Optimizing means everything matters. And if this not true, tell me what doesn't matter? Some things matter less but they still matter. For instance I don't know how operating systems for streamers became part of this discussion, but for Roon optimization this is important, I run Euphony OS on custom server, using less than 1% on 7 cores of cpu, cpu usage important for sound quality. So here we have another example of how even the seemingly miniscule things do matter.
A principle guiding the wise audiophile life
There is one law, or best said a principle, guiding the wise audiophile life :
What matter is not the gear pieces price or his design, it is up to our budget limit to pick the right stuff for ourselves and our needs.
What matter is the way we installed together the mechanical,electrical and acoustical working dimensions of any chosen system/room...
As a consequence of this principle this is his corollary:
The mechanical electrical and acoustical controls,devices,tweaks, parameters, cannot be replaced by one another if we want to reach an optimal result in sound quality.
Vibrations/resonance controls cannot replace or be replaced by acoustics parameters controls or EMI shielding and grounding for example.
The greatest error we can do is buying and just "plug and play". Then upgrading a piece part by frustration or dissatisfaction, without learning how the whole system may,must,can behave in a specific room for our specific ears (psycho-acoustics).
The other error will be to cure one problem with a gear upgrade before trying to understand what is the problem.
This must be meditated by any beginners before "upgrading" and after "upgrading"...
There is no relation between a piece of gear or a system/room before and after his optimal mechanical,electrical and acoustical installation. None.
It is the reason why reviews do not tell all the truth there is to be tell ...
This resume what i have learned.
What have you learned yourself ?
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I did try JPlay on an iPad with dBpoweramp Asset as an alternative to Roon. I thought it sounded slightly better. It's claimed to do so because there's less traffic on the network. It's cheaper, too. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it because it didn't play gapless with my Linn DSM. I am hoping that one day Linn will make the DSM compatible with JPlay. |
Don’t try try to establish your own priorities when approaching music reproduction at home for others.. Convenience, form factor, physical contraints, budget, flexibility, complexity, esthetics, leveraging their investment, space planning for the room, etc. are ALL valid considerations for "non-audiophiles." Getting the lower midrange "right" may be #42 on their list of what’s important. Example: I, literally, cannot give away "good examples" of vintage audio gear to my grandkids that I’ve set aside in safe keeping or them for decades. |
"So the five o'clock shadow and Adam's Apple didn't give it away? Not that hard to tell the difference between a rooster and a cat." This was the early 70's, and we were about 18 years old. No one was much thinking about Adam's Apples back in those days. These depicted below were my first dorm room speakers: Zenith "Circle of Sound" Speakers My mother bought these for me probably because her father was always going on about the high quality of Zenith TV sets. Simpler times all around. My dominant recollections of those days were ones of befuddlement and anxiety. Every night in my dorm bed I would listen to a vinyl recording of "nature sounds" from somewhere in the countryside - crickets and a faint sound of a dog barking at the next farm over sort of thing in a vain attempt to fall asleep. I used to hang on to my dinky little system for dear life, but without the slightest notion of "audiophile." It was all about psychological survival by whatever means were at hand. Then I made a college friend who opened the door for me. This guy had a fairly advanced reel-to-reel sound system. He said "Here, smoke this," and then he told me to lie down and put some Koss headphones on me and fired up Cat Stevens' "Tea For the Tillerman" album. "Ok," I said to myself after floating back down to Earth. "Now I see."
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Interesting story! Bare minimum audiophilia for survivalist in hard reality... It remind me of my actual bliss under the blanket at 13 years old with the first small transistor radio... Music quiet my fears...
I like your last paragraph especially :
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