[dngl]

Man, you guys make it seem so hard and confusing

With all the time you spend making formulas and comparing the ratio of speaker transparency with cdp detail and so on, you could be actually listening to stuff! Just listen until you find stuff you like and can afford... listening to music shouldn't be scientific; it's emotional. Buy for sound, not by numbers.

 

[zowie]

Quote:

Originally posted by shivohum Is it? Before that the MSB Link DAC came out and people said that it was a giant killer. Now the ART comes out and it's even cheaper, and people love it. Some have compared it to DACs that cost thousands of dollars. Admittedly, some of it is likely hype but .

Yup. Find an issue of Stereophile that doesn't find several items that are comparable to those costing thousands more or many times the price. As did all of the Julian Hirsch reviews when I used to read him some years ago.

It's not just about where you allocate the money, it's about musical (and sometimes electrical) synergy among components. The more expensive component, that may sound better in absolute terms, might be worse in your system because of complimentary strengths or compounding existing weaknesses.

That's what makes it interesting - no matter what your budget, you can't put a great system together by picking stuff out chinese menu style. It takes a lot of time and, unless you're pretty luck or uncritical, trial, error, and money.

That said, I think there are better things one can do with their time and money than get too involved in this game (I know first hand!).