What I learned on Audiogon This Year


Things I learned from the forums this year:

1) In n Out Burger is the best fast food in the world, and Father's Office is the best Burger in LA (thanks BongoFury).

2) Widespread Panic and Arcade Fire are great bands.

3) All Digital is the wave of the future through downloads and analog is dead.

4) Analog is back to audio dominance and will continue to grow, digital is a trend and will die off except for convenience sake.

5) Don't ever say anything derogitory regarding certain types of gear that are defended by thier ______-mafia gangs. Especially___________________________.

6) Expensive Power cords are a still the biggest snake oil in audio.

7) Speakers are the most important place to start building a system.

8) Analog sounds better than digital.

9) Blu Ray is dead in the water, downloads for all media, video and audio is now the standard and will only continue to grow.

10) This is not a hobby, but a terrible affliction/addiction, and I need to change out some more gear.
macdadtexas
You may have to disconnect all the cables in your system, or move gear, but get your cables arranged in an orderly fashion with an emphasis on separating them from each other as much as possible. It makes a difference.
Macdadtexas, I like your observations and I'm sure more will be added to the list.

Regarding point number 10, you might want to try a Wyred 4 Sound DAC-2. It may challenge your analog rig and give you something else to ponder. At least that's been my experience.

My next step is to get a laptop so I can bring my computer music files to the DAC-2 (via the USB input) in my large-room 2-channel system. I already have a wireless computer network in the house and an external hard-drive loaded with music files, so I'm half-way there.

Happy Holidays!
11) Do not make cat jokes. Especially ones advocating fixing them to audio equipment.

12) Do not diss rim drive turntables. Idlers are the future of analogue.
I have learned that whatever the majority thinks is easy will be difficult for me. Whatever tweak that made a world of difference in the other guy's system will make no difference in mine.