Good-sounding audio components?


How do you decide if something is worth buying? Are there any hints or typical things you look for? 

 

For DACs, headphone amplifiers, CD players etc.

jackhifiguy

Showing 3 responses by ghdprentice

Wow. What a question.

One many of us have spent thousands of hours on.

In general, it sounds good. But that is so loaded. If I was starting off again. I would recommend listening to lots of high end systems and attend as much live acoustic music as possible. Not because you can afford a high end system, but it can help you identify where you want to go. Also… try to listen to the music, not the components… when you find a system that emotionally moves you. That is it, get that.

 

Do not jump for the most detailed sound. Auditioning trebly speakers / systems sound good immediately and then later sound fatiguing. Listen, listen listen.

 

Then read, read, read. Robert Harley’s book The Complete Guide to High End Audio. Get a subscription to The Absolute Sound, Stereophile, and HiFi+. Be very carefull until you feet on the ground what you listen to here in this forum. You have to be able to discriminate between good advice and poor advise, there are many that know little… headed down a dead end and are convinced it is all junk, or made one good purchase and think they know it all. Check credentials… see if there system is shown under their ID. Every ones values are different and each audio system is different and say the same DAC put in a dozen different system will have a different outcome.

 

Also, while not always true… usually true, you get what you pay for. There is budget, mid-fi, high-fi, and audiophile products. In general there are big differences in performance at each level. While you can definitely put together an astonishingly good system on a shoestring…  you got to put in the work, lots of it… hours and hours of research and listening. Most of us started this way… used, carefully chosen components. Read, read, read, listen, listen, listen. Buy.

As I pointed out, I listen to determine if it sounds good and worth it to you. 
 

Given your budget, you are going to be looking in budget category. Hopefully you can listen before you buy.