2. misc-audio
  3. 181795-171430

Are There Improvements that Can Be Easily and Quickly Made Without Buying More Stuff?

I appreciate that there are many people on this forum who have put a great deal of thought and effort into how to improve their audio systems.  Most of the discussion relates to upgrading equipment.  This is natural as most people here want to improve their music experience, and better equipment is a way to do that.  I’ve taken advantage of this and made 5 or 6 upgrades over the last year!  The result has been great!  But are there some simple steps that can be taken that can be overlooked by someone who is newer to audio?

As examples I’ve read that facing a sub towards something like the back of a couch will improve its sound.  And for rooms with bad effects that can’t be fixed, move the listening position closer to the speakers.

‘What is your best tip for improving sound quality without buying anything?

128x128tcotruvo

Showing 1 response by lanx0003

lanx0003
676 posts
 

My experience with internet ratio is not very positive. Degraded SQ (even with Flac) and the non-interactive mode of music playing are the two areas keep me away from them. I knew with the premium member you could upgrade to hirez music but I still doubt the comparability of the SQ from the streaming service like Qobuz, Tidal, etc. You might want to try the streaming music to sense the differences in SQ.

Secondly, upgrade to a DAC that allows upsampling. There is still a open-ended debate on whether upsampling actually renders better SQ but my limited experience is somewhat positive. You could do this using software (I know you do not want to upgrade the equipment)  I had purposely upsampled 128 kbps AACs to Flac files ten times in size and found the SQ is improved. Not night and day but if you have owned a high-revealing system, the upsampling may bring you surprise.

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