Doc left a good question in the comments:
I’m looking to update my home listening. I’m starting from scratch, again, building a system, what would you pick? I know that’s a loaded question, because of the plethora of available pieces, but a “simple” solution to a complex issue. I’ve been lamenting the piecemeal listening for a while, and finding a vintage vinyl copy of, The Wall, made me think is should return to a home dedicated system.
Let’s help Doc out. What does your system look like and what would you recommend?
The first question has to be, what’s the budget. Speakers can go from reasonable to stratospheric in a flash. I hear good things about the Sonos systems, but have no personal experience with their gear.
My second thought is that a dedicated player, such as the ones Astell & Kern make, could multitask as a system on the go and, plugged into the sound system, as both the file player and DAC (digital-to-analog converter). I don’t have one of those but Jon has carried one for years and also plugs it into his studio sound system. Seems like a good way to go and should also work when adding digital file management to an older system.
My own system is rather old and patched together. In my office/studio I listen on a pair of Tannoy speakers, powered by a Bryston amp rescued from the Santa Fe studio and an Adcom preamp. All of this stuff is more than 25 years old. There is a Sony CD player, model X707ES and also from the old studio, but most of my listening is done by playing files on my laptop hooked up to the MixPre-6 from Sound Devices. I am ashamed to admit that I am using the mini-stereo headphone output of the MixPre-6 to connect it to the Adcom preamp. Hey, it works! :-)
What would you recommend to Doc?
As Ottmar stated, budget is a key thing to know.
I have a home theater setup, which includes the Sonos Arc and Sub, which sounds wonderful and can easily fill even a giant environment. It is good for movies, but also does a nice job with music. My setup in an open space that measures more than 30’x 70′, and the Sonos system can play with authority with lots of headroom to spare.
If a personal system is more what Doc needs, there are almost endless possibilities. One of the best that you can assemble there, based on my personal experience, would be Chord HugoTT2, along with an MScaler. Headphones are a very personal choice, and mine is the Audeze LCD-5. This setup can also do great with IEMs, even very sensitive ones.
If you like what tubes bring to the sound of music, I would recommend something from Woo Audio, again based on direct personal experience.
If you are looking for a traditional stereo setup, you can do really great with something like a stand-mounted Kef LS-50 speakers, and you can power them with almost endless choices of amps. In fact, you can even power them with the Chord HugoTT2 mentioned above, and satisfy both your personal audio needs and a stereo implementation.
For a source, you can use a smartphone or a computer and stream, either directly or via a network streamer, or you can get a dedicated DAP, like the Astell & Kern, which are pricey but worth it.
I don’t know if this is helpful, and I am glad to help more if Doc can let me know what exactly he wants/needs, and how much he would be willing to spend.
Wow, thank you, everyone!
I also have mostly old (>20years) audio hardware. This is my home system. ~80% of the time I don’t use headphones with this system, but when I do it gets considerably more fraught, so I’ll skip that bit.
Tannoy speakers fed by an ART SLA1 [see note below]. The sound source is either a 1999 Denon DVD/SACD player, or a 2022 Mac Mini (I don’t really consider the Mini a piece of audio gear). The most recent acquisition is a Schiit Audio Modius-E DAC.
Both the Denon and the Mac function only as storage devices and the analogue outputs are not used on the Denon. Digital out –> DAC. The DAC uses balanced outputs into the SLA-1. There is no preamp – the DAC functions as a switching device. No subwoofer.
[** Note on the SLA1: 20 years ago, I taught an analogue circuit design class to undergrad EE students and we used the ART SLA1 as the platform for circuit design and performance improvement during a module in the lab portion of the course. We modified the SLA1 very extensively and I use the original prototype.]
Doc …
I neglected to mention the budget to assemble a system as I described above, and (although much of it is very old, or has been altered) have come up with a $1000 limit case for everything listed in my description.
Everything listed here is still available in some form.
I do recognise that the system as listed is not very versatile, but it does sound very good (especially when listening in free / near field).
This assumes you already have a computer with a spare (available) USB connection for input to the DAC.