Products you added to your system in 2021 that made most impact to your music enjoyment

first post and a confession, not sure if I’m an audiophile, but I am a musician and for me, listening to music is like a sacrament.  The point for me prob isn’t accuracy or fidelity as much as it is about it being transported into place, time, state, etc.

I had a very rudimentary setup with a pretty awful pioneer consumer receiver (Sx-303R) and pioneer floor standers (CS-M551s), streaming from Apple TV and Lg Tv optical out, however I mainly listened to vinyl on a fluance rt81 and Pro-Ject pre.  The whole point of this Craigslist find was to see if my family could handle living with an audio setup, esp the floorstanders in the living room.  Good news, they even liked the pioneer setup!  It was passable for me, but now that the use case was established, time to spend some $$.

my new rig began with replacing the crap receiver with a Peachtree nova 150.  It was like those old pioneers came to life.  Everyone (and not a one an “audiophile”) who had heard the old amp was astonished by he improvements made with the Nova 150.  Wife approved!  This was easily the biggest improving factor this year.

not to be outdone, the Zu Omen Dirty Weekends I ordered last March *finally* came in on 12/6 and I’m blown away.  The clarity and surprisingly, the bass output, is exceptional.  Even running lossless from my iPad I feel like I am front row of a club show when I listen to Andrew Bird’s “MFWY,” and like I’m in the room with Bruce when listening to Nebraska on vinyl.  John Stirrat’s bass slap on “Jesus etc.” was something I had never noticed before, and I promise I’ve listened to that record hundreds of times. Nick Cave’s “Ghosteen” moved me to tears.  This is why we do this, right?

I have the new bluenode streamer coming in on Monday to make life easier for everyone in the house to enjoy the rig.  I’ve heard some don’t love the dac, but if my iPad sounds this good into my peachtree…

I can see upgrades down the line, like an orchard audio Dac, or a Technics SL 1500, but for the foreseeable future, I’m off the treadmill, enjoying the pleasure of listening to my favorites “again for the first time.”

I hope your holiday is filled with peace, contemplation, and bangin’ good music.

Vaya con Dios,

Dir. G. Cole

Thanks @reubent —glad you enjoyed it.

in regard to the Blusound Node—I haven’t lived (tinkered) with it long enough to make any sort of honest, evaluative conclusion.  However, I am a bit ambivalent about it, but that may be on me for buying $600 box hoping it would fill-in all of my perceived gaps.

The pros—it’s easy enough for everyone in the house to use.  It presents with more  power and body than my iPad.  The included HD radio stations are pretty great!

The jury is out, however, in regards to playback.  (Confession #2–I am fairly certain Vinyl is my preferred source material (inner-ring distortion not withstanding))

At the moment, I am streaming Amazon HD and the buffering is untenable for me.  This is my biggest issue.  I don’t think I’ll be able to make a helpful comment on playback fidelity or musicality until this is sorted.  I’m not ready to lay this issue at the foot of the Node, Amazon HD, or some aspect of my internet connection.  But, I’ve never had the issue of buffering whilst streaming in the past.

it’s a smidgen annoying that Apple Music HD isn’t supported (as that is the preferred service for my family members).  I may re-up with Tidal and see how that runs, so watch this space.

@reubent do keep us abreast of your phono journey.

Any constructive help on optimizing my node is appreciated.

DirGordonCole

@reubent i have been traveling for the holidays, so I’ve not tinkered as I’d hoped but I seemed to have stumbled into a solution on what I thought was a connectivity issue, but perhaps what a clock issue?

The last setting, deep into the app, is a clock-syncing setting.  Once disabled, the buffering/stutter has disappeared.

no conclusions as of yet on what effect this may have had (did I do something to the dac on my node side to accommodate something on my amp (peachtree nova 150, node plugged into coaxially)?  Will report when I know more.🎅🏻