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Re: Not related to Dahlquist, but I respect the group members thoughts

 

I'm in the same boat.? I have an entire rack of Mcintosh and Carver amps, DQ-10s and 1Ws, LP1 and source receiver.? I keep coming back to the same conclusion:? It was hard to get all of this together and this system does really sing when I want to really listen.? At 70 years old, I DO still care about the quality of my sound system-even when just watching low-fi videos etc...? My wife wants me to go to something smaller, but I think I will hang on as long as my ears still work.

Steve
On Monday, January 22, 2024 at 02:57:36 PM EST, Bob G via groups.io <bobg717@...> wrote:


Here's my advice as a 69 yo life long (45 years) DQ-10 owner with two SN~2600 non-modified speakers (except for upgrading to yellow Dahlquist caps). I have almost 2TB of digital music on a five-hard-drive Synology NAS. Music is composed of regular CDs that I ripped, SACDs that I bought or borrowed from the the library, got at yard sales, etc. and ripped. And a very small amount of recorded vinyl. It's way to tedious to digitize your vinyl collection. Most of the music I listen to is acoustic (jazz, classical, new age, vocals, etc.) I even have some MP3s from the Napster days.

The DQ-10s are precision instruments and will accurately reveal the flaws in the underlying electronics, so it pays to buy the best you can afford. While people look at frequency response and distortion as metrics, with the DQ-10s sound stage and imaging is key, but doesn't come through on a spec. So buy something where you can do an in-home trial.?

Stay away from Plex or any other software media server/encoder. Anything that gets in the way of streaming the file from the source to destination will degrade the sound, and you will hear it on the DQ-10s. Buy devices with native support for 24/192?wav, flac, and DSD 128 (2x) files. Even though the encoding rate of DSD is far in excess of an audio CD you will here the difference with well recorded material on the DQ-10s. You'll also love the way DSD music sounds if you can get your hands on some ripped SACDs or download from NativeDSD or HDtracks. It's much more "vinyl-like" than PCM format. You can really hear the difference on the DQ-10s.

Wikipedia-
"DSD differs from the PCM format used by??or typical computer audio systems: while PCM uses a multi-bit value (representing a large range of amplitudes) at a low sample rate, DSD instead uses a single-bit value (representing an increase or decrease in amplitude) at a sample rate much higher than the signal's?."

Look for devices that support?UPnP / DLNA and the above specs and you won't need Plex. There are lots of streaming?DACS out there but not all of them support DSD. You also want a dac thats support MQA (Master Quality Audio)?if you're going to get a streaming service.?Tidal has the best quality but it's still not as good as a CD. You will notice the difference. All streaming services use compression which?removes the details?in the sound.

One more thought--buy separate discreet components rather that an all-in-one amplifier/receiver/dac. Your ears will thank you, even though they're 66 years old. You will hear the difference with good equipment. My hearing tops out at 11k, but I still notice the difference in imaging and soundstage.?


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On Monday, January 22, 2024 at 11:43:51 AM EST, SpongeSound <wm.edmiston@...> wrote:


[Edited Message Follows]

Had a lot of offers and hoping to get it sent out soon. We're in the middle of downsizing as we enter retirement and go from a big house to one half the size. And this has..it has caused me to rethink my "audio world"

In taking stock of all the gear I have, it has caused me to reconsider whether (at this stage of life) I want to retain/maintain a somewhat cumbersome setup, or, scale back and simultaneously upgrade in the process. By that I mean this....I have two sets of DQ-10 and two DQ1W subs. That alone consumes a LOT of real estate. Add to that a Hafler DH500 to power on the first set of 10's, a second DH500 to power the 2nd set, and an Adcom 555 to power the subs. There's also a older Onkyo TS-805 receiver I use as the central "connecting hub" for all the peripherals (CD player, turntable, etc,). I'd like to move to a NAS as a Plex media server so I can digitize and move all my CD's to a small footprint and don't have to muck around with a huge library of CD's (nor the need to find a place to put them all)

What I'm getting at is this...I'm at an age and point in life where, to be completely honest, I don't really ever sit down and just listen to hours of music. What's more typical is....I put on some music but get distracted by a project, or my dogs or whatever and just have music in the background. I might dedicate time to sit and listen to an album on occasion, but having the complexity and all the space required to keep this gear running is starting to wane in it's appeal and seems like a bigger price to pay than it once did. Not to mention my wife - she has zero understanding of even how to run this stuff beyond a few clicks, so it all dies with me. I'd like to make things less complex for her if possible so she doesn't have to fire sale all that gear when I go to that big listening room in the sky someday...lol!

Given that this forum has a demographic that remembers and appreciates Dahlquist gear, I'm certain I'm not alone in this "evolution of thinking" about one's audio gear "commitment" and would be interested in hearing other perspectives, particularly from the older members.

I'm considering selling all three amps and the old Onkyo receiver, and replacing all with a new, updated A/V receiver with enough power for my in-wall surround speakers AND the 10's, has every possibly input/output/HDMI/WiFi I'll ever need, and takes up less than a quarter of the space. Fewer wires, less electricity, less heat, etc. I like the idea of putting my music library on a NAS to serve as a Plex server (maybe add a streaming service to fill in anything I don't own). More streamlined, more space, less hardware.? I've come to terms with as one downsizes it often requires one to take a critical look at and do an assessment of all the stuff you own, and make some decisions about what you need to keep, what may be fun to keep, and what is more of a hassle to keep. BTW - I'm not criticizing anyone's desire to have this gear, I get it. I'm just sharing where I'm coming from today.?

At age 66 I'm not even sure my ears would perceive a difference in electronics anymore. LOL!!


Looking forward to the groups thoughts and experiences since I know you guys KNOW your stuff!

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