Lived up to or beyond the hype for 2005.

My list contains the following gear that I was lucky enough to end up purchasing, after home auditions, that signficantly raised the quality of the sonics of my system: 1) Pass LabsX-350.5 2) Acoustic Arts DAC1-MK3 3) Stealth Varidig Sextet digital cable 4) Acoustic Zen Absolute IC's and speaker wire. Yes, it was a very good year in my home for upgrading towards sonic pleasures.

It's been a good year...

1. Rives Level 1 design

2. Realtraps Mondotraps--less bass was definitely more

3. Bow ZZ-8

Eastern Electric Minimax pre-power, plus a pair of the Anti-Cables (frighteningly good for the money).

Paul Speltz Anti-Cables, Exemplar 2900, Gallo Nucleus Reference 3's and Onix SP3 Integrated all have thrilled me in the past year.

Oh- almost forgot- Oritek Interconnects as well.

It's also been a good, albeit VERY expensive, year for me.

1. Von Schweikert VR-9s
2. Jena Labs Dreamdancer speaker cables & Fundamental One PCs
3. Walker Reference Hi-Def Links
4. Rowland Concerto integrated
5. Arcam DV-29 DVD/CD player
6. ASC panels
7. MAYBE the new DarTZeel preamp (likely January 2006, unfortunately)

Whew! My wallet is smoldering in my pocket!!!

My speakers, JMlabs Micro-Utopias. I never knew monitors could sound this good!

No hype at all because these are "underground" even within the "underground" high end audiophile/lunatic fringe community, but anyway, it's the Intuitive Design Summit PSL 624 loudspeakers. I've reviewed them here on A'gon. That review reads like a blatant shill. It isn't, I swear.

I am a man of modest desires and even more modest means. Yet and still, I am happy.

Music Hall MMF-7

Meadowlark Ospreys

Custom Built Osprey Center Channel

All used, but hope they still count.

My top 5:

1. Tannoy Berkeleys (HPD385A) - $40 pair

2. Fisher SA-16 - ~$25

3. Toshiba SD-4960 - $60

4. Sony PS-X500 - $40

5. Grado Gold - $65

All were very much worth the money and lived up to the hype.

- JP

without question, the vector tonearm.
i have had it only a couple weeks but
"WOW WOW WOW"

Yes, used equipment absolutlely qualifies. I should have said so. Sorry. And I suppose, now is a good time to add my choices:

Two items tie for first place. One analog, one digital. These two items qualify for my "beyond the hype" award:

1.) Transfiguration Temper W, moving coil cartridge.
2.) Aural Symphonics Optimism V-2, glass fiber-optic ST cable.

These two pieces definitely live up to the hype:

3.) Purist Audio Design Venustas speaker cable.
4.) Purist audio Design Dominus power cord.

Neil

.

Supratek Grange
Zyx Airy3 LO
Silverline Grande La Folia
Canary CA-339

Good thread. Best of my '05 upgrades : Speltz anti- cables, Cary 303-300 , Prima-Luna pro-2 , Jolida tuner and Tungsram NOS tubes.

Speakers that still amaze me: Green Mountain Audio Callisto

Amplifier: Cary Rocket 88R

Cardas: Power Cords, IC and Speaker Cable

Reality Check CD burner

Something old--EVS Millennium DAC II
Something new--Auricle Audio Signature Encore Digital IC
Together these two bring me the same pleasure I experienced listening to my ideal, the Reimyo setup I could not afford.
And, don't laugh--Brilliant Pebbles and Clever Little Clock (my wife already did the laughing for you). Note I am still waiting for the promised upgrade which will actually provide a new feature, flashing the correct time like the dumb conventional clocks in my house:>)

I upgraded from stock power cords to Harmonic Tech. and one Electraglide. My only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. The funny thing I would tell my friend about it & he would run away every time he saw me. He decided to give it a try and all I hear from him is how well his systen sound with good powercords. Makes an audiophile feel warm & fuzzy all over.