Products you added to your system in 2021 that made most impact to your music enjoyment


As 2021 comes to an end, just thought it would be cool to share some of the most impactful audio upgrades in your system this year?
Here’s my top 5 list…

1. Pass Labs XP-12: Upgrade path was from Rogue RP-1 to Rogue RP-5 and then to Pass XP-12 that was the final touch. Huge improvements across the board. Mates well with my Rogue ST-100 tube amp.

2. Phono Cartridge: Goldring E3 MM to Hana EL MC. Clarity, presentation, dynamics in spades!

3. Phono Pre: From the built in phono pre in RP-1 and RP-5 to MoFi UltraPhono to Sutherland KC Vibe MkII. Lowered noise floor, increased resolution, dynamics. The KC Vibe MkII is almost double the cost of the MoFi and it’s the one of the few upgrades where an improvement was proportional to the cost difference. At least in my system. Records that seemed noisy become more listenable. A great little phono pre. 

4. Audience AU24sx speaker cables. These speaker cables are a clear window into a recording. Nothing hidden, nothing exaggerated. 

5. Power Cords: Acoustic Zen Gargantua for preamp and amp. Lower noise floor, increased resolution, natural sound, expanded soundstage

Honorable mentions:

1. Acoustic Zen Absolute Copper interconnects. In my opinion the AZ cables don’t get the respect they deserve on these forums anymore, overshadowed by some of the “flavor of the day” newcomers (without going into specifics on brands).

2. Puritan PSM156 power conditioner. 
3. Supra Cat8 Ethernet cable.

4. Lumin U1 Mini

5. MoFi LP#9 Stylus Cleaner. Better than the Onzo ZeroDust although I still use the Onzo between the sides. 

128x128audphile1

Enjoy reading what others have done. 

1.  VTA Passive preamp with TungSol 12AU7 buffer tubes.  Really nice sound.  Tubes and horns are the way to go??

2.  Springs under the subs and speakers.  This was jawdropping.  Cost $100 for all. 

Reasonably priced tweeks really gave me the bug!!  More plans for 22.

 

Upgraded to Triangle Art M-100 Mono blocks , Triangle Art L200 Preamp, and Triangle Art P-200 phonostage .

Two big upgrades for me this year. Added a Parasound JC5 in February and finally feel like I have the headroom and power my Revel F208s had been lacking. Also upgraded from a Bluesound Node 2i to a Aurender N100h in May and was pleasantly suprised by how much of an improvement it made on my streaming rig.

Just like oddiofyl, 2021 was also a major revamp for me. 

Things I kept:

1. Music Hall mmf5 table from the early 2000s, along with original Goldring MM cartridge

2. Vandersteen 2ce floor demos purchased in 1994 with stands

Replaced several pieces of equipment and bought a few new ones:
1. Audiolab 6000a for preamp
2. Audiolab 6000cdt for CD transport
3. 2-Audiolab DC Blocks (one for the preamp and one for the CD transport)
3. Music Hall PA15.3 phono preamp
4. Cambridge Audio DACMagic 200M
5. Blue Jeans coax interconnects and analog RCA interconnects
6. Sony  BDP-S6700 blu-ray player (used as a poor man's flac server - currently digitizing my CDs)
7. 2-AudioSource Amp100VS amps for monoblocks
8. A bunch of Suwimut Acoustic Sound Diffuser Panels
9. A bunch of Hudson Hi-Fi 1.25" platinum silicone isolation feet
10. Hudson Hi-Fi 13 oz. BigBen table weight
11. Runsheng Disc Demagnetizer (from alibaba)
12. Southwire 12 awg solid thhn shielded copper wire for speakers (from Lowes)
13. Inexpensive banana plugs (from Lowes)
14. 4-Quiet-Line MkIII Power Filters
15. Several Shakti Air Stones and several Shakti On-Lines

Also purchased a Pioneer TX-530 am/fm tuner for $20 at a flea market. No great expectations here - it works.

Currently waiting on the following:
1. Viborg MBU1501 Power Cable, 16pcs Multiplex Copper IEC320 C13 Mains Cord with VM502+VF502 (1.5M)
2. iFi Low Noise DC power supply 9V
3. Wyred 4 Sound Remedy Reclocker (the 9V iFi power supply is for this)
4. Blue Jeans Toslink interconnect (could only afford one of the Remedy's, so the Toslink is needed for the transport and a coax will be used for the Sony blu-ray flac server (manually switch inputs as needed))
5. 2-C13 to C14 14/3 awg power cords (for the 2 DC Blocks)

Definitely a lot of (relatively) inexpensive purchases over a period of several months. (I haven't won the Lotto yet, and I'm on a fixed income now.)

If the Viborg cable helps the Audiolab DC Block for the preamp, then I'll get another one for the CD transport DC Block.

The DIY tweaks seem to have made an improvement, as far as I can hear. The shielded, solid copper wire sounds a lot better to me than the shielded, copper stranded wire. And the banana plugs seem to work out fine.

The Quiet-Line MkIIIs definitely made things sound better, too.

I realize that products from Shakti (and probably some of the other stuff that I bought) are like the red state/blue state stuff of audio forums, but I don't give a sh*t. They helped my low-fi system a lot, and that's all that I care about. Things will change for the better once I win the Lotto.

 

 

Puritan 156 power conditioner

Silent Angel Bonn 8 network switch

SVS SB1000 Pro Subwoofers (pair)

Wilson Sasha 2's