My system sounds great.

Over the past year my system has undergone a huge change and in the process my listening pleasure has increased tremendously. I attribute this to the synergy of the new components, however some singular changes have earn praise for their own merit.

Gone.....Classe 5, Classe 150, Well Tempered Record Player, Highly modded Thorens TD 160, Matrix Mini I v2, AKG 701Q, Matrix M-stage.

In........Audible Illusions M3a, Rogue M120's, Thorens TD 850 highly modded, Michell Tecnoarm, Benchmark HDR, Hifiman 400.

The difference is not so night to day that a listener would easily notice but a serious listener could easily hear the increase resolution and over all improvement. My playback system went from good to very good and on that note it brings an increasing bigger smile to my face.

Now the dog that wags the tail is the work I put into the Thorens TD 850. The new motor, carbon fiber boards and Michell arm provides the music a great jumping off point for everything else down stream. My trust worthy Benz Glider with Soundsmith ruby upgrade never sounded better. Add new vinyl pressings that serve up music that far exceeds what was offered in vinyl's heyday provides sweet, sweet music to my ears.

The Benchmark HDR is a honest product that gives a very clear and dynamic conversion to digital files. Add to that a great headphone amp and wowza!!!!!! Finally, Hifiman has created a product that, IMO, give the average Joe and opportunity to hear state of the art sound for small change. This is a product that everyone must own. You just shouldn't get this good sound so cheap. The more these burn in the better they sound and that is saying something because out of the box they raise the bar pretty high.

Anyway, as of today I am really happy with the choices and work I have done. Wise shopping on my part means that I actually spent very little to go a long distance.

I know that in the past I maynhave listed individually each of my changes but I feel that it is time to reflect more on the totality and the success rather than each component. So, if I bored you with a rehash, my apologies. To make your time worth it, here is something new. Go out and get the vinyl copies of Paul' s archive version of Venus and Mars and James Taylor's new album. Both sound incredible. The former kicks the ars out of any copy before it!!!!!!!!!