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> Why compare with an old system from the 80s? I got to hear a friend's friend's modern audiophile setup. A dedicated room with Wilson Audio speakers (totally o
by thirdsun 4y ago
> Why compare with an old system from the 80s? I got to hear a friend's friend's modern audiophile setup. A dedicated room with Wilson Audio speakers (totally overpriced but amazing), high-end DAC, high-end amp... It was bliss. One of these $50K+ setup but bliss. This is nothing like a laptop, a soundbar or a Sonos.
To be fair you can have a similarly great experience on significantly more affordable setups around 10k.
DAC and amplification above a certain price range is basically good enough to become indistinguishable from one another. The largest part of your budget should go into speakers. And don't underestimate the effects of proper room treatment and correction. Solutions like Dirac Live have made this much more approachable.
Anything above that will provide very marginal gains. There's a lot of costly prestige above that threshold which doesn't always translate into real audible benefits.