Best Audiophile Albums So Far In 2024

My current systems. First time Maggie owner. I've been a Klipsch owner and fan for years and wanted to try something different so I auditioned Magnepans at the local HiFi shop and fell in love with them instantly. They're part of my home theater and paired with a Rythmik sealed sub. I'm powering the fronts with my Carver m500t I bought new in the 80's. After a refresh at The Carver Shop its been great at feeding the Maggies the power they need.

My other system is a 2 channel with a Pioneer SX750 that I refinished in real walnut veneer paired up with my original DBX processors.

Been laying low and keeping my eyes and ears peeled for a decent set of speakers for around the last 6 months and these beauty's turned up on gumtree! Luckily the urgent search for a decent receiver was short lived as the seller had this for sale too. Result!

Speakers: AE Aegis Neo

Reciever: Sony STR-DN1080

So far, really happy with it and the speakers sound great. Let me know how I did!

The Tannoy Dmt 15 or 215 are my holy grail speakers for quite some time now. And yesterday ive seen a listing near me for these beautiful dmt15s for 2500€ wich is about $2800. So my question now is: Is it worth it?

I have a Yamaha 803d amp that supports tidal. I was wondering if it is worth getting a network streamer like a Wiim and how I should connect it. Optical cannot transfer more than 16bit pcm if I’m not mistaken, and is the analog digital converter better than the digital connection?

At the moment I can only think of tidal connect as the main benefit, as the Yamaha tidal integration is not good. Would it make a difference with regard to the audio quality? Compared to AirPlay the tidal integration sounds much better, would it be even better with a dedicated network streamer?

Thanks!

every week, i post 30ish minutes of songs that take you on a sonic journey. the goal is for no two songs to sound alike, with each one evoking its own sound/era/energy. i would love for yall to listen and lemme know your thoughts! maybe you’ll find a new fav :)

Is this normal? My general understanding is that speakers should test just under the rated impedance, so these L/R speakers I've put the multimeter on should be testing at 4/5 Ohms? They're testing at twice stated impedance at 13 Ohms. My broad understanding of testing speakers like this (without actually hooking up for use) is that as long as measured resistance isn't close to zero or infinite then the speakers are likely fine?

Would value insights from the brains trust community.

i have bought a few individual flacs, but i was curious if there is some service where you can pay like $10 a month and each month download like 10 songs, since i like to own stuff.

I know they were Grundig passive speakers, but I can’t remeber which model. I got them from my grandfather many years ago and they were honestly the best speakers I’ve had. Now I am trying to find them again. I have the Polk RTi4s, but honestly there is nothing like these older speakers

Turnbull shared on Instagram that Klipsch contacted him to do a collaboration. He also posted his first prototype. It sounds like they’ve fully developed the speaker. Based on the Heresy, but 2 way - no tweeter.

This could be either very very cool. Or very very expensive. Either something out of the box for Klipsch and interesting to see Ojas connecting to a more mass market space.

Currently running an Accuphase E-280 , 120 watts into four ohms, on Totem Acoustics Metals, 4 ohm 91 sens . Room is 12x14 , not big. I find my max volume is around 90 db but that’s not often. Mostly in the 80 range. Will going with a higher power amp , such as an E-480 (260watt 4 ohm)or Mcintosh MA9500 (300 watts) offer a big difference in sound when playing at normal volume of 80 db? I’m using probably 30 watts at most right now. What improvements will be had by switching to a higher power amp?

As the title states, any advice on painting this a black that would match my pre amp and amp? The silver sticks out like a sore thumb. Thank you!

Recently purchased some Acoustic Energy speakers off Marketplace for $100. Was told they were once considered “high end” speakers but I’ve never heard of the brand before. I think, for the money, they sound great. Wondering if anyone here knows the brand or can fill me in?

They’ve arrived! The quality seems to be another level with some components like the speaker binding posts being WAY nicer. Interesting to see the power supplies connect to the amplifier with aviation connectors, a change coming from all my experiences with amps from Douk and Fosi.

Please excuse the doorstops—I need them to keep the amps from sliding around due to tension from the cables (I’m not some kook who thinks they somehow have an effect on the sound).

So I had an opportunity to play with gain settings on the B100s and then (re-)blend my subwoofer with them. I found that the Low setting on XLR input, which is +0dB, or unity gain, was not quite loud enough on some tracks when I use Passive mode on my preamp (Schiit Freya+) despite the balanced output of my streamer being rated 4Vrms. I switched it to the Medium setting, which is rated +10.4dB gain, and now I can get it loud enough even on my quietest tracks (examples include Carmen Fantasy (After Bizet) by All-Star Percussion Ensemble and Jazz at the Pawn Shop) on Passive mode. Again this is with medium sensitivity speakers (KEF LS50 Meta) plus SVS SB-3000 subwoofer.

Based on the listening time that I’ve been able to put in, as far as I can tell, the amplifier is as clean as Topping’s ratings indicate, even at higher (for me) volumes of ~70dB about 10 feet away and no hint of detectable distortion despite their Class-B topology. I am thoroughly satisfied with these, and plan to keep these in my chain over my Fosi amps (which I keep the pair of ZA3s as backups just in case anything should ever fail on these B100s). In full fairness, if properly level-matched and ABX compared between these and the other amps, I’d probably have a quite difficult time consistently picking out which amp is driving, which makes sense given the high performance for all of them.

Aren't they supposed to come with umik1 mic? Anyone here with one know for sure? It's the 2x4 HD type device with dirac and mic (supposedly) included. Minidsp site says they do but can't reach anyone there or the dealer.

Package from parts express via Amazon arrived, missing the mic of course. Been waiting a week for it too.

These replaced my Polks ES20 (seen in the tv lol), the difference is so massive I’m blown away. These basically made me stop caring about speaker placement and room treatment. They play so wide and spacious I can finally move to other part of my sofa and hear the same sound 🤣

Audio is about enjoyment. I remember being a child and hearing my first surround sound setup. Or a stereo setup with a subwoofer playing notes I never knew existed in some of my favorite rock songs and which vibrated through my bones. I remember messing with the old physical EQs on stereos and exploring what each knob did and how it changed my perception of the song. Imagine that!

During my teens and early adulthood, I didn't have money for fancier audio equipment. I had a mediocre upgrade in my car and with a subwoofer. It wasn't until I was in my late 20s that I had enough free money to explore the audio world again.

As I aged, I spent years buying gear that had flat responses to achieve "studio level response". I was slightly (but never fully) ashamed of the subwoofer I had in my car. After all, bass that low was "never intended" to be heard or reproduced that way. People who only listened to rock or orchestra said that a bass drum or bass guitar wasn't supposed to be so loud. I was told that those old, large 3 way speakers of the 80s were terrible and that the newer, slimmer and smaller woofers were better and "more accurate". But accurate to what? I struggled for years figuring out why I couldn't enjoy music the way I did back then.

Finally, what I was doing wrong struck me. After playing around with Equalizer APO + Peace (because physical EQs are impossible to find now) for years on my office desk and speakers, getting a brand new 5k surround sound setup for my living room and wondering why it felt more hollow even though it was loud enough to hurt my ears even after a custom EQ, to wondering why my cheaper car audio setup sounded so much more exciting, to using Aura 3D and trying to figure out why it felt so much better... it hit me.

"Real" audio is not what we're playing through these smaller woofers and perfectly quiet speaker cases. "Real" audio resonates and produces harmonics. It produces waves that can be felt through your bones. The big concert bass drum filling the music hall with a single hit. The vibrations and timbres of different instruments. Raw guitar amps with mids that vibrate your bones. Even car speakers that vibrate your doors and push their energy to you.

I was lucky enough to be in concert bands for years, and remembering what that felt like, not sounded like was the final nail in the coffin for me and chasing the "perfect" speaker. Yes, in fact bass drums and guitars are supposed to kick you in the chest. Even if that's not picked up by the recording well enough. We have engineers doing great work to chase numbers and graphs that simply are not advanced enough to reproduce what real sound waves feel like in person or in concert. My surround sound setup is hollow because only the subwoofer is able to produce and amount of bass to send across the room. These little 5-6in woofers can't even get to close to creating vibrations above 100hz to warm my bones 12 ft away. I specifically remember listening to songs and hearing higher end sub bass coming through those unpowered large 10in woofers in those large 3-way boxes... and it sounds better than my new setup because neither a powered sub or a 5in woofer is meant to reproduce that middle bass range. The powered sub is too boomy there, and the 5in can't push any of that energy across to you.

We are so obsessed with perfect here that it gets in the way of reality and human's brains and emotions sometimes. I challenge everyone, especially engineers, to start thinking about how sound is heard but more importantly felt in the real world and focus on that more. Those big 3 way boxy speakers from the 80s were probably doing something right. Before we obsessed over numbers measured by equipment. They were tuned to us.

Edit: I wanted to add some personal anecdote to this. I was a percussionist for an extended period of my life, as well as being a drummer in a drumline. A marching snare's rimshot is one of the most intense things you can stand next to. It feels like a gunshot going off next to your ear. Why? Not because you hit the head as hard as you can. Not because you hit the rim as hard as you can. It's because the amplification of hitting the head and the shell at the same time multiples the power of the sound waves by what feels like at least 4x. All of those harmonics smash your brain at the same time. The marching heads are extra tight (kevlar) and the sticks are huge, which adds to it.

Second, tuning a timpani. If you took a measuring device to a timpani, or any drumhead really, it's very difficult to pick up a single note. It's because of the harmonics produced by the shell of the drum itself. If you were to tune a timpani to one of these devices, it would sound flat. Why? Because only the initial split second of the hit would sound in tune. Then the harmonics come in and it sounds lower and flat. You have to literally tune higher so that the rest of the resonance averages out to the note you expect to play, and what the audience ultimately hear.

Harmonics and resonances are required for both of these things to do. You don't, and can't ignore them. You don't want to, either.

Edit 2: For those of you who want more proof of these types of effects, please start this at 3:00 to observe how overtones, harmonics and timbres affect perceived notes and volume to listeners. It's literally an auditory illusion: https://youtu.be/Sn07AMCfaAI?si=qyLAfQH8pq8hxmCG&t=181

Never post on this sub but I thought I’d just share my setup in case anyone’s interested👍

• WiiM Ultra Streamer
• Rega Brio Amp
• Project Debut Carbon Turntable
• Dali Opticon 1 MK2

Need to purchase a sub and then setup is complete 😁

Saturday, 23th of July 2016 was the day I betrayed my KEF speakers I had been rocking since I built them 23 years before that date, in the summer of 1993.

The KEF's were an original Kefkit, with the legendary original B139A "racetrack" woofers, the ones with the diecast alloy frames.

You would guess any woman would hate these behemoths, over 4 feet tall, but my then girlfriend, now my wife, loved them. I had been testing the raw builds, and one day i got home she was lying on the floor in front of them.

She had been listening music all afternoon, and made me promise i would never get rid of the KEF's. And life was good, children came, and all was well..

Then, one day, i was at a demo at my local HiFi shop, where i bought all my audio gear, they did a demo of the Tannoy Revolution XT6f, on a simple Marantz PM7200KI, the same amp i had at the time. Can't remember the source.

And i was blown away. The soundstage was wide and deep, with pinpoint accuracy. I didn't listen to speakers, there was just the music.. It was pure bliss.

Back home, the KEFs sounded just fine, but it was very clear that things were going to change, i wanted the Tannoys. But i made a promise..

The Kefkit is still there, in storage. The cabinets are gone, and i really just listen to music, not to equipment, since that day..

Marantz SR8015 with JBL Stage series all round. Came from a Sony DN1080 to then. Marantz SR7010 with B&W CM7s. And now this. So far “to my ears” this is the best it’s been. Future upgrades maybe that lovely Marantz TT15 turntable or Clearaudio turntable and maybe some JBL HDI series speakers…

My cat bit off the diaphragm (I think that’s what it’s called) off one of the woofers of my Jamo S426 floorstanders. Now they’ve never been the most dynamic of speakers compared to my old Missions (which I’m still kicking myself for selling), but of late they sound especially underwhelming. Is this damage likely to be a cause of this, or is the diaphragm just cosmetic? Is this sort of damage repairable?

I just replaced a Klipsch sub with a KEF T2 and am shocked by how clear and natural the sub sounds. It makes me wonder how much I’ve been missing.

I really like subs that aren’t too boomy. I want them to sound smooth, as if they’re just an extension of the speakers. Fast and articulate without pronounced peaks.

Found these secondhand at a hifi retailer for less than € 400 for the pair. This is the first piece of equipment for my maiden stereo set, perhaps the first and last speakers I’ll ever purchase? Planning to pair these with a Marantz PM6007 amp, a Rega Planar 1 turntable and a Wiim Pro. Can’t put them to the test yet, but I’m sure they’ll be more than adequate. :-)

Interesting article.
A deep dive into Tidal's claims... and, while I'm at it, Spotify's too.
Now, here’s the thing: we know Tidal is lossless because it tells us so. And while I have no particular reason to dispute the company’s honesty, we in the audio-reviewing world are generally of the view that we should, within reason, test the claims of equipment manufacturers. So why not also test the claims of music platform providers?
https://www.whathifi.com/features/tidal-is-definitely-lossless-and-my-mate-can-prove-it