Which IC is more important?

While I appreciate the elegance of "short and sweet" pointers, I don't find them very useful as learning tools. I am relatively new to this hobby, but having perused through many posts here and elsewhere, I do feel I already have a grasp on basic concepts...I know not to equate "cost" with "better" and I know I ultimately need to listen with my own ears.

I LIKE long, windy posts. I enjoy reading them, esp if they are in reply to one of my questions. I can learn a lot from peoples' opinions and past experiences.

If you look at the text of my original question, I'm searching for your experiences and thoughts on the location of IC's you've used and experimented with, as well as general thoughts on theory.

I am NOT looking for pithy little statements that don't contribute to my understanding of the journey that led you to your current state of affairs. RGD, not to pick on you, and I hope you're not offended, but your statement above isn't all that useful. "what is lost at the beginning cannot be recovered" is true, but so is the fact that if you transmit a skewed or unfaithful signal to the preamp, you're just magnifying that unbalanced signal too, correct? Franklapdog, what did your statement contribute to this thread? You as well Leafs?

I appreciate the rest of you sharing your understanding of things with me. I hope to hear more from you all, and welcome others to dialogue here as well.

Cheers.

There isn't anything left to do but apologize. I did not intend to offend, but I obviously did. For that, I am sincerely saddened by what I have done and ask all for your forgiveness, especially RGD.

I think sometimes I log onto this site too late in the night, after work and kids are done and put to bed, and fatigue and bad moods can shape the way I read into certain posts. I'm not offering this as an excuse, but perhaps as context for my last comments.

I cannot undo or retract what I have already said. I hope you all do believe I am sincerely sorry though. ALL advice is appreciated as I am grateful for your time in even looking at my threads. I will improve my own attitude for future correspondence.

Again, please accept my heartfelt apologies. I hope none of you hold this against me and will continue to dialogue with me, so that I may continue to learn.

Your apology accepted gratefully Leafs. I hope you accept mine.

I counldn't agree with you more on the source. When I first put everything together, I started, like many I'm sure, with the speakers, cuz they're the sexiest thing to purchase in the whole system. I spent so much on speakers and amplification, I thought I could skimp on the CDP, cuz bits is bits, right? WRONG. What a difference the quality of CDP makes! I firmly believe now that every part of the chain affects the other parts. This is what led to the question. I wish I could eliminate all the "weak points" of my system, but it takes time and money. Short on both!

Getting yours and others input on what you've tried and liked or tried and hated, gives me a starting place. I'm not trying to "ace the test" without studying, I'm willing to put in lumps and bumps to see what sounds best in my system; I'm just trying to see where others have gone before me to help pick which paths I'd wander down as well.

I know this: I'd rather ask you all for advice than rely on Stereophile or TAS or other commercial sites, because I TRUST YOU ALL MORE.

RGD, where's the rest of your post? ;-)

I hope you believe that I'm sincerely sorry about how I felt about your first post. Thank you for sticking around. I'm learning to be more open minded.

A couple of comments have implied that I'm trying to take short cuts to "audio nirvana" by putting up this post. I'd like to make it clear that I am not. I am trying different stuff on my own, in different places on my gear. It's been, and always is, great fun and a great hobby.

If you construed from my comments that I'm looking for advice like "Hey, try cable XYZ that costs ABC dollars at your source because it'll sound good!", then my question and dialogue should've been more clear.

Your input is great, long or short. I don't believe longer is better. I'd love to hear about your journey in getting to where you are today though.

I'd also like to share with you about what prompted me to post this question. I swapped cables X and Y in my gear, and after letting them settle, I concluded it sounded horrible in that configuration. Putting them back the other way sounded good again. Obviously something is afoot...little cable elves got upset???

Thanks for your comments Sean. I appreciate any constructive criticism. At least you didn't resort to juvenile antics to admonish. I would like to be a positive person here, and not one prone to hissyfits or negavitism. Always enjoy your input, and read your link with great interest.

I've got a really simple system. I have a source, line stage, and amp. So theoretically, swapping cables here should be "equal" in terms of impact, right? I've found that this is not the case, so there must be synergy or something here at work.

What would the "BM" stand for, other than the obvious scatalogical reference?