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

I made a huge leap from a Musical Fidelity V90 phono stage to Manley Chinook. A few months later upgraded from a Project Debut Carbon TT with an Ortofon Red to a VPI Super Prime Scout with an Ortofon Black. I should not be surprised by the difference in outcomes given the leap but I still can't get over the difference.

I’m DONE! (for 2021)

It all added up in immeasurable increments, never sounded better

99.9999 copper speaker wires and interconnects, locking rca connectors, McIntosh mx110z tube tuner/preamp overhaul by Audio Classics; Cayin a88t bias by VAS; 16 ohm L-Pads replacing 8 ohm pots; and finally I bought a sound meter to balance/refine the speaker’s L-Pads (it ain’t easy) for the best sound ever.

Then, I finally succeeded in finding a ’new to me’ CD Player that is the best sounding one I ever had. That makes your whole CD collection new, what a treat. Integra CDC-3.4 mark II, combo of dual wolfson dacs and integra additives does it for me.

Finally, my friend is a grammy winning music producer, I got the fun of his company and the gift of his ears (and years of experience) to refine the speaker’s L-Pad adjustments.

Got rid of everything but the speakers and Limin U1 mini, looking to get rid of that by end of the year and going direct streaming to speakers over ethernet. 

I'm with Elliotnewcombjr, A new to me cd player, T+A, model D-10. The sound difference is just crazy between this and any other player I have owned. Lets see what 2022 brings!

Two big ones this year:

• New analogue front end—Pure Fidelity Harmony and Origin Live Conqueror MK4. Because I held the cartridge constant (Charisma Signature One) I got a clear picture of the performance gains.
• Upgraded my LTA Ultralinear to the “+” version—major deal. Then added another to go monoblock—minor deal.

As a long time proponent of vibration/isolation devices, the Nobsound springs are great and very affordable. Available on Amazon, plus a great thread on AGon

1. Picked up a pair of Emerald Physics 2.8 Carbon OB speakers. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to go back to box speakers after these. (At least not in a price range I can afford.)

2. All my main components now run SR fuses. Eye-opening experience.

Honorable Mention:

Got a Underwood modified Denon 3910 tube CD player a few months ago. Exceptional piece of gear.

Changing cables and wire to a loom all by Signal Cable.

Adding Bel Canto e.One Ref501S into one system

Adding AH Qualiton X200 and matching with QLN Prestige 5 Floor-standers.

Changed all my cables (speaker, interconnects, and power) to Synergistic Research Foundation. Well worth the money. 

I first added the Isoacoustics Gaia II to the speakers. The Nobsounds then came in, used on solid state amps. Both brought good improvements to the system. Recommended.

If I had to pick one, that is pretty easy, my ‘new’ Vandersteen Treo’s I recently acquired. Came with a set of AudioQuest Comet cables, (literally thrown-in with the deal), which was a big helping of icing on the cake. Didn’t think I would replace my Vandy 2CE Sigs for a while, so this was a nice surprise. The Treo’s are really great, and a nice big leap over the 2CE’s.

As far as others…..My Hagerman Trumpet MC tube phono pre, and not long after, my daily driver Soundsmith MIMC cart.

Now, if my new Belles Aria Signature preamp would show up, it would be a very Merry Christmas.

DSpeaker Anti-Mode 2.0

Sunlight from Ted Smith 

Sanders line stage from TMR. 

Matrix X-SPDIF 2 from Apos 

Home brew single board network player powered be iFi Elite & Gemini out. 

Seismic Iso Bars from UK

Purchased a Pass XA25 in May and a Aric Audio Transcend tube amplifier in November.  Both play well with my Tannoy Sterlings.

I upgraded my speakers to Sonus faber Olympica Nova V - very happy listener

TARA LBS MUSE SPEAKER CABLE the best.

Spatial Audio X-5 Speakers made the biggest improvement.

AGD Audion Mono Blocks came in second.

Nobsound Springs and Acme fuses.

Just bought a TriPlanar tonearm MkVll with all the factory upgrades . Most of my upgrades were done in  2019-20 consisting of

CJ CT5 preamp

Don Sachs Kootenay 120 amp

Pure Power tech filter & mats

Core power 1800 balanced power conditioner

FWIW, The Pure Power Tech filter and mats were as much an upgrade as the components themselves. But it all works cumulatively. IOW the system is no better than its weakest link

2 pairs of Townshend f1 interconnects.  WOW.

Townshend speaker podiums. WOW again.

Waiting for my f1 speaker cables.

Chromecast Audio and a MHDT Stockholm v2

love streaming

Schumann Resonance generator. I paid under $20 including shipping from China. It has acrylic housing, without it it was near 10 bucks. Now that completes my quest. All I have left is to enjoy music. Special thanks to @mahgister whose writing inspired me to get another generator on top of my 20 year old unit.

Applied for grad school class to learn how to insert photos on Gon.

Balanced Power Transformer- Lowered noise floor

REL Sub T5x. Awaiting 2nd one. -Big enhancement

Audio Mirror DAC upgrade from Oppo-Huge Difference- Sold the 205.

Innuos ZEN mk 3 Streamer/ripper/storer- sold Roon

Tannoy XO upgrade by Danny Richie-1988 parts were crap.

Pass Labs INT25- sold XA25 and went to INT. 

It was a very good year for audio....

Thank you HiFi Gods

QSA violet fuse in my EAR 868 preamp.

Cayin A50TP MK Integrated  vacum tube amp and Douk Audio T3 pro tt pre amp.

Holo May KTE DAC...

Many changes this year:

Replaced:

1. MacBook Pro with Project Stream Box Ultra 2

2. Mad Scientist 'Black Magic' USB Cable

3. Halide Bridge SPIDF converter to M2Tech Hiface Evo 2/Clock/Supply

4. Black Cat Silverstar coax cables

5. Modded Beresford SEG Dac to modded LKS DA-004 Dac

6. Black Ravioli Big Pads for Dac

7. Akiko Audio USB Tuning Stick

8. Recapped/updated Perreaux R200i amp

To Arrive:

1. SR Orange fuses to SR Purple for amp and Dac

2. Meicord Opal ethernet cables

3. LPS for modem/router

4. LPS for M2Tech Hiface Evo Supply

5. Upgraded DC cables for LPS

Ear Yoshino 868 Preamp. Wonderful  pairing with the Bryston 4B3 and was the only change in 2021.  Zero buyers remorse.

Two Puritan 156 power conditioners

Some cabling from Noteworthy Audio 

Started applying some PPT paste 

Lucas Audio LDMS Music Server.  Oh my, best investment IO made.

I picked up an Aric Audio Motherlode II.  It plays very well with my First Watt amps. I’m very happy indeed. This is more than likely my endgame amp,and pre. 
 

  What if I am a robot? Does anyone have a problem with that? 

Audio Note AN-K/spe speakers, Sonnet Morpheus DAC, and Shunyata Research power cables.

I purchased a Bellari EQ and a SVS PB2000 Pro subwoofer to compliment the JBL L100 Classics I had purchased in mid December 2020   I also purchased two pairs of Blue Jean interconnects to connect the EQ. 

The only thing I bought in 2021 were Darwin Speaker Cables. Turns out I waited too long to get them as I have their ICs and never thought the SCs would raise the listening pleasure as much as they did.

I had mine terminated with bananas but they're essentially the same.

All the best,
Nonoise

My new Coda CSIB integrated amp is excellent and nice to have a well made U.S.A product, also the New Denafrips Terminator2/ and DCC reclocker are excellent additions to my audio system , next year is the most expense part of the system New Loudspeakers 

The best thing I’ve done in my audio room this year was adding a dedicated power line. I used upgraded 11 ga. wire and a Furutech GTX outlet. I should have done this long ago.

Biggest upgrade change this year was upgrading my turntable to a Schiit Sol and went total overkill and put a Benz Micro Zebra L on it. Holy shnikey that thing is good. Like I said, complete overkill but I really wanted to see what the difference was in skipping a good level cartridge of a 2M Black or Hana SL vs jumping up another tier. Now I get to slowly upgrade the rest of the system around that.

I think two changes were most important, added a second dedicated line for my amp (as opposed to the original which now just powers the rest of my components). And a Silent Running Audio Ohio++.2 isolation platform for my Linn LP12 Turntable. Also at MC’s glowing reviews added Nobsound isolation springs under all other components. The sum of all of these have noticeably improved my system.

Replacing all gear footers with the appropriate sized Isoacoustic Oreas.  Upgrading speaker cables to the amazing high value Wireworld Equinox 8. 

ModWright PH 9.0X phono pre. I’m really enjoying this, a big jump up in performance from the previous amp and a very worthwhile addition to the system.

Upgraded from Bowers and Wilkins 702 S2 speakers (nice speakers) to Legacy Focus XD speakers (in another world - Wow)

Added Mini dsp with Dirac Room correction (another very noticeable improvement)

And now here is where I will lose you all; and its too bad because until you do it, you will have no clue of the absolute pleasure I get from this: re-incorporated my vintage 1980's, $200 Carver C9 Sonic Hologram Generator into the system as I have done with every upgrade and still..... consider it my most important piece. There..... I said it!!! Thank you Bob Carver from my home state of Washington. Genius!

Denafrips Ares 2 DAC and an EQ from Schiit . the LOKI Mini.+

PBN Montana XPS speakers to replace Ascend Acoustic sierra towers with raal speakers. Never in my wildest imagination did I expect such a huge improvement. I learned the importance to get the biggest speakers your size room can handle in order to properly fill it up with a live like sound. For me and my music preferences  anyway.

Swapped out a Marantz 8805 for a Lyngdorf MP-40 Processor. My goodness, what a difference. Room Perfect to the rescue. Best money I have spent for years. 

@mikekollar 

Yeah, congratulations on the speaker upgrade, that was inevitable profound. The rest… ok, glad you are enjoying it.

2021 was a year of major investments in my system. Here are a list of all my upgrades for the year:

Denafrips Pontus II DAC was the greatest upgrade for 2021 and essentially transformed the sound of my 2.5k CDs.

Bluesound Node 2i tremendously improved my streaming enjoyment and SQ when paired with the Pontus II.

Hifiman Arya headphones replaced my Beyerdynamic DT1990s.  I prefer the sound of magnetic planers for long listening sessions.

Topping D90 headphone amp pairs very nicely with the Aryas.

Morrow Audio SP6 speaker cable was the icing on the cake.

1. GAIA III isolators and spikes for Tannoy DC8Ti speakers
2. Wireworld platinum starlight 8 USB cable from Zenith streamer to Matrix SPDIF-X
3. Magic i2s HDMI cable from Matrix to PS Audio DSD DAC
4. Moving from Roon to Sense in my listening room.

Collectively, it was a huge improvement.  The most noticeable improvements came when I added the GAIA footers and spikes, and started using Sense.  I'm amazed at much better the music sounds with Sense, as are my friends who are hearing it for the first time.  

The stock rectifier in my Decware SE84UFO failed recently and I replaced it with a NOS RCA 5U4G. Sound quality improvement? I almost hate to say that my jaw dropped. Literally. The change was that profound. Money well spent.