Which components knocked you out on first listen?

1970: ESS Transtatics, 1972: Magneplanars Tympani I-U's, 1974: Fulton Model J's. All speakers.

I take it back! My number one knock-out was hearing a Decca cartridge for the first time. The immediacy, the presence, the dynamics, the color! Makes all other cartridges sound like pale ghostly apparitions.

HiFiMAN HE-1000 planar magnetic headphones at Axpona. Astounding! Audiophile cliches are actually justified for these: "Game changers"

LISTEN to these if you ever get the chance.

1985, the Mati Otala Citation XX amp.
I had a tube mac amp at the time and it sounded as if you had removed some heavy moving blankets of the speakers. I still use it as a back up.

The following gear along my 25 year journey as an audiophile have knocked me out..

- Infinity IRS-V's. Stunning in every way. Thunderous concert-level bass and ethereal "reach out and touch it" imaging across a vast sound stage. Simply awesome.
- Vitus SIA-025 integrated amp paired with a Vitus SCD-010, Siltech Royal Signature cables & Magico Q1's. Amazingly pure, analogue-like sound which sounded dynamic and mellifluous at the same time. That demo shocked me and directly led to me selling my old system. I'm happy to say the Vitus SCD-025Mk2 is much better than the old SCD-010.
- Magico S5's. They were the first speakers which brought back the same sense of awe and excitement as the Infinity IRS speakers. The S5's sound well balanced, coherent, a touch warm & have very good bass which has texture & inner detail. They are great "all rounders".
- Crystal Arabesque. I was blown away by the overall coherency, wide, even sound stage & natural sound of these speakers. The unique glass arabesque-shaped cabinet & superb RAAL 140-15D tweeters certainly helped. The RAAL is the fastest, most grainless and natural sounding tweeter I've ever heard. The Acapella TW 1S ion plasma tweeter is faster, but did not as natural to my ears. I'm looking forward to seeing how far along Magico have come with their new diamond-coated beryllium tweeter.
- Tech Das AF1 tt with Graham tonearm. The AF1 sounds very solid, velvety smooth & coherent. Resolution and dynamics of course are outstanding, as are its build quality and industrial design. To sum up: One of best designed and looking decks ever made. Natural sound which draws you in and makes you want to listen.