Which components are "stupid good"?

Clear Day Double Shotgun Speaker Cables. Ingress Engineering RollerBlocks.

JW Audio speaker cables.  10 bucks a stereo foot, so I spent $70 on my cables, and they have bested or equaled cables costing up to $3000 (my system, my ears, etc.)  I no longer audition speaker cables because I'm completely satisfied with the JW Audio cables.  

I had mentioned Magnepan MMGs and I still keep them on my list... but I add
The Parasound A21 power amp and
The Bluesound Node 2
The Node 2 can Stream music to multiple Bluesound Players all over the home.
It can access and connect to internet radio stations like Pandora, Spotify, Tidal or Roon so it is a Hi-Fi streaming device.
It can access cloud music services and your own local music library.
It will unfold and Play MQA files (which sound spectacular)
It controls music wirelessly with an intuitive Controller App for iOS, Android, Kindle Fire, and Windows & Mac OS X desktops or mobile device like an Ipad, Iphone or Anroid phone or tablet.
Simple to setup, easy to expand. It also has a great DAC!

I went to Best Buy to check out the new B&W D3 804 speakers . They sounded  very nice  "BEST" on the floor , I did listen to there other brands , Sonus Faber , M.L., few other brands put the D 3 804 on last was not even close .I could only find one thing wrong with these speakers ,
the price !!! I almost fainted  lucky for them I had a empty stomach .So down payment on a new car or walk to work ??? and it was 2 below 0 outside not to mention dangerous drivers . The 804 speakers gave off little heat , So I went with car. ""BUT"" when the salesman showed me he was running them thew the new Rotel RA-12 amp using the built in dac as a source . I bought the amp , Its very good well made w/lots of options and turn table hook up. Clean and well define . The price is reasonable , I just have butter a few more million bagels to make the $$$ to pick up the speakers . Best Buy gives options on a no interest loan plus no Bull Shit fees . And you can bring anything back if you don"t like the product , No any dealers do that ???

Speaking of the Linkwitz speaker, there is a related product that is uniquely good---the GR Research/Rythmik OB/Dipole Subwoofer. The bass in the Linkwitz is produced by a similar design---two 12" woofers facing in opposite directions and wired in opposite polarity. You may remember an also similar product from the 1980's, the Gradient sub made specifically for the QUAD ESL63. But the Rythmik A370 plate amp contains the patented Direct Servo Feedback circuitry that, in conjunction with the co-designed woofers, produces the cleanest, tightest, most articulate bass you have ever heard. The sub is available only as a DIY kit, which contains the two woofers and amp. Plans for both a W-frame and H-frame into which the woofers are mounted are available on the GR Research website. The OB/Dipole sub produces bass voted "Best Bass At The Show" at multiple RMAF's. 

The Linkwitz lx521 speaker's,  incredible to say the least. 

No question, the We16ga interconnect at $1.59/ft.

Raidho, Magico, Aurender, Air Tight, DCS, Clear Audio, Nordost.

Stupid Good.



Matt

"Stupid Good" ???

Good for stupid audiophiles?

Magnepan MMGs (best sounding budget speakers)

Very surprised by the performance of a pair of Silverline Prelude Pluses.  Bought new for under $2K.  Wasn't expecting them to sound as good as they do.  I think they deliver performance comparable to speakers 2-3x their price.    If not "stupid good", then at least "crazy good".  

Hey ebm, I think that your posts are stupid.

I had to think about this for a minute because some of my gear should sound stupid good given their price, but keeping in context with the OPs question I would say my new OPPO 103D IS stupid good....   It can decode virtually anything, has incredible picture quality plus it sounds pretty good through its analog outputs.  It can pull any media from my network or hard drives and the ability to control it via a tablet allows me to see the Playlist and album art really makes it stupid good.

For me it would be the Hagerman Cornet 3, especially when it was offered as a kit.

Value-wise, I nominate the Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker.

Tubes- Conrad Johnson
SS     - Pass Labs

For the money, or any money, Klipsch Epic CF-4 speakers. Yes, stupid good.

Anti-cables ain't too shabby. 

Had a lot of gear in and out of my system this year from cables to components and I keep returning to these for my loudspeakers. (Thiel CS 3.5) 

Pass Labs X150.5

Once again, ebm makes my day!

My choices are: Oppo 105D (probably all Oppo players); Stax headphones, and Nakamichi cassette decks (mostly the higher end models).

Plenty of very expensive stuff is just stupid!!

Pass Labs Aleph-3
Very stupid good

PLEX app.

Vh audio cuTf VCaps ARE stupid good though not stupid cheap however possibly the greatest observable "improvement" I've experienced for dollars spent.

eXemplar eXception SE-Line

can make a $100k sound system sound twice as good.

First Sound pre amps are the most musical I've tried. Upgrade the pot resistors to Vishays, upgrade the capacitors and power supply when finances allow and you get pure magic.

With it's DACs, power supply and fully balaced outs, I think the Oppo BDP-95 is a great CD player for the price, but when you add the fact that it plays blu-rays and just about everything else...it's stupid good.

Ayres top tier gear.

And the Airport Express with a Toslink

hi all ! I guess I have a few nominations...Tekton Lore loudspeaker at $1000 per pair . These things are closer to live than about anything I have ever heard . Belles A150 amp...got used on ebay for $450 , thats adcom territory pricewise , soundwise your gonna have to spend a lot more that that to better the a150.

NAD pp2 phono stage

1. Huge multi driver speakers that resemble a PA System but don't quite sound that good.

2. Interconnects that are air/water insulated..

3. Hemp drivers. Smoke um if you got um.

4. Wireless speakers

5. ???????

A great front speaker and a great sub will have you playing your whole music collection. Sounds stupid but worth looking at.

Stupid bad stuff? hmmmmmm

OK, I'll play.

Clever clocks, brilliant pebbles, transportation tweaks, and hot stampers.

I think we have covered the stupid good stuff. Now lets focus on the stupid bad stuff.

These cables are by FAR the BEST that I have ever tried !! All new Wegrzyn Cryo'd 5N Silver Signature HDMI cable and Wegrzyn Cryo'd 5N Silver Signature Digital Audio cable with F-type connectors for my Directv HD incoming cable !!...

I will go out of a limb and say all would agree that the best listening position for 2 channel stereo is between the speakers, and an equal distance from each speaker. Other than that, (assuming you agree with that), what other questions, issues or debates raised on this forum, have been decided definitviely? Just curious. I hope this is a saber-toothed free zone.

Wyetech Opal Pre. Unfortunately, all sold out and waiting for Roger Hebert to come out with new SOTA "Ruby" pre. If you xcan find a used Opal, grab it. They go fast because they are legacy products.

Neal

Sonos for wireless music distribution around the home.I recently got into it and I am loving it.Particularly there S5.
George

NAD 565 BEE CD/DAC w/digital in-out and USB port on the front panel for a thumb drive.....I found out that the reviews were right.

Yamaha a-s2000 , BOSE's latest 901's , Maestro ac outlets , DNM INTERCONNECT cables with the HFTN upgrade

The Tube Audio Design TAD-150 tubed preamp is one hell of a preamp for the money, so versatile in as much as it will take 12AU7, 12AX7 and 12AT7s, but mostly SO VERY MUSICAL.

I really love the simplicity of Rega's new Brio components and their new P3 turntable. Very beautiful as a set of components, kind of like Naim, the Enlish know how to package things up. I also like Cambridge Audio--nice Chinese-made gear with great WAF. I also like small tube companies like Leben and Almarro in Japan and Decware in the US--very Zen like quality. I love the cabinents of DeVore: his cherrywood is stunning to see in person.

My Mapletree Audio 2A/SE Linestage pre for <$1k new. By far THE least expensive piece in my system (which, IMHO, sounds world-class), including ICs! Yet I'd never consider parting with it.

Tad hibachi mk2 yes they are stupid good X100

mhdt Constantine DAC.

I'm not sure what more one could expect from a DAC than this delivers, short of jumping perhaps into the big buck DCS gear.

The Cary should sound good. It's fairly expensive.

I don't know why I didn't put this on the first time, but:

Cary Audio SLP98p, great piece.

Can be found relatively cheaply on A'gon used, and it really sounds sublime. Anytime a piece of gear has been around this long, has that kind of longevity, it's bound to be pretty good.

I love mine, never have a desire to change out.