I appreciate the feedback, and I hope my response doesn’t come across in a negative manner. I understand you’re trying to help. However, there appears to be several assumptions made that simply aren’t true, and don’t provide any specific solutions. Just opinion on perceived problems I’ve caused for myself (as I perceive what was written).
Some of the components were planned. For example, the CBRN’s and Carbon CC’s. From what I understand, it’s an incredible paring. For the LCD-5’s, I spoke to various people, and while some had opinions, many hadn’t heard them personally (let alone paired with many of the amps currently in stock anywhere).
However, behind the scenes, I’ve been speaking to some experience people that have been helping answer questions for me on various things (including Torq). That’s what drove me to the CBRN’s, Carbon CC, and DNA amps (which are a year out).
The thing is, being that I’m new to this, I don’t have a “final system” yet (does anyone really ever?). I don’t know if I ever will. And, as I get into one part of it and think I’m done, 3 more doors open to further possibilities, and I explore. If I’m 80% correct on end game gear, that’s still going to be better than the 80% I’d be with mid tier gear that’s very likely to sound inferior. I also enjoy the journey more than the destination in many cases - this one likely being one of them (so far at least). I love digging in, testing, etc.
Additionally, being that this is all subjective, the best way I know to go about it all, is to try and put together parings that others have loved and hope I do as well. And, if I don’t like it, I sell the gear and keep looking. This approach has worked very well for me over the years.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an option to simply go demo much of this gear (let alone use it for many weeks to months to get to a comfortable place) - unless you want to start sending me your stuff? There’s no one that I know of that has a set of CBRN’s, let alone a Carbon CC, for example. And until a few weeks ago, no one had the LCD-5’s, nor heard them, and couldn’t personally attest to what the best paring would be.
Regarding the Holo + HQPlayer combo, I am aware that it’s a recommended route. It’s also one I am very open to considering. I even discussed this specific topic w/ Torq via email. However, many of the reviews / feedback I’ve seen on it are also from those that aren’t using HQPlayer, and still felt it was amazing. You said that I “missed this crucial area of information”, but how can you make that claim? I literally have back and forth emails that factually disprove this statement. Furthermore, I can’t possibly know what I think of it until I hear it. So again, I’m trying to make the right choices based on a bunch of feedback, and regardless of it all, I still have to determine if I like it. For all I know, I may hate the CBRN / Carbon CC combo after all. And, it was a carefully laid out, “final system” (as likely considered by many).
Additionally, I’ve never said I don’t want to use HQPlayer anywhere, ever. I don’t know where you got that from, but I’m absolutely not against it. I only said that I preferred to stream music if possible. But that I also setup (and still have it setup) a Roon server w/ music on a local NAS. It’d take 2 seconds to turn it back on if that was the only way to get the best out of my system. But looking for alternatives won’t take that option away from me. That’s why I’m in this thread, asking about that specific possibility, before buying something more - which ironically is what you’re recommending I do while commenting in (perceived) opposition to how I’m approaching it.
None of this is permanent here. It can all be resold, returned, etc. But, knowing the desire is to go to the end, buying and selling mid tier gear again and again will absolutely cost me more money (and a bunch of time). I know this from doing it with home audio / video (for example, I should have bought my Trinnov the first chance I could afford it many years ago as it’d have saved me 10’s of thousands of dollars, easily). Should I take the years that others have to learn this all first? And who judges “poor synergy throughout your system”, then guarantees against that? Even you yourself said, “there could be more things that might require some better planning”. What action should someone take from that? What part is objective? Being that that statement can always be the case from whoever writes that statement, so how does that help me here?
I fully understand that I won’t have the knowledge of someone does that’s been in this space for years. But does that mean that I should move at a subjective speed here? Or should I buy things slower because I could / might require better planning?
Again, not to come across as negative here. I’ve had this situation happen before (on this thread and others), and it’s a bit frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, I’m NOT against feedback and advice… If someone has an objective stance on something, I’m all ears. BUT if they’re going to imply I’m doing things wrong (ie. missing crucial area of information, saying I didn’t want to use HQPlayer, etc), and that I "reconsider some of my choices, I’d like them to come with accurate facts, objective feedback, and solutions. I’d prefer they not tell me all the ways they think I’m doing it wrong. Tell me what / why there’s another way to look at this that may yield better results based on XYZ information.
Apologies for the long reply BTW, and again, I write this with a very friendly tone that doesn’t seek to offend in any way. It’s simply my perspective is all.
