If you were serious about sound you would...

You would not use a Mac computer Waay to much noise with programs in the back ground , your active speakers No thanks far better quality sound from a dedicated amplifier , you want a great reference dac , and SS drive, and dedicated 

 Server . Plus the cables they use in studios are subpar vs good audio.

having owned a Audio store the quality they use in a studio especially cables ,

I tried using these name brand cables in Audio it just restricts the presentation .

for amplifiers,preamp Bricasti has been doing pro audio for 20 years and night and day better then any class D amp stuffed in a speaker Many Top studios use Bricasti also a vacuum tube mixing council like Manley much more natural and just like Tube amps used for guitarists they just sound more natural , All this  is necessary if you want an analog type recording , many new pressing they are bright and just thrown together ,thsts why many older recordings had more life, Care went into the mixing , that’s just my observation ,and opinion .

The source is not the digital or analog encoded information as such , but what is encoded by it : the recordings microphones types and location trade-off choices of the recording engineer, an acoustic space and atmosphere ...The way the dac or the vinyl choices through the gear system will CONVEY and TRANSLATE it to an acoustic environment which is the controlled or uncontrolled listener room depend of acoustics and psycho-acoustics controls of the listener room first and last ...

The source is the acoustic capture by micros of the live event recorded in a room which will be translated in the listener room by a system dac or turntable /speakers embedded in it ...

The main factors determining the S.Q. will not be what most people called the source which is only the encoding system (digital or /and analog) but the acoustics controls in the recording process making possible the translation of the encoded spatial information in the listener room ... The source is the recording process not the dac ... The source is an acoustic take not a language, digital or analog which ONLY CONVEY the acoustic space chosen perspective from the lived source ...

Then what most audiophiles called the source result from a confusion between the acoustic spatial information and the gear conveyor itself and his language , analog or digital turntable or dac ...

It is so true that unbeknownst to most audiophiles the spatial information about the sound are lost and spoiled by the effect of any two speakers system on the ears/brain by the negative impact of the crosstalk on the brain interpretation ...As say Dr. Choueiri :

«There’s a problem, Choueiri and many others maintain, with the way that stereo recordings have been played back for the last 70 years or so. “If you go out in the forest and you hear a bird singing, it’s not because there are two birds singing,” Choueiri explained with his characteristic intensity. “There’s one bird singing.” Stereo only creates the illusion of localized sound by manufacturing a phantom image “and your brain doesn’t believe it.” In life, a sound is precisely localized because of a slight difference in the arrival time at the right and left ears, as well as slight differences in amplitude and tonality that are attributable to the physical presence of the listener’s head and the shape of his or her ears. With reproduced sounds emanating from two loudspeakers, these relationships are considerably degraded, especially if the listening environment introduces reflections. Each ear isn’t hearing what it’s supposed to—inter-aural crosstalk is spoiling the party.»

Then the translation of the spatial information coming from the acoustic recorded space to the listener space is spoiled for ever without using proper filters to recreate this recorded lost spatial information in a listener room ...

The source is not a piece of gear , it is the spatial properties captured by the recording engineer, and any dac and any turntable at any price will translate it more or less correctly because for doing so we need first a dedicated acoustically controlled room and we need the filters as the BACCH filters to neutralize the destructive effect of any stereo system by crosstalk (or from any multi speakers system) the destructive effect on the spatial information takes coming from the recording engineer choices ...

Psycho-acoustics and acoustics rule the gear not the reverse ...

with large budgets, why not hire musicians to play in your room to get an idea

of the real thing?

smaller name pro artists work for very little and would likely take even less for a quick private show

with the amount of funds some people drop on this hobby, you could bring in a nice rotation for less than the cost of one high end component

Within that logic we need the dimensions, furniture and treatments for each room of every studio if were gonna do it right. Is this an april fools thread?

Is this an april fools thread?

Not at all ...

It just that most audiophiles confuse gear and acoustic condition and information , They dont read about acoustics and think that when someone talk about acoustics he means merely some panels on a wall ...

I am not a gear fetichist... For me the source is acoustics information multiple trade-off in a room coming first from microphones types and location of the recording engineer choices then the source is the relatively good or bad translation by the system/room for the ears/brain of the listener location in a controlled or uncontrolled room .. The source is not the dac or the turntable by themselves  because  they are only the conveyor of this  timbre/spatial acoustic information already determined by the recording process but untranslated  yet in your room acoustic and for your specific ears/brain ..

The fact that we own high end costly gear may help but dont solve acoustic problems especially if we do not understand them to begin with ...