Quote:
Originally Posted by GrussGott
I have some old PSB M4U2s! They do sound awesome! My issue is I primarily need closed-backs and so usually I'm all about passive isolation (IEMs are the best there, but I don't love things jammed in my ear canal).
I've tried a lot of high-res stuff, but ultimately Tidal HiFi is easiest, though I have ripped all my CDs to FLAC but honestly it's usually just easier to listen on Tidal (I've haven't gone so far as Rune, Audirvana, etc). I have done a ton of 320 / CD testing and I can tell almost 100% of time - i know this because my wife required an extensive test administered by her before agreeing to my budget 
For me, a peaceful hour of music daily is awesome and valuable.
As for measurements ... that was my first post to chris719 - I'm not an objectivist so they don't really matter much to me. For example it's not that my M4 must be the fastest to 60mph and I must be able to blindly discern that I'm in a BMW, I just like the M4's price/function equation more than other vehicles. Einstein's rule that not everything that's important can be measured and all that.
I love putting on my ZMFs WAY more than my HD600s - so even if the HD600s were cheaper and sounded better I'd still take my ZMFs, they smell awesome!  |
No arguments about the experience. I had Audio Technica ATH-W2002 40th anniversary edition a long time ago, I loved the wood/lacquer and the cute story behind it.
My observation is that where you land on the spectrum correlates with EE experience. I just want to know that I'm actually getting the best. My experience is that most Hi-Fi stuff is not. I strongly believe, based on testing, that everything that matters actually can be measured in audio (outside of the tangible).
I work outside of audio, and a lot of the stuff we do is more demanding than audio from an electronics standpoint. A lot of the "high-end" stuff is amateur hour and have obvious bad PCB layouts or designs that are susceptible to RF ingress. I would only buy from a few vendors that I feel like actually do excellent engineering work. I do recommend the Benchmark and RME products for stuff that's reasonably affordable.
Schiit.... I don't have much confidence in them. Their low-end stuff is decent given the price I guess. The Yggdrasil is a joke, though. There is no benefit to misusing the AD5791 DAC in an audio application. It has all kinds of issues when you try to use it for audio, which is why AD does not sell it for that purpose. I don't believe they are all that competent based on their history.
A lot of these vendors are plain liars. I was at CES in Vegas 10 years ago and met some engineers that work for a well known high-end cable manufacturer at the Venetian. We had drinks later, and the contempt they had for their own customers was unreal. The cables look nice, feel nice, and are high quality, but the story they sell is total bullshit.
Don't worry, I'm not out to convince anyone of anything
. I've long ago accepted this is not possible.