What is Your End Game System?


How do you "measure" your end game system? Is it by budget, how much it cost? Is it by the luxuriousness of your build and room?

Is it by your components being either state of the art or unobtanium? Is it by the satisfaction you get when you are sitting in your listening chair?

What is your end game system and how do you know when you have reached it?

kota1

My office system, for a small room, is now done after about cycling through 10 amps, 4 preamps, 6 DACs, 2 speakers in the last 2 years. I listen to this system all day while I ’work’:

- Magnum Dynalab 108T tuner

- Accuphase T-101 tuner (modded)

- Musetec 005 DAC

- Sony SCD-1 SACD player modified by Vacuum State to Level 5+

- Benchmark LA4 preamp

- Benchmark AHB2 mono amps

- KEF LS50 Meta + KEF KC62 sub

- Audience FrontRow speaker cables, Audience Au24 SE RCA and XLR, and Benchmark XLR between preamp and amp

I know this is end game in the office, because it sounds the best to me compared to all the other gear I had in there. Almost all the other gear cost more money.

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In my office I have a great headphone system. I am done for now. If RAAL comes up with something better in the next decade I will upgrade to that.

- RAAL SR1a earphone and CA-1a headphone

- RAAL VM-1a headphone amp

- Benchmark DAC3B

This is end game because it is incredible sounding. I am not a headphone expert, but I think I have the best headphones and amp at ANY price. The comparison is based on the comments on Head-fi on the RAAL vs other TOTL headphones.

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My Livingroom system is also done but not completely purchased. The only thing I have for that so far is the Musetec 005 DAC. Everything else is figured out but either too expensive or not yet released.

 

I have my end game system now already it consists of:

Sim audio p8 preamp, Sim audio w8 amp, esoteric P10 transport, Wyred4sound 10th anniversary dac, monitor audio platinum 200 ll, speaker cables are Neotech the Amazon, rectangular OCC single crystal wire, interconnects are the Amazon rectangular OCC single crystal wire, digital cable is Harmonic Tech magic lll OCC copper and OCC silver, power cables are all harmonic Tech pro 10, will be upgrading to neotech the Amazon.

I got into the game pretty late so I went for my endgame on the first try. I am loving my system and feel I won’t need any major changes. Happy listening!

 

Ron 

Thanks

@rpeluso @urbie @yyzsantabarbara for sharing the details of your end game systems. I can see how all of you squeezed every last ounce of performance by the details you posted. It wasn’t a simple "plug and done" off the shelf approach. Much testing and retesting went into it.

If any of you knew when you began your build what you know now, what advice would you have for others who are either starting a build or in the middle of one?