So you're happy with your kit....

you're not on the upgrade trail any more and the sound you have is 'good enough' for the price you paid.
what would be the one thing that would convince you to spend money on hi-fi again.
would it be some new quantum tunneling i/c or mains cable.
perhaps a new format and the kit to play it (dvd-a and sacd failed miserably here but perhaps ultra hi-res digital downloads would do it for you).
maybe a breakthrough in the way vinyl is replayed - a laser stylus that can play your vinyl without physical contact, keep the analogue sound and not cost a mint.
what about a totally integrated, open source, open codec, music server that could access, multiple on line resources for band info, artwork, trivia, and commerce?
the sky's the limit here guys what new audio breakthrough would cause you to rethink your entire system.

for me it would have to be 'proper' network audio. i've tried itunes and it's good but there are serious drawbacks if you use anything other than the apple formats or mp3. slimserver has a load of potential but it's not a do-it all turnkey solution and you need to get a load of 3rd party plugins to anywhere near realise it's full potential.
the hardware itself is good too but even the transporter looks a bit 'currys'.
i'd like to see a server / hardware package in the slim devices mould (i.e. using your pc not a dedicated proprietary server) capable of streaming 24/192 or floating point data to a capable dac. integrated wikki/google trivia and band info with a nifty cover style browser, auto tagging and artwork retrieval. all 'out of the box'

i'd also like to see a 32 bit floating point dac but i don;t think this would have as big and impact as something like network audio done as set out above

 

A truly revelatory speaker experience would persuade me to spend large sums but nothing else I can think of would.
In terms of amps, CD, TT front ends and most conventional box speakers we've gone about as far as we can IMO. I find most amps and CD players sound essentially the same used within their spec and box speakers just swap one set of honks and resonances for another. That's partly because I've had a strong interest in audio for 30 years so I've heard and owned shed loads of kit and very little surprises me these days, unless it's truly bad or just odd.

I would never again spend big money on cables or supports which I regard as a complete waste of time and money. That's my firm opinion BTW and not an invite for another cable discussion - please, we've done it.

These days I'm more concerned with getting the kit I have to integrate with the room which is hugely more important than, for example, swapping a Naim CD spinner for a decent Sony.

Your points about networked music are interesting. About a year ago I bought a Squeezebox SB+ which I expected to be the answer to the conundrum that is good ergonomics and good sound. I found it wanting in many areas though mostly the user interface.
I'm now setting up a music library in iTunes using Apple lossless which is sent to my DAC using Airport express. The CD player has a good built in 24/384 DAC so this is a nice simple solution and sounds great IMO. The music library sits on a NAS drive hidden away and accessible over Airport Extreme so the whole thing can be accessed by the PC, MBP, iPod or any other wireless device.

 

I think I'm not ever going to be 100% happy and free from the urge to "improve" my system. The systems I listen to most are my cheapest ones. At work I listen to this DIY effort fed from an iPod and driving cheap JBL control speakers. Perfectly OK at low listening levels.



At home, I usually listen to my PC's Terratec soundcard feeding an Entech DAC into an old Luxman amp driving old Tannoy SRM10B speakers. This is still my favourite out of the 4 systems I have.

If I was starting from scratch I'd probably look at active speakers. The main source would be a NAS type music server going into a "good" DAC. I'd also have a DVD player going into the same DAC for CDP duties. I'd probably have an Apple TV as well. So not that different from what I have now, just "improved" and fewer boxes.

When my AV amp stopped working a while ago I thought watching movies via my 2 channel setup was perfectly acceptable and when I finally replaced my AV amp I don't think my enjoyment increased as much as I was hoping. So starting from scratch I'd have to think twice about AV. I think I'd rather spend more on a 2 channel system.

 

Hi All,
As rooms play a big part in how your systems sound.Thinking of setting up an advice service or forum, with the aforementioned in mind.i.e sytems to suit your room acoustics. Any suggestions or any one wihing to join me. May eventually turn out to be a business proposition,depending on feed back.
Keep on rocking
John

 

A substantial win on the lottery!

 

Wireless inteconnects that would end endless cable anxiety and speculation - invisible speakers would be ideal too and cause me to remortgage..

 

Only to be replaced by thoughts of "Should I go with the platinum or Gold antenna for my wireless Rx/Tx box?"

You know its true.

 

Whilst I am very happy with the sound of my system, I'd like to improve the convenience factor. So for me, the thing i want to do at some point is to set up a computer audio source, probably via a macbook and itunes feeding a digital signal into the inputs of my CD player and using my plasma screen as a display.

I'll then have the option of playing music via CDs or via computer as the mood takes me.

 

Snap. Except for managing it on a TV. Prefer a hand held like an iTouch or similar.

Steve

 

Ditto.

 

Guys, you can do all that now.

Macbook/Airport Extreme/NAS/Airport Express/iPod Touch - all into your dac or CD player/amp digital inputs.

 

I know.

 

And how would all that compare with the Slimdevices route?

 

Less pikey

 

And potentially better sound IMO.

I've had a standard SB and SB+ and while the SB+ was better I found the interface flakey and the sound didn't live up to the many positive reports.

 

I don't like the interface either, but otherwise no issues.

 

There's a surprise.

Beware the internet forum hype machine.

 

Remote control TT ???

Well we can dream !

 

mike, i'm sure if a few respected hi-fi companies threw a few grand at the 'problem' there would be a marked improvement in the acceptance of network audio. unfortunately, much of the technology is software side which is out of the realms of most hi-fi cottage industry stalwarts. linn are having a bash but are charging the earth for the privilage with the 'ds' although there may be cheaper ones on the horizon. another drawback to network audio is the lack of real foo to get your teeth into. once you have a decent psu and good digital output stick the dac of your choice on the end and that's about all you can do bar cable noncery (sorry if you are pro cable tweaking - just mho). here's a prediction for you - software / firmwar tweaks to 'improve' the sound of net audio players. the only other thing left for manufacturers to do is play the same old game of dac tweakery but that's been done to death and if you like the sound of your own stand alone dac then pretty pointless too.
one thing that would really excite me is a new digital audio transmission standard not spdif, or i2c but something truly bulletproof and extensible. it's done all the time with audio and video container formats like ogg, matroska and png.
another thing i'd like to see is an audio synthesis network dax - just plug your network cable into the back of your dac and away you go - controlable via the remote (or your i-pod / nokia 770 / whatever) and sounding sublime. that's all a squeeze box is really a network adapter for your dac - unfortunately it has to go through 30+ year old spdif interface technology which is certainly the current weak point of any digital audio system.

a breakthrough in speaker technology would be good but unless there is a paradigm shift or massive breakthrough in physics we are stuck with the speaker cone as the most practical method of moving air. i'd love a true flat response from 20-20k hz from something the size of a shoe box but it ain;t gonna happen any time soon.
didn;t sony and/or technics have an r/c tt at one point? a linear tracker that used a photocell to scan for track breaks so you could skip forward and back?
another thing i'd love to see is transparent eq / room correction tact / lyngdorf have given it a good go but it's not perfect and you need some hefty speakers and amps to get anywhere near good with it.
while i'm on a roll i'd also like to see some improvement in the design of hi-fi. currently it's either 1930's mad professor style or a big cube of milled aluminium anodised the colour du jour with optional planks nailed to the side. the only comanies paying any attention to style are dubbed form over function rubbish and dismissed (unfairly in some cases). come on we live in a world where we have stylish cars, ipods, even computers are being made living room friendly. why do our hi-fi boxes have to be just that... boxes?

 

Sorry, to bang on about this, but havent you guys seen a SONOS system???