Ever Bought an Audio Product that was Stupid Good for the Money?

I did once in the 80s it was way cool!!

The best dac in the world, ratio price/ sound quality, the Starting Point Systems NOS dac, TDA 1543, with internal batteries...For 20 bucks on Ebay...If you dont want to buy the Denafrips Terminator it is the deal...


It is completely minimalistic design, then low noise...And with my audio system there is no perceptible limitations on all counts, details, dynamics, holographic soundstaging etc...

A dac is the most difficult piece of gear to buy... It is easy to buy low cost used or vintage top speakers, same thing for an amplifier... But a dac which is top musical quality? ( not a cheap microscope) Try to find another one at your own risk or try it.... :)

Yeah, I bought a pair of Linn Majik 140s on a clearance sale for half price. Also found a Majik 112 Center channel to match it on ebay for about 1/4 the price of a new one. 

 Vintage Fisher 500c receiver for $1. I’m not hot dogging you. 🌭

If you want to double your money on that receiver, let me know geoff. 

The original SOTA turntable

Bluesound Node 2i and a Qobuz subscription.

The Quicksilver Audio Headphone Amp.....   seriously good for the money.    EL84 SET Amp.   Worth every penny

A pair of Bose Noise Canceling 700 headphones for my wife!!! So I come out of my listening room/office and my much better half is lying on the couch with her hands over her ears. Under them was a pair of cheap headphones attached by a cord to the new Sony receiver we had just bought. “You need to get me noise canceling head phones if your going to listen when I’m watching tv” OK no problem! Best $400 I ever spent on audio!!! She is very happy and I listen as loud and long as I want! Happy wife = :-)

https://www.bose.com/en_us/products/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones.html

Yes Geoffkait, a Fisher 500C is one very special receiver!

A pair of  Quad S-5 speakers, the MSP was $2700 , I bought then mint for
1200 $ and they play in the 7500 $ range .

Seanheis1

This one is easy, Eminent Technology LFT8B speakers. Made in Florida by a brilliant audio designer named Bruce Thigpen who holds 7 patents (I believe) for his various designs. These speakers have planar magnetic midrange and tweeter panels with a low Q 8” dynamic woofer in a sealed enclosure. In my opinion they have the best midrange of any speaker I have ever heard (including Quad esl57’s). Here’s the punchline.... they sell for $2500.00 pair!

Scot

The new Quicksilver Audio Headphone Amp.....   built just like their amps...  Ridiculously good for the money.  Sound quality and build quality is off the chart.   An incredible value at $998.  

Back in the day, pair of NHT Zeroes with a REL sub... best $550 I ever spent in hifi audio in terms of joy per $

Ed Schilling the Truth preamp

Cullen digital and bi-wire copper speaker cables

Legend copper bi-wire speaker cables

Don Sachs tube preamp

Ayre- AX-5 integrated amp plus Ayre DX-5 universal player.

Happy Listening!

I bought a used Marantz 250 for $99 in approx 1996.  It beat the socks off the Adcom GFA-535 I’d been using for the prior six years. When I later upgraded from the Marantz to a McCormack DNA 0.5 Deluxe, I could barely hear a difference.  The main improvement with the McCormack is that it didn’t billow acrid smoke.

I’m not sure if this would count as a stupid good deal,but, I picked up a First Watt F5 ( not a clone,the real deal) with less than 50 hrs on it 5 years ago for $1200. Next would be 2 pairs of Zu Libtec speaker cables fo $75. ( 10’ and 8’)  

Sjofn HiFi The Clue speakers.  Except for a very persnickety Stereophile reviewer, these were resoundingly praised all around the internet.  $1k/pair.  At RMAF they used to be hooked up to a Hegel H70, Hegel DAC and I think it was a low-fi Onkyo CD player and blow away everyone who came in the room.  Placement against a wall and correct toe in is part of the buy-in, but their sound was just wildly good.  People were coming in the room from Magico's presentation, shaking their heads that The Clue could be as good or better than Magico's monitors.  I currently have two pair stacked, inverted (with a spacer) and wired in parallel to a Hegel H160, Hegel CDP4A and Rega P10 (waiting on new phono pre at the moment).  I'm not sure what would get me to set these speakers aside when doing a cost/benefit analysis.