2023 HiFi Goals?/2024 HiFi Goals

General Discvssions & Theory/Vnderstanding
102

Thanks my dudes for making me feel loved, no homo. It’s been quite the journey this year lol. I got super deep onto reading books, I quit my shit job at the end of last year, I went so deep onto running I was running 10 miles a day, 70 miles a week for a while. Then my left leg was essentially paralyzed and unusable for a month or so lol. It’s been a long journey but I’ve healed up nicely, nowadays I focus on strength training instead as well and am finally entering into a career era.

Even though this year sadly I fully left audio, I have found excellence in everything I do. And now that I am getting paid really well, and am much better at balancing things, like not running 10 miles daily until losing a leg, I am sooooooooo fucking ready to sit down and listen to my music with some NICE FUCKING GEAR AGAIN

6 Likes
103

YOU KNOW THE FEET PICS ARE MAKING A COMEBACK. AFTER GOING SO DEEP INTO RUNNING, NOW VANIER THAN EVER TOO

1 Like
104

Hahaha I’ll Def let you know! There’s a very specific source gear I’m kinda eyeing, once I get that I would love to try em out lol

1 Like
105

Hell

Yeah

2 Likes
106

Good to have you back in the community and to hear you’re doing well for yourself! Will be looking forward to seeing posts of the system you end up piecing together (with your now veinyer feet lmao) as well as getting your impressions.

3 Likes
107

Good call on whomever changed the title of this thread to include 2024. I sure as hell didn’t stick to my early in the year commitments.

3 Likes
108

Well heres my wishlist. I want to get 5 headphones to complete my collection, after I finish that ill definitely stand by for 2 or 3 years and buy a nice bike, before audio i loved bikes. Sold bike to buy car, car not as fun.

The ones with a slash means either is fine, just have to find it at a good price.

    • Focal Utopia OG
    • ATH AWKT
    • zmf eikon/atrium
    • grado ps500/ps1000 (no letters) / gs3000 (any letter) / ps2000e. I really just want a grado lol
    • th900 ltd any colour except green.

Im finishing up cabling and gear before this year ends, the next one will be for these cans.

4 Likes
109

Bit of reflection now since it’s close enough to a year ago

Yeah, I think I did work more toward this, and I also think I’m further working toward it to simplify my desk setup and move my actual hifi setup away from my desk, still working on slimming things down in the background for other things in my life as well. I might go even further later on for really just reducing the stuff I have left over so I’m only left with the true core things I actually use

Yeah this too lol, got some nice racks and iso gear that really elevated my 2ch setup, but my desk setup still feels a bit neglected or rather not on the same level (but then again, should it actually be on the same level?). Still happy with it though

Yes and no, the shit list is there, and I’m happy with some of it, but I want to still add more, and rewrite some existing stuff in there. I’m scrapping the idea of a guide to the hobby, that’s just far too much for one person, and I truly don’t feel qualified for that. I also don’t really think it would be all that helpful either the way I’d likely write it and all that, so likely just best off sticking to my focus of offering my experiences and suggestions and nothing more, I don’t want to write something to attempt to basically tell someone how to approach the hobby even if I throw in a million disclaimers. Also, I’m lazy as hell, that’s too much a commitment for me even if I did feel like I should do it lol

This really didn’t work, likely at the point where I’ve just stopped caring in general, or at least stopped being passionate about it. It’s not as bad as a few years ago when I just entirely dropped off everything for a few months after having other things I had to deal with, but it’s really not great, and I generally have no interest in discussing much of anything audio related (or even if I want to initially I lose interest fast). I still like my setups to be clear, and while I have some thoughts of selling all of it right now I’m not going to act on it and just let it pass over. I am just tired of anything else that I don’t already own basically. I think my interest in some music has been dropping as well which really isn’t great, part of the reasons why I’m going to move my desk setup away from my desk to force myself to stop listening more passively as of late

Yeah I guess so? I mean I got to hear a taiko, got the higher end ideon, I’ve bolstered some digital cables, and plan to grab a new oladra eventually, so I guess I’m working toward this? I would say the taiko was a clear step ahead of the k50, but the other moves I’ve made aren’t, soo this one would be complete if I get the oladra and perhaps hear the top pink faun or innuos or something

11 Likes
110

Also welcome back @Littledrummerboy lol

1 Like
111

Goals are nice to aim for but I have found that it is relatively easy to get sidetracked from them as new stuff comes out. At this moment if I want to retire on time from full time work (less than 5 months) I need to cut back a little on this addiction. My equipment to me has pretty good synergy to my ears so I think I could just tweak it from here.
Dac wise, I have my Aqua La Voce overall pretty happy with it
Headphone amps (SS) Bryston BHA-1 for cans and 2ch
Quicksilver for tubes,
Kali audio LP6s for monitors, decent for what they are.
Can’s are pretty much nailed down at least for now with Abyss DV2, Kennerton Gjallarhorn, Senn 650.
Source I would say is my Roon Nucleus.
I am thinking of a subwoofer to add just that touch of thump and would be a nice addition to the setup.
I still need to sell off a crap ton of headphones I do not use like my ZMFs and others and use that money to get some better cables.

I will also say welcome back @Littledrummerboy.
I am here every day and as always lurking and reading everything to try and find direction and advice, still one of if not the best place to hang out.

8 Likes
112

Welcome back @Littledrummerboy !

2024 Outlook/Plans:

  • Headphone selection is finalized (LCD-5, Susvara, and LCD-XC ('21)) as well as dac/amp/aio on the desktop front. May sell the LCD-XC since IEMs are getting that good and the AMT16 synergizes just as well on the RNHP/BF2 stack.
  • On the topic of IEMs, other than picking up the occasional FOTY/M, I never went above the $150 mark. I have Creative’s xMEMs TWS arriving next month, and if it doesn’t wow me, I’ll just gift it.
  • After one year on Qobuz/Roon I’ve decided to call it quits and cancel both. Using Apple Music JP a lot more since it has lossless + no region-lock w/ releases coming a day early. Real kicker is it’s cheaper than the US plan ($7.22 converted vs $10.99 per month.) I just wish a proper lossless streamer for Apple Music (that’s not Airplay-based) existed (even though I can use the desktop application on Windows 10 now.) Hoping I can use HQPlayer with it too.
  • Maybe a Technics SL-1200 MK2 and a phono pre in the future? Dunno, I have a lot of plans over this coming year outside of audio I want to achieve before the big three-zero. Vinyl is not the rabbit-hole I want to jump into right now.
6 Likes
113

It’s those little compromises that can save you mucho dinero. Do you need your desktop to be at the same level as your 2ch? Only you can answer that. lol

1 Like
114

Well the answer to that is that it can’t lol. It can’t even get close to my 2ch, so that’s an entirely lost cause. But the question is more that will it bring similar levels of improvement relative to that setup’s current performance vs the lift I got from messing around with it on 2ch

115

If you think about it as the desktop being casual/passive or simply multitask listening then it’s perfectly justify able. That’s how I made my decision, if I’m going to make an event of listening or listen critically I just do it on the 2ch. I can’t either, meaning I can’t afford it anyway. lol

2 Likes
116

Check. Still have an rpi4 on my desk (more on that below), but my main setup uses an OpticalRendu and an ultraRendu. Ended up with a huge home networking upgrade to go with it, to better isolate the HiFi gear in my network and better support optical endpoints. The next issue/weak point to address is power supplies for these endpoints and their corresponding DDCs. This will likely go on the 2024 goals…

Check. Picked up an OG Utopia and a Danacable Lazuli Reference to go with it. Absolutely love it! Never letting this one go.

Half-check. Definitely lots of good new music, but need to put more time into discovery and less relistening to analyze hardware changes.

Check. Made conscious choice to simplify and downgrade desk setup, and to be honest I use and enjoy it more than ever. It’s much less distracting and I feel no commitment to pay attention to it when it’s on. Rpi4 → woo audio phantom DAC cable → iLoud Micro Monitors. So basic, super enjoyable in the background.

Looking forward to 2024:

Power supplies - need to get my LPS game up from basic small green computer LPS. Streamers and DDCs need some LPS love.

Music discovery - try new things! Let’s go!

Portable/Transportable and IEMs - currently a bit of a mish mash of devices and IEMs. Need to settle into a setup that fits my needs.

Stability! I like main listening cans and gear, I want to focus on listening and enjoying it this year. Not tweaking it.

11 Likes
117

Well I’ve only written one but it’s been my best one yet… Though the Yamaha article is currently being revamped. Should be finished around January.

Lol I got two and getting an Orochi for my yammy.

Did that too, although nothing that fancy.

Yup! Been doing that recently.

6 Likes
118

Interesting. I forgot they released their Statement. I would be interested to see how a brand know more for its reasonably priced units stacks up in a tier where most offerings are more custom abd boutique.

Probably can take this question to another thread but as a fellow LMS user, do you look for other solutions that utilize LMS or are you more “whatever it comes with and aint broke.”

1 Like
119

Thought I had posted to this, but I didn’t see anything so I guess not…no time like the present, I guess, lol.

My goals when the year started:

New DAC. Took care of that when the d1-unity arrived at the end of March.

Buy the Utopia. Also done, though I admit I’m now curious how different the old and new Utopia are. So I’ll probably break down and pick up a pre-2022 model sometime next year to compare.

Buy an amp for the Utopia. Also, also done. Got a fairly good deal on a LTA MZ3.

Get either the d1-digital mkii or d1-sublime reclocker. Not done. A side excursion into streaming put a halt to that. An Intel NUC, Sonore UltraRendu, and Singxer along with a Roon subscription have shown me just how much difference the front end of your chain can have. Oh, and I suppose picking up a used MSB Discrete didn’t help my ability to buy the reclocker, lol.

What I didn’t expect to happen, besides the aforementioned?

Cables. Digital cables, interconnects, headphone cables…Definitely wasn’t expecting to purchase a FTA Sinope. Or to hear it change the way it did as it burned-in. That was kind of wild.

The little Eddie Current Lunchbox II, and just how much I love that thing. Seriously, I want that sound in a bigger, better amp.

Getting loaned out some products that I’d otherwise not get to hear to try for myself.

Goals for next year:

Get that reclocker. That just needs to happen.

Power. LPS, a PowerPlant, better cables, etc.

Replace the Oor&Hypsos? Not really sure about this one. SS amps that are truly better and have good synergy with the Utopia aren’t exactly common.

Buying a Susvara is a goal that’s floating around as well.

10 Likes
120

Rewritten? Or a long term living with it separate article? :thinking:

1 Like
121

Both but it will be in the same article. I just updated it along the way, redoing bits and pieces when I had the energy to do it. Most of it is done and updated, you can read it if you want, but I still need to redo the utopia comparison (kind of lazy on this one ngl), final thoughts, and amp pairings. So those 3 are not updated yet. I added in a lot more detail, explained myself better, and corrected grammar and what not. I certainly feel more satisfied and confident doing it the second time. Worth a re-read for sure, but I am biased :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

2 Likes