The *NOT BORING!* Hi-Fi faff chat and sales

What are folks source listening preferences nowadays, given that streaming is well and truly upon us?
I've only recently started streaming regularly, still hopping from one 3 month free trial to another 😁 ....which I do through my laptop plus Acoustic Research USB DAC into regular amps etc and the effect is very pleasing.
Probably 40% streaming, 40% CD and 20% vinyl in my case over the last year.

Setup shown in photo is temporary location whilst room reconfiguration continues to take place.


Same, I don’t have airplay so streaming is limited by apple through Bluetooth and sounds rubbish to me.
I tend to use vinyl (RP1) or CD. I bought a lovely Sony “QS” 930 CD player a few years back and it’s truly stunning. when Sony are good they are really good
 
Working with proper hifi designers and engineers meant that I was a lucky amateur and was taught (sometimes through the gritted teeth of the same engineers/ designers) how and why stuff does what it does. This meant seeking out better quality source material and becoming very picky about what equipment ended up at home

Finding out what went on at the likes of What Hifi was an eye opener too, the young wide eyed seeker of knowledge turning into a cynical sneer everytime I glanced at the front cover in Smiths. Almost drowned in snake oil once.

Anyway, never got on with vinyl and was an early adopter of all things digital and fell in love with the DAT system early on

I still have a DAT walkman and a studio recorder but they dont get used much

I miss the Meridian 506 cd player - out of the countless ones I have had the use of I think if one was placed under my nose, I wouldnt turn it down

...although I have been offered a Kenwood transport which is making me itch every time I think about it

more ramblings later
 
To add to the above ramblings..

When i was a sexy teenager my ears would ring/play a Hmmmmmm tone for a couple of days after being out all night and stood too close to speakers, i don't think ive damaged them but i'm sure i haven't done them any good..

I've only ever been for my ears syringed once after using earbuds for prolonged periods at work, it was f'kin amazing, it felt less like a hearing improvement and more like i'd gained a super power.. like my spidey-sense was tingling, just popping open the central locking on the car was like entering a whole new world of audio brilliance.. alas this soon wore off.

When my kid was little, his mum and i would be whispering quietly/adult conversation in the kitchen and the boy would shout through from the other room "i can hear what you're saying" pfft! yeah right, then years later he could hear a sonic fox deterrent in my mum's garden, undetectable to all but dogs.. anyway.. my point being.. these hifi super-nerds? a lot of whom are much older than I, will pay a small fortune to separate pre and power ect ect audiophile cables and such.. for improved audio quality, when i was a younger dude, i thought this was an entirely reasonable thing to do but as a middle aged dude with middle aged hearing.. how the fcuk are these almost inaudiable levels of interference detectable to these 60+yr old audiophiles with dull 60yr old hearing? are they syringing on the daily or just talking bollocks?
 
To add to the above ramblings..

When i was a sexy teenager my ears would ring/play a Hmmmmmm tone for a couple of days after being out all night and stood too close to speakers, i don't think ive damaged them but i'm sure i haven't done them any good..

I've only ever been for my ears syringed once after using earbuds for prolonged periods at work, it was f'kin amazing, it felt less like a hearing improvement and more like i'd gained a super power.. like my spidey-sense was tingling, just popping open the central locking on the car was like entering a whole new world of audio brilliance.. alas this soon wore off.

When my kid was little, his mum and i would be whispering quietly/adult conversation in the kitchen and the boy would shout through from the other room "i can hear what you're saying" pfft! yeah right, then years later he could hear a sonic fox deterrent in my mum's garden, undetectable to all but dogs.. anyway.. my point being.. these hifi super-nerds? a lot of whom are much older than I, will pay a small fortune to separate pre and power ect ect audiophile cables and such.. for improved audio quality, when i was a younger dude, i thought this was an entirely reasonable thing to do but as a middle aged dude with middle aged hearing.. how the fcuk are these almost inaudiable levels of interference detectable to these 60+yr old audiophiles with dull 60yr old hearing? are they syringing on the daily or just talking bollocks?
I think they get to a point where they want to be sure they have spent all the money they can spend on every detail.

I only wish I had the budget for it, but what I would much prefer to have is a bigger room, for bigger scale. I love listening to piano trios, mostly ECM an ACT recordings, they sound so big and dynamic, but the scale could still be bigger, I have not the room for it.

That brings me to another thing: do people find they listen to music that lends itself to good audio; so nice recordings of mostly acoustic music? I find myself doing this.
 
That brings me to another thing: do people find they listen to music that lends itself to good audio; so nice recordings of mostly acoustic music? I find myself doing this.

Oh god. Yes. Bleach (Nirvana) used to be one of my favourite albums as a teen. Now, I can barely listen to it.

Some choice SQ tracks;


Can we talk car audio here? My home setup is modest (B&W 602, focal Sub & sony AV amp), but I've got a pretty good setup in my car - quality, not SPL, but it will go pretty loud too :)
 
Pioneer KEX73? I have a, er, 'few'.

Nakamichi head unit? Yes but not the sexy one

Worlds first in car cd player? Yes, that too but it is a non runner

Sold my Ford stuff when the price went silly, and the Blaupunkt

Anyway, couldn't be obsessed with hifi and not car stereo gear too!

Modern kit is equalised to within an inch of it's life - I can't stand it but as its only the Today Program on the way to work, it no longer matters.

Mind you, pioneer pulled a blinder with their Bus link - this allowed for addon equipment to their oldest Bus enabled cassette decks to run ipods and Dab and even Bluetooth via that CD changer socket. This allowed me and my KEH8600 cassette headunit to run an ipod back in 2004, great for the long journeys down to Cornwall

Never got into Alpine for some reason

For me the maddest high end kit I've ever found at a car boot was a kenwood krc 939, it ended up in a 1986 lotus excel

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