Funk
pfm Member
I'll start out by saying that I have a hifi I very much love listening to but like many I get the 'itch'...
However, I do find myself going a little in circles and wondering whether upgrades will really be worth it or whether the law of diminishing returns kicks in harder now than ever before?
I have a PC running MusicBee which feeds FLACs into a Topping D90SE (I got lured into a bargain on a Black Friday sale) which in turn runs into an XTZ Class A100 D3 amp; speakers are Kef Reference 3.2s. Speaker cable is Chord Odessey 2, the RCA cables between the DAC and amp are Audioquest Golden Gate which were on a discount on Amazon at some point. The kit is, in my opinion, well set up and the sound is very enjoyable and well-balanced. The front-ported Kefs work better in my room than the Celestion A3s they replaced but which I couldn't quite bring myself to sell with them having been my 'grail' speaker for the better part of 15 years!
So what's the problem? Well I tend to buy used stuff on the whole which comes with a few pitfalls. Primarily you're 'buying blind' with no backsies if you don't like it, and that's not much of an issue with lower-value kit (a good example of this is the Bluesound Node 2 which I bought used, lived with for a couple of weeks but ultimately really didn't like. I was able to sell it on again for what I'd paid for it used). This, clearly, is a fairly good way of trialling stuff and not being out of pocket if you don't like it.
The issue I'm coming to now is how that scales; as good as the XTZ is, I've been wondering about something Class D or perhaps something from a higher price-point. I was on the cusp of buying a MF M6Si from a PFMer for a decent price but logistics and life got in the way and I put that on pause. It's not an outrageous amount (around £1500) but it's approaching my 'I can shift this on quickly and easily if I don't like it?' limit. An extreme example; another PFMer has some gorgeous-looking Devialet amps for sale which are into 5 figures but haven't sold. I'd LOVE to hear what they can do but whilst I could easily buy them tomorrow, I'd have enormous concerns about just how good could they really be and if for some reason they fail to meet expectations, would I encounter similar issues selling them on myself, meaning a non-trivial amount of money tied up until they go... Is the only option for hearing really high-end kit to buy new where you can get a home demo to really hear how something sounds?
The thing is that I'm also realistic about why (very) expensive kit might not work for me. I'm sure the Kefs could benefit from a higher-quality amp - the XTZ was only around €800 new and whilst it punches above its weight, I'm sure it probably wouldn't keep up with something in the £2-5k range. The D90SE is a fantastic DAC with excellent specs - I suspect any changes to a higher-end DAC would probably be more about differences in the analogue output and even then it might be hard to say it's 'better'. Yet the limiting factor over everything is more likely to be both my listening space (which is OK but not perfect) and honestly....me - I'm OK but not perfect either!
I'd love to try higher-end amps with the Kefs and I've also seen the insane deals on the Markaudio Sota speakers in the classifieds at the moment (part of me would really like to try a decent pair of stand-mounts just to try 'something new'). But how do you know when to stop when it comes to hifi? How do you know when you've reached the limit of your room rather than the limit of your kit? Where do you draw the line financially on buying something you've never heard, might not like and which could be difficult to sell on..?
So then I sit down, listen to some more stuff and think....y'know, this sounds great; do I really need to change anything...?
Rinse, repeat...!
However, I do find myself going a little in circles and wondering whether upgrades will really be worth it or whether the law of diminishing returns kicks in harder now than ever before?
I have a PC running MusicBee which feeds FLACs into a Topping D90SE (I got lured into a bargain on a Black Friday sale) which in turn runs into an XTZ Class A100 D3 amp; speakers are Kef Reference 3.2s. Speaker cable is Chord Odessey 2, the RCA cables between the DAC and amp are Audioquest Golden Gate which were on a discount on Amazon at some point. The kit is, in my opinion, well set up and the sound is very enjoyable and well-balanced. The front-ported Kefs work better in my room than the Celestion A3s they replaced but which I couldn't quite bring myself to sell with them having been my 'grail' speaker for the better part of 15 years!
So what's the problem? Well I tend to buy used stuff on the whole which comes with a few pitfalls. Primarily you're 'buying blind' with no backsies if you don't like it, and that's not much of an issue with lower-value kit (a good example of this is the Bluesound Node 2 which I bought used, lived with for a couple of weeks but ultimately really didn't like. I was able to sell it on again for what I'd paid for it used). This, clearly, is a fairly good way of trialling stuff and not being out of pocket if you don't like it.
The issue I'm coming to now is how that scales; as good as the XTZ is, I've been wondering about something Class D or perhaps something from a higher price-point. I was on the cusp of buying a MF M6Si from a PFMer for a decent price but logistics and life got in the way and I put that on pause. It's not an outrageous amount (around £1500) but it's approaching my 'I can shift this on quickly and easily if I don't like it?' limit. An extreme example; another PFMer has some gorgeous-looking Devialet amps for sale which are into 5 figures but haven't sold. I'd LOVE to hear what they can do but whilst I could easily buy them tomorrow, I'd have enormous concerns about just how good could they really be and if for some reason they fail to meet expectations, would I encounter similar issues selling them on myself, meaning a non-trivial amount of money tied up until they go... Is the only option for hearing really high-end kit to buy new where you can get a home demo to really hear how something sounds?
The thing is that I'm also realistic about why (very) expensive kit might not work for me. I'm sure the Kefs could benefit from a higher-quality amp - the XTZ was only around €800 new and whilst it punches above its weight, I'm sure it probably wouldn't keep up with something in the £2-5k range. The D90SE is a fantastic DAC with excellent specs - I suspect any changes to a higher-end DAC would probably be more about differences in the analogue output and even then it might be hard to say it's 'better'. Yet the limiting factor over everything is more likely to be both my listening space (which is OK but not perfect) and honestly....me - I'm OK but not perfect either!
I'd love to try higher-end amps with the Kefs and I've also seen the insane deals on the Markaudio Sota speakers in the classifieds at the moment (part of me would really like to try a decent pair of stand-mounts just to try 'something new'). But how do you know when to stop when it comes to hifi? How do you know when you've reached the limit of your room rather than the limit of your kit? Where do you draw the line financially on buying something you've never heard, might not like and which could be difficult to sell on..?
So then I sit down, listen to some more stuff and think....y'know, this sounds great; do I really need to change anything...?
Rinse, repeat...!
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