamp to show off its stuff. Nonetheless, I enjoy the music  immensely. and all the advice I've gotten from people on the forums over the years. FWIW, I also play drums  and have played live. So I DO know what live music sounds like. So, maybe I'm not shooting totally in the dark.
artemus_5

Showing 1 response by bigkidz

bigkidz
3,415 posts
 

I am in the other camp in the NNJ/NYC area.  Many audio clubs, dealers.  manufacturers, reviewers, etc.  Plus I get to repair and modify components daily so I get to hear so many components and get to experiment weekly.  Yesterday I fished building three power amps, all built by my partner.  We compared three hybrid amps. two with 6SN7s (one has a single tube per channel the other 2 6SN7 tubes per channel) and one using 6DJ8 tubes (1 per channel).  Interesting outcomes.


Back to your question, No matter how many audio friends you have or systems you can listen to, your ears are all that matters.  There is always something better in one aspect or the other so there is nothing perfect and it all comes down to compromises and what you prefer your system to sound like.  I play guitar and to me no system does the guitar right.  Nice reproductions but nothing real to my ears.


The amp you have should sound very nice, it there better, yes but what do you feel is missing?  Sometimes you find something better in some areas but not all.  Even when I repair or build something, there are several ways to go and each time I give up something for something else.


Happy Listening.

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