clownfish
It's all in the details
I work from home and most of my listening happens at my desk.
My study system is a modest mixture of old and new. New Macbook Air -> ifi Zen Dac V2 -> Optonica SM-7100 -> Q Acoustics 3010i.
Inspired by the recent "FM aerials. Talk to me" thread I thought I'd switch from my usual fare of Spotify (and occasionally vinyl from my Optonica RP-7100) to Radio Paradise. Well..... what was a surprise was waiting for me.
I have grown used to Spotify and it is more than adequate for my listening purposes. In fact I was beginning to wonder why anyone needs anything more. Swapping to RP (FLAC mode) was a bit of a shock. When Wild Sweet started pouring out of my little monitors I was genuinely taken aback by the detail, solidity and even depth of what I was hearing. I never really expected much of a difference and thought the equipment would probably mask anything in the source. The ifi Zen really seems to be a stunner in this context and helps deliver more that I realised was possible from this system with its 40+ year-old amp.
Incidentally the headphone amp in the ifi seems to drive my Massdrop HD 6xx nicely and produce a very enjoyable sound when I need to switch the speakers off. The Optonica headphone amp surprised me by being even better. Not really more detail, just a bit more oomph where it matters.
Happy days !
Anyone else mixing modest old and new to good effect?
My study system is a modest mixture of old and new. New Macbook Air -> ifi Zen Dac V2 -> Optonica SM-7100 -> Q Acoustics 3010i.
Inspired by the recent "FM aerials. Talk to me" thread I thought I'd switch from my usual fare of Spotify (and occasionally vinyl from my Optonica RP-7100) to Radio Paradise. Well..... what was a surprise was waiting for me.
I have grown used to Spotify and it is more than adequate for my listening purposes. In fact I was beginning to wonder why anyone needs anything more. Swapping to RP (FLAC mode) was a bit of a shock. When Wild Sweet started pouring out of my little monitors I was genuinely taken aback by the detail, solidity and even depth of what I was hearing. I never really expected much of a difference and thought the equipment would probably mask anything in the source. The ifi Zen really seems to be a stunner in this context and helps deliver more that I realised was possible from this system with its 40+ year-old amp.
Incidentally the headphone amp in the ifi seems to drive my Massdrop HD 6xx nicely and produce a very enjoyable sound when I need to switch the speakers off. The Optonica headphone amp surprised me by being even better. Not really more detail, just a bit more oomph where it matters.
Happy days !
Anyone else mixing modest old and new to good effect?
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