What have you learned or mistakes made in the hobby in 2020?

All Things Music
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41

You and me are probably thinking the same way. Big Daddy Blue with the silver boxes??

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42

:eyes: maybe…

yes yes it is

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43

This year I’ve learned

  1. Life is precious, so are your friends.
  2. Online friends social distance best.
  3. You can’t always track down the source of a hum.
  4. You can never keep up with What’s Playing, What I Listened to this week, or the Classical topic.
  5. Don’t be afraid to try a new manufacturer - Thank you Nectar Sound
  6. There is an IEM that I like.
  7. There are few places on the net as friendly as this one. Last one I was involved with was BIX, from 1984-88.
  8. I need to award more :hearts:
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44

If you can swing it go for it. The Starlett is great but thats another level altogether. That would be the only amp upgrade I would consider making myself. I asked about it with Donald re pricing and options and I got the cans for it. The question is whether I want to put the $$ towards it, I could do it and even more so if I sold the Starlett and some other gear I no longer use.

Not sure what the wait time is now. I know back when it first came on the scene it was like 2 years.

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45

That’s because every bloody classical recommendation is like an hour long, not a 3 minute song, and us fools usually recommend 4-5 different versions and bitch about production houses and mic placement and conductors and phrasing… we’re mad I tell you!

EDIT: that reminds me that I have some posting to make in the classical section. Hopefully soon. Ive been away from things for a bit.

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46

These guys. I’d be happy to hold a reverse auction for your dear Starletts. @perogie @dncnexus

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47

I don’t read “What’s Playing” because I’m playing stuff and reading the new release lists instead…

Classical is as bad as heavy metal and jazz for work hours.

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48

Auction date dependent on wait times.

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49

For 8.9k there is one with no wait times that has 1 bal and 1 unbal.

For 6.7k, you get 2 unbal inputs. But the wait time is 6 months.

Edit: this is all information from Donald today. I have been talking with him today about pricing and timelines.

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50

6 months is not too bad. I was aware of the ready to go one available but I dont know if I need the XLR input for an extra 2K.

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51

I agree, $2k is a bit of a big price jump for an XLR input. I can buy/make a XLR to RCA converter for around $350.

I am leaning toward the 6 month wait and the unbal inputs. I hate paying things in one lump sum, so makes me feel better paying over some time plus, I don’t wanna pay the premium just for an XLR input.

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52

Exactly, put the money towards tubes.

EDIT: I’m now convinced Donald built the Starlett as a gateway to the Stellaris.

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53

XLR input on the rear of the amp? Conversion to RCA?

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54

You can get the XLR inputs on the Stellaris.

Or you can build an XLR to RCA converter box that takes XLR from the Yggy XLR out, and converts the signal to RCA to go into the RCA inputs on the Stellaris.

Using XLR on Yggy is preferred since its different from teh RCA outs.

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55

I know you know this, but for others: The xlr input upgrade also includes it’s own input transformer and stuff, probably something special Donald has custom matched and all that jazz. Just in case anyone was wondering why a $4 part costs that much. Iron ain’t cheap.

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56

amps and sounds make an input transformer black box to convert XLR output from the preamp to RCA input on the HA.

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57

Lessons

  • I’m almost exactly five years into the hobby and I’ve yet to pin down definitively my sound preferences, which is to say I’ve been pleasantly surprised by hearing some different tunings (e.g. darker headphones, and the ZMF Vérité)

  • I need to try out more gear and experiment further

  • I need to learn more

  • I should give gear a second chance

  • don’t assume exhibitors at CanJam necessarily have synergistic DAC/amp/headphones pairings for audition purposes

  • don’t judge open-back headphones in the noisy exhibition halls of trade shows like CanJam (it was great that ZMF had its own side room at 2020’s CanJam here in NY)

  • if you want to invest in a good pair of IEMs it’s worth spending a good $50+ on a wide range of tips and then experimenting patiently in order to find the right pairing

  • with everything that’s happened this year, I’m happy where I am in this hobby. Sure, I’d like to upgrade (I have a new amp on the way and hope, one day, to get a Bifrost 2, and I’d love to be able to get a Vérité in a few years’ time). But if I were never able to upgrade again, it’d be fine. I’m tremendously lucky to have the gear I do.

I didn’t know my grandfather. Apparently he loved painting. He didn’t (or couldn’t) make the time to indulge in this hobby during his working life. Instead, he spent years gradually purchasing a paintbrush here, tube of paint or canvas there, setting them aside and looking forward to the days when he’d get to paint to his heart’s content. Soon after retiring he died. [edit: this happened many years ago]

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58

This is an excellent point!

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59

All excellent advice.

60

At the end of the day no matter how much we love the gear and all the trappings of Audiophillia (is that a word @pennstac?) It’s all about the enjoyment of the music.

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