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

NAD Master Series M32 integrated amplifier with Bluos expansion module. Purchased at clearance price of 45% discount due to end of product life as it has been recently replaced by the newly released M33. Happiness is.

Upgraded my preamp to a Pass XP-32.  Nice upgrade.  This is a wonderfully detailed and natural sounding SS pre.  Very, Very quiet.  Great sound stage and wonderful imaging both right and left and front and back.  My previous pre was a Cary SPL 05 with the SE upgrade, which was great but all in all not at the level of the Pass.  The Pass lets me hear deeper into the music and makes my speakers and room totally disappear.  Also, nice not having to drop $$$$ on vintage NOS 6SN7 tubes.  Also, upgraded to Nordost Tyr II speaker cables from Frey II.  More expansive sound stage and more micro detail.  Very happy with the new additions.  

Don't hate on it until you try it, Schitt Loki EQ, really added some polish without adding noise. Love having some tone control again.

Also: REL Speedwoofer, tight, powerful and musical, added some nice bottom end that I didn't even know was missing.

My biggest changes were transducers on either end of my little system.

Decided to take the plunge on my favorite Koetsu and picked up a new Vermilion. In spite of Koetsu changing the body shape and eliminating the threaded mount, I’m glad to report that it is all there in pure flesh and blood. Experiencing this lowest impedance model into a transimpedance phono stage really is the best of all worlds!

After many years of enjoyment with my analog active Meridian M20s, It was time to relieve them. Breaking in a pair of Dynaudio Heritage Special has been interesting to say the least, but happy to say they are quickly (~200+ hrs.) becoming everything I’ve heard on demos and very worthy successors. While others may be able to comment, it seems as if my hearing is/was attuned to the active tweeter delay circuit in the Meridians and I believe Dyna has done something similar in their seemingly complex 1st order passive networks that just jives with me. Cinema-scope imaging and tone/texture to die for. Detail monsters that never loose sight of music’s emotion.

Also stepped up my IC signal cables to Audience Front Row with speaker cables next on the list. Those Jeff Day mentioned White Lightening spkr cables are filling in for the meantime extremely well.

With passive speakers requiring power, I broke out my sweetheart Accuphase P250 fully updated with the new Hovenga Driver Board Upgrade from Paul @ Many Moons. Such a great vintage amplifier made even better. The well worn cliche’ “wire with gain” fully applies.

It’s been a nice ride with synergy in spaces. Need more records!!

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