What is your favorite budget audio component?

VPI HW-16.5. Your music library is a more valuable possession than the gear made to reproduce it, imo. If that library includes LP's, you NEED at least a vacuum cleaner. The 16.5 is a real good one, at a price affordable to all.

Good question.

My immediate response was “what’s the budget”?

But OK…. I’ll go with $1,000 as the limit.

Are we supposed to name drop here or merely pick out the generic item or device?
I’ll go generic.

Of all the things I’ve bought the most thru the years for under a grand over and over, it has to be ‘receivers’. Either 2 ch or multi ch as time passed, but it was always the first link in the chain.

They always trickled down into another room somewhere.

They offer immense flexibility and possible arrangements. Often decent ones can be had for well under a grand. $700 to $900 lands some pretty decent tech in just one box.

Besides that, I’d say headphones.

Yeah, I'd say Grado 225e headphones, $200. Not good enough for me but for youtube listening mostly okay.
Next would be $5000 used previous generation Gryphon Diablo integrated amp with or without phono. Great value even if not exactly inexpensive.

I have a few right now. Parasound ZDAC, NAD D 3020 integrated. Fiio portable headphone amps. The UFO USB DAC (unreliable, but sound good!)

Best,

E