What was your best Audio Purchase of 2015?

I had a busy year:

- Wilson Sasha v2
- D'Agostino Momentum Preamp
- VPI Prime TT
- Allnic H1201 Phono Preamp
- Klaudio RCM

But my favorite this year was the Aurender N100H.
 
o0OBillO0o said:
Bud- Yes, HDTracks sold as "high resolution" are a waste of money.

There is no clear provenance or evidence to where these recordings come from or who manipulates them. Simply where is the evidence? Why is "The Pale Emperor" different - what process was done to the album? I know the album your referring to, and from what I can find it was released by Hell Etc.. aka Marylin Manson's own label.

The fact that its 24bit/44KHz is not the indicator to why you like it so much. What you are describing with "quieter" and "louder" is the mastering. The files have been altered from the CD release.


http://blogs.unitrends.com/3-2-1-backup-sucks/
Click to expand...


So what if it's a better master? That means I've done my job. Do you want to know what EQ setting I used or what Attack/Release settings I used on my comp? Where does it end?
HDTracks has no facilities to upsample, downsample, convert or anything else. They are a distributor! They rely on us mastering engineers to do all their work. Six years ago we were dumbfounded on why labels would give us up sampled work and got blamed for it since we didn't "check" it. Who da' thunk they would put 24/44.1 PCM on SACD's. No one cared in the 90's when they bought all those SACD's that the files on them were up sampled.
HDTracks (and other DSP's) use 3rd party mastering houses to do all their work. If you don't like our work, don't buy it!
As far as backing things up, Grundman says every time you back up a file, it changes.
If you want to carry this further, I'd suggest you contact me off line.

Now, back to the OP...
My best purchases were the Magnepan 1.7i, Lampizator Balanced GG and Parasound Integrated.
 
My gear is relatively modest so fairly say that my best purchase of 2015 was the Multibit grade to my Schiit Audio Bifrost DAc.

My current stereo system configuration ...

StereoDiagram18.jpg
 
Bruce B said:
So what if it's a better master? That means I've done my job. Do you want to know what EQ setting I used or what Attack/Release settings I used on my comp? Where does it end?
HDTracks has no facilities to upsample, downsample, convert or anything else. They are a distributor! They rely on us mastering engineers to do all their work. Six years ago we were dumbfounded on why labels would give us up sampled work and got blamed for it since we didn't "check" it. Who da' thunk they would put 24/44.1 PCM on SACD's. No one cared in the 90's when they bought all those SACD's that the files on them were up sampled.
HDTracks (and other DSP's) use 3rd party mastering houses to do all their work. If you don't like our work, don't buy it!
As far as backing things up, Grundman says every time you back up a file, it changes.
If you want to carry this further, I'd suggest you contact me off line.

Now, back to the OP...
My best purchases were the Magnepan 1.7i, Lampizator Balanced GG and Parasound Integrated.
Click to expand...

Thanks Bruce!
 
DaveC said:
For me, an entire system:

1. Pioneer S-1EX speakers. I plan to keep these until I can afford TAD Reference series speakers.



2. New Preamp. I'm not sure preamps get much better so I plan on keeping this indefinitely, or until I think I can build something better... ;)



3. An Odyssey Stratos Amplifier with Kismet black PCB and all upgrades possible.



4. Source is the same as last year/other system, a Sony HAP-Z1ES. I still have my EL34 SET and Omega single driver speakers too.
Click to expand...

I bet that outperforms systems costing 5-10x
 
This is my first post at AudioShark, well balanced opinions abound here which is a refreshing change.

For the best audio purchase of 2015, would have been to replace a long term frustration with USB to a pro AES3 setup.

- RME HDSPe AIO AD/DA PCIe sound card
- RME ADI-2 DAC
 
Mr. Big said:
I had a busy year:

- Wilson Sasha v2
- D'Agostino Momentum Preamp
- VPI Prime TT
- Allnic H1201 Phono Preamp
- Klaudio RCM

But my favorite this year was the Aurender N100H.
Click to expand...
I also got the VPI prime.
But...I still use the same cartridge denon 103R.
I used to own the allnic 1201 but foolishly I sold it.
Now Graham slee.
Regards

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 
Lumin A1 paired with the Simaudio 600i have been revelatory with Abyss headphones.
 
Dpod4 said:
I bet that outperforms systems costing 5-10x
Click to expand...

Thanks, upgrades to this system would cost a lot. The source is the only thing that could be upgraded "reasonably" but would still be $5k+...

I can DIY a bit though...I can also build external crossovers with upgraded parts and wiring for the speakers. The amp has WBT connectors which are nice enough to keep, but I could upgrade the Groneberg i/o cables, IEC socket and fuses, maybe bypass the input caps with a good film cap. I think this amp would be hard to beat without spending a ton, but I'd like to try it out next to an NCore NC1200 or even NC500 amp as I can get the modules to make my own amp, and I can always get a 2nd Stratos to make monos...
 
Several pieces came through my system this year, the standouts:

1) My best score to date, the versa dynamics 2.0 'table.

2) close behind a pair of quad esl 57. These are probably my 6th pair of quads and my 3rd or 4th pr of 57s (depends if you count my long term loaners). they're currently with kent McCollum being rebuilt, this time i will add two vandy subs and Max's super tweeter - sort of a mini levinson HQD system for the modern age.

3) Technics RS1500. my first serious foray into R2R. It has Nortronics heads wired out for repro. I acquired an ATR aria around the same time but i'm now going in a different direction with the preamp (tubes).


 
803D's and
The C2500 by McIntosh!
May 2016 bring me the MC452


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Went a little crazy this year. Started by turning my family room into a dedicated 2 channel room. Then purchased Sonus Faber Strads, McIntosh C1100, Acoustic Zen Absolute speaker cables and Stillpoints under almost everything. Everything I did seemed to make a big improvement. I think I made some other changes earlier in the year but can't remember. It was a blur.
 
puroagave said:
Several pieces came through my system this year, the standouts:

1) My best score to date, the versa dynamics 2.0 'table.

2) close behind a pair of quad esl 57. These are probably my 6th pair of quads and my 3rd or 4th pr of 57s (depends if you count my long term loaners). they're currently with kent McCollum being rebuilt, this time i will add two vandy subs and Max's super tweeter - sort of a mini levinson HQD system for the modern age.

3) Technics RS1500. my first serious foray into R2R. It has Nortronics heads wired out for repro. I acquired an ATR aria around the same time but i'm now going in a different direction with the preamp (tubes).
Click to expand...


Jealous! I'm very jealous of your R2R kit! That is going to be my next vice!!!
 
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