Recommendations for HiFi Listening Room

I have to recommend extensive auditioning of systems from different high end dealers. You want to find the sound you are really emotionally drawn to. It is ok to audition really expensive equipment… to find “the sound” you guys like. Include tube equipment. I am sure the dealer you are talking with is recommending a good system from his knowledge of you and what he Carries. But, it would not hurt to spend time with other systems. See, what sounds right to you. Be careful of trebly systems, they can sound detailed… then over time you realize that is not good, that is harsh. Pay attention to your wife. She has better hearing… she will be drawn to more musical systems… pay attention to her.

I also like wildly different music types and after years of attending the symphony and other acoustic venues found that Sonus Faber speakers best reproduced natural - musical sound, improved all genera (as opposed to making one genera sound better at the expense of others), and when coupled with good tubed equipment (Audio Research) have me (and my female partner of 37 years) happier than ever (understatement… first time she truely loves the sound).

Sorry, no.

Think of your investment in tracks as a sunk cost.

Qobuz will give you access to probably every tune you bought and millions more… for $14.99 a month.

You can assess through an air… I did for years… sounded terrible… ok, not High Fi

My experience with streamers says you can close your eyes and buy the Aurender that is in your price range and be satisfied it has a really really high probability of being the best possible choice… and will be better than any PC or MAC.

Hmm, Anthem doesn’t sound like it is likely a audiophile DAC… but a good place to start. I would think the Qobuz / Aurender would be so eye opening that the DAC upgrade would then be obvious and net you a really significant improvement.

I would recommend giving up on Apple except for your EarPods and flying around with your Bose Quality Comfort headphones. High quality sound will come by a switch to Qobuz / Aurender (there are others, no doubt… but then you are on the auditioning route). I think the step up would likely take care of any issues with the past (allow you to let go).

OP,

Qobuz and Tidal are universally regarded as the best sounding services regardless of their resolution. Then between the two Qobuz sounds slightly better… but more importantly Qobuz has over one half million high resolution albums… as of late last year Tidal had a tenth of that.

My audio guy bugged me for a year before I finally started a trial with Qobuz. The trial did not last a month… but only a day. I immediately cancelled my Tidal subscription and never thought about it again.

@brewerslaw

Congratulations.

I think the N200 is a perfect choice given the rest of your system.

As far as a DAC. That is a price range I am just not familiar enough with. I really love Audio Research and Berkeley Alpha 3. A bit more expensive. Also the Schiit Yggdrasil… too inexpensive.My rule of thumb is the carefully chosen components in roughly the same price range are about optimal for the best sound for the price. So, roughly TT = Phonostage = Streamer = DAC = preamp = amp. My streamer and amp are about 20% above the rest in my system.