Best bang for the buck


What’s been the most cost effective item you purchased for your system? 
I will go first- a Zerostat I bought 40 years ago. Next most cost effective purchase has to be a Denon DL103R cartridge which I bought new for $300. 

zavato

Ran my ethernet cable through a fiber optic conversion and back to ethernet.  For $186 including a low noise power supply for the clean end.  Unbelievable improvement with respect to the noised floor. 

2 TP-Link Gigabit SFP Modules

2 TP-Link MC220L Media Converters

1 Cable Matters Plenum Rated Duplex OS2 Single Mode Fiber Optic Patch Cable

1 Cable Matters 1 ft. Cat 5 Ethernet Cable

1 iFi SilentPower iPower2 Low Noise DC Power Supply

@edinphiladelphia 

This is the sensible,  rational way to galvanically isolate your streamer setup.

Replacing the iFi wall wart SMPS with a proper linear regulated power supply might yield a small additional sonic benefit.

 

@devinplombier 

Don't disagree.  Of all the things I have done (aftermarket power cords, power conditioner(s), DDC, new DAC) this was the most impactful.  Not sure the bang for the buck is there for me.  That, and after absorbing the costs for upgrading my amp, preamp and speakers, I need to scrounge up some funds for room treatments.  I live in a loft and have an 18-foot high by 20-feet wide wall of glass and metal.  To cover it, I am going to need a theater-grade set-up and it's not going t be cheap. I keep my wall warts and TV on a separate power conditioner.  Since you mentioned wall warts, I use a Darlington Labs phono stage, and they recommend using their supplied wall wart.  

Had the chance to fire up my K&K Trio Phono Preamplifier recently, after years of sleep.It sounds wonderful, full stop. It was driving a Rega P/10, Ortofon Cadenza Black, in a system I’m intimately familiar and helped assemble and setup. Pretty cool.

The K&K being a sleeper if you can find one.