What's your WTF hifi moment

When I was around 8 years old I stripped my brothers Pioneer PL12D down and realised that the tone arm wasn’t connected to the mains plug, I can still remember my surprise. My brother took it well and explained the wonder of motor and arm.

 

I have had a few WTF moments, but one that came to mind while reading this thread is the time that I was watching a YouTube review and realised that the speakers being reviewed were mine. Not just a model that I sell or a similar looking pair, but the same serial numbers. I had lent them to a "customer" for a home demo. The kicker is that they came back with a bent speaker terminal and some cracked veneer.

 

My WTF moments were seldom, but memorable....
In 1978 I was a proud owner of an A&R Cambridge A60...a friend lent me for a day his Naim 32/160. I was expecting it to be LOUDER...but it was the difference between music vs sound...I was hooked!

Many years later...replacing a Classe DR9 power amp with a pair of legendary Exposure XVI monoblocks...is it even possible that a power amp (the Classe) can be so bad.

And a few years after that...replacing some speakers with Sonus Faber Extremas...who knew that $5k speakers were so BAD compared to $13k ones??

The next year...replacing an 82/Supercap with a 52/Supercap. Since when do preamps have such a huge impact on sound.

And very shortly afterwards...and one of the biggest WTF moments...going from from 2xNAP135 into the Extremas into 4xNAP135 biamped. MASSIVE increase in 3-D dimensionality, pitch accuracy and stunning dynamics compared to either 2x135 or 2xXVI.

Then there were the NEGATIVE WTF moments...as in WTF have I just done???

Replacing some Tangent RS4 with Linn Kans I was one of those...I replaced a beatiful 3D harmonious sound (the Tangents) with a 1-D screechy nails-on-chalkboard one (the Kans).

Or an early release CDS3 that was worse than a DVD player in sound quality (teething pains)

Or replacing a CDSPS with a brand new XPS(1). WTF, WTF....

 

Cheers Alex. I've bought one! I remember you praising it in the past and it piqued my interest. Been keeping an eye out for one for sale since. Looking forward to trying it out next week.

 

Norman at UHES did a demo for a friend and I of a Statement system into Ovator S800 speakers and the only good thing I could say was that they sounded nice at low volume...

 

Well, I just wanted to be sure. I'm going to Munich this year so might even get a listen... Will let you know my thoughts if they are exhibited.

 

I don’t think anyone who buys a Mini 1 will be in any way disappointed but I’ll row back a little to temper expectations: It’s only 11 Watts so it needs efficient speakers, it works best in power amp mode with a separate preamp, it does sound better with an LPSU that costs four times more than the amp, some £1K power amps do sound better. Nonetheless…

 

I remember your story... I think you mentioned it a few years ago with more detail and displeasure... Time's a healer (is that a song.. )

 

Up grading my intergrated amplifier form 80 watts to one that was 100 watts. Making my B&W 685's sound really better.

 

Maybe so, but I don't think it does speaker repairs.

 

Thanks Alex. My expectations are in proportion to the price paid, but hope to be pleasantly surprised. How do you think it will go with 88dB 4 ohm Dynaudio Contour 1.1’s in an office system (small room, lowish volumes)?

Do you know if the LPS needs to be exactly 13.5V, or will 12V also workI have a Hynes 12V supply that I could try.
How do you convert to power amp mode? Is there a way to bypass the volume control circuit or do you just crank the volume to maximum? Edit: I found the documentation on line and see that there are internal jumpers to convert to power amp mode. Power supply can be 12-14V so the Hynes supply should work.

I plan to compare it against a Naim 42.5/110 that I bought out of curiosity recently. The source will most likely be a Chord Mojo2.

 

My WTF moment was when I swapped out the Chord Qutest / Mscaler for a Chord Dave / MScaler mid last year, played every day since it still blows my mind how good the Dave is.

 

My WTF moment was replacing my Naim CDI with a new CDS2. It was quite the letdown for me, maybe my expectations were too high? And admittedly, getting caught up in the hype. For whatever reason, I felt that the “soul” of the music went away with the CDS2 in place. The CDI was/is a fantastic player, I miss it.

 

Andrew, I think it will work well in your context, the Dyns 4 ohms worry me slightly. The Hynes supply should be excellent - primarily it’s going over the 14V that’s a problem (I spoke to Chris and Sean Jacobs about this). I have tried 12V and 13.5V supplies and can’t remember if there was any difference. Mine’s been boxed for a while but yeah, from memory, use the jumpers and set volume to max.

The Amptastic/Tripath chip gives an amp that’s valve-like in a good way: flow, energy, just engaging (trying hard not to say ‘musical’) and, like most valve amps, lacks bass grip. It can also sound fairly nasty if over-driven. Everyone should have one for when their main amp breaks and for a desktop system it’s great.

42.5/110 is nice too btw.

 

That is almost my exact experience, except I had a CD2 (with CDM9Pro) and I was left scratching my head about what happened with my CDS2 ‘upgrade’.

 

What happened is you moved away from the TDA1541A chip. CD2, CDI, CD3 and CDS all had that chip and the CDS is by far my favorite Naim player. The CDSPS is also a better PSU than the XPS as was mentioned upthread.

 

my first and most easily recollected experience was sitting down for a demo of the "new" Naim CDS, must have been early nineties. The track was Peter Gabriel, Don't give uo and the assistant recommended we "follow the voices as we normally would" but when they just exploded in a way that I had never heard before it was a bit of a revelation

I still recall it as a halo moment in my hifi journey

 

I can't say I've had one yet.

 

Yep, I had that too.

Had a vastly more positive moment when I hooked a 555PS up to the CDS2. It certainly wasn't cheap, but that was one hell of a source; absolutely visceral.

 

If you ask permission... that's a two argument scenario - one for asking and another when you buy it anyway.

If you buy it - it's just the one argument when you buy it anyway.

Someone I knew used exactly that scenario when buying his Porsche (Boxter, I think). The one argument went OK - but allowing the car to roll backwards into the duck pond on its second day was , I understand, a trickier argument!