stop-spinning;610963 Wrote: > I always like it when someone says you will easily achieve a "high-end" > sound on a shoe string budget! > > Does everyone on this thread concur with that? I mean, if you asked a > Hi-Fi retailer the same thing they will reply "you get what you pay > for". Or, "that's why you pay more for that DAC" etc etc. Are we all in > agreement here that factually speaking - we can literally get a true > hi-end sound on the cheap? Or are we all hoping and wishing this is the > case, but in actual fact the reality is - we need deeper pockets for > that to be distinctly possible? > > Perhaps "hi-end and shoe string budget" should more realistic be > rephrased as "excellent value for money"? Or am I wrong - and real > hi-end with the modern technological advances of today (tri-path amps > etc) is not just exclusive to the super rich anymore?
Hi-end is a relative term. Do I think the $200 DACs on ebay sound as good as some of the DACs costing $4000-$6000? No. But do they do most of what the more expensive solutions do? Probably yes. So what's high-end? For some, the Touch into a $500 DAC is high-end. For others, the Touch isn't good enough and they also have a specialized transport and a $5000 DAC. Would I call a Touch into a $500 DAC high-end? No, but most people I know would, and would think that A Touch + DAC + PC is very "high-end". I think, in general, the more expensive solutions above are usually better ones, at least up to a point. The question is how much better and the price. If the cheaper solution gives 90% of what the expensive one gives, is it "high-end"? And don't forget, much of the price of "high end" components is devoted to cosmetics, as cosmetics can make or break the market for many products. You or I may not think cosmetics are important, but for many good sound is a necessary, but not sufficient, reason to buy a component. Looks also matter. At Computer Audiophile they just reviewed a complete dCS stack that costs over $30000, and said it was the best digital they ever heard. I hope so. But does that mean that someone who "only" has a $10,000 solution isn't hearing "hi-end"? And what about the $70,000 dCS stack? If it's better than the "cheaper" version, does that mean the lesser dCS stack isn't "hi-end"? I don't think the label matters. What matters is: are you happy with the sound? If not, can you afford something better? Is the improvement "worth it", even if you have the cash? There are some units that give more value for money than others, sound wise. (For example, the Touch). Maybe we should think more in those terms than about whether something is "high-end"? -- firedog Tranquil PC fanless WHS server running SqueezeServer; SB Touch slaved to Empirical Audio Pace Car; MF V DAC3, MF X-150 amp, Devore Gibbon Super 8 Speakers; Dual 506 + Ortofon 20 (occasional use); sometimes use PC with M-Audio 192 as digital source. SB Boom in second room. Arcam CD82 which I don't use anymore, even though it's a very good player. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ firedog's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=11550 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=84903 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
