Component Priority: Speaker First, Source First, System Balance...?

[Mike Hanson]

Alternatively, the moral of the story is that large high efficiency speakers are not as good as small, low efficiency, but accurate speakers for overall better sound!

That's an interesting argument, but it doesn't hold water in this case. I've tried the SE400 with both the Ergo IX in the office and the Cornwall in the family room. The SE400+Cornwall is clearly the best overall performer.

FYI, the SE400 exists in my office driving the Ergo IX, because it works well for my listening needs. It struggled with the Cornwall when I cranked it up, which is why it's not there.

Its little brother, the SE200, is in the family room only temporarily until I finish building my next Orchard Starkrimson Ultra amp. The Orchard is a better amp than the SE400, except perhaps for tonal richness. However, when driven by the Cary SLP-2002 tube pre, it beats the SE400 quite handily. It's all about component matching and system synergy!

The SE200 will probably go into my bedroom to play night time music, and the Royd Sintra 2 is an appropriate load for it.

 

[x21]

The idea of source first made a lot of sense with analog playback. With digital it seems to have dramatically shifted where the budget should go.

 

[Leeken]

It is hard to argue with the BIT IN CAPITALS.

If you had a £1000 streamer and a £1000 amp and £1000 speakers and suddenly found £30K to upgrade, would you really expect to spend it all of the speakers?

Would you also agree with the view that ‘X% different’ is not always the same as ‘X% better’, and that some errors in reproduction are more annoying/ noticeable than others?

Yeah I’d spend all the money on the best pair of actives I could,job done

 

[Phyztech]

With digital it seems to have dramatically shifted where the budget should go.

Why? It’s still nice to have a dac as a most expensive component of a system

 

[Phyztech]

Yeah I’d spend all the money on the best pair of actives I could,job done

There was a nice topic recently about ATC50A, you may look, the job only begins with that

 

[x21]

Why? It’s still nice to have a dac as a most expensive component of a system

Because unlike analog, where the turntable makes a significant difference, digital has pretty much been solved at even the most budget price ranges.

 

[Phyztech]

Because unlike analog, where the turntable makes a significant difference, digital has pretty much been solved at even the most budget price ranges.

Oh dear… have you compared ‘the most budget digital’ to something worth spending?

 

[x21]

Oh dear… have you compared ‘the most budget digital’ to something worth spending?

I have had a fair amount of DACs though here. It's a solved issue.

 

[Joe]

So when you just go to the nearby room at any audio show you imagine everything or how it works? What other nonsense are they publishing today?)

Why the aggression all the time ?

I was merely saying what I had hear some long time ago. I didn't make the comment myself ..I was just repeating what I had heard.

Do you think that you can remember a sound accurately so that you put one interconnect into your system and then swap it out for another and can the remember the exact sound of the first one ?... that is what they were referring to .The were saying ( via controlled testing ) that your aural memory is remarkable short in such a situation and by inference not reliable .

 

[colasblue]

I think the logic of source first still makes perfect sense , provided you divorce the concepts of quality and price.

I use a chifi (Topping) digital source at well under a grand into a hugely expensive Naim active system, which I've had for a very long time.

The digital source is the best (and cheapest) I've ever had but I expect the amps could be improved on a bit (but not a lot, and not a lot cheaper) and the speakers would cost an absolute fortune these days and probably couldn't be bettered very much.

I also run a TT which is price compatible with the rest of the system in today's money, and can occasionally best the digital.

If I was buying new today I'd be buying a Genelec xxx1 series system with an 83xx series sub without a shadow of a doubt.

 

[x21]

I use a chifi (Topping) digital source at well under a grand into a hugely expensive Naim active system, which I've had for a very long time.

Topping has done some wonderful engineering in their DACs.

 

[Phyztech]

I have had a fair amount of DACs though here. It's a solved issue.

Yes, there’s a hint of that at 6k, at 10k it is a good playing digital, at 20k it is almost solved and it is solved for around 50k

 

[x21]

Yes, there’s a hint of that at 6k, at 10k it is a good playing digital, at 20k it is almost solved and it is solved for around 50k

Nah you need the 100k model to fix it

 

[Phyztech]

Why the aggression all the time ?

I was merely saying what I had hear some long time ago. I didn't make the comment myself ..I was just repeating what I had heard.

Do you think that you can remember a sound accurately so that you put one interconnect into your system and then swap it out for another and can the remember the exact sound of the first one ?... that is what they were referring to .The were saying ( via controlled testing ) that your aural memory is remarkable short in such a situation and by inference not reliable .

There’s definitely a question of definitions involved cause even the smartest researchers may know that conductors can remember pieces of music longer than 20 sec and consistently deliver a required performance.

 

[Phyztech]

Nah you need the 100k model to fix it

Maybe, new MSB Cascade is 95k

 

[x21]

Maybe, new MSB Cascade is 95k

4k for the casework. 1k in electronics and 90k in profit margins.

 

[Phyztech]

4k for the casework. 1k in electronics and 90k in profit margins.

Whatever, just don’t insist that Topping solved digital, that’s a pure joke

 

[S-Man]

Maybe, new MSB Cascade is 95k

If the quality of the solution is related to the price and 50K solves it. what is the point of spending another 45K?

 

[x21]

that’s a pure joke

Yeah.. That's the joke...

If the quality of the solution is related to the price and 50K solves it. what is the point of spending another 45K?

Bragging rights.

 

[Phyztech]

If the quality of the solution is related to the price and 50K solves it. what is the point of spending another 45K?

You can usually get used one for a half of retail