Yeah, I consider myself an audiophile, although I do it on the cheap, and I am *not* one of those wankers who is a snob about this. My philosophy on this is quite simple. Music should be about how you enjoy it, not how someone else says you should enjoy it. If you love the sound of your mega bass Raycons, I mean, they’re a trash product and you could do much better, but I won’t look down on you for it. If you like how your setup sounds, that is all that matters. I’m always happy to give my advice if requested, but music is about consumption and enjoyment of art. We all consume art differently. Our ears are all different and what works for one may not work for the other, and this is ok. The only thing that matters is that you enjoy your music. Oh and don’t buy thousand dollar power or usb cables, or if you do, send them to me so I can do an autopsy on them for the lulz.
My setup used to consist of a Fiio E17k which I bought to replace a dead integrated sound card for my computer. Single best audio decision I’ve ever made. Shits on a creative audigy and from a great height as it will actually drive serious headphones. I only had Audio Technica IM70s though, which are now discontinued. I still have the amp, and I’d like to make it work for its keep. I want to get a good set of cans, maybe beyerdynamic DT770s or something, specified at the highest impedance the amp will allow, of course.
Currently my setup is a pair of AirPods pros, that’s really it.
My best audio system was actually in my old car which was written off in an accident. It was a proper luxury spec model with a seriously upgraded no highs, no lows, it must be Bose, system. I have a base model of the same car. The stock speakers are good for about 70 watts RMS. The Bose speakers are good for about 500 watts. These things actually made the whole car properly shake. All the mirrors would be shaking on a good bassy song. It’s a completely stock audio system! And it sounds fucking beautiful. It will fuck like a sewing machine when needed, but it is clear as a church bell. It really does sound absolutely top shelf. But when the car costs as much as an entry level C-class (I think the sticker price was $57,000, in 2004), it’d goddamn well want to be good.
I have harvested the Bose speakers out of the old car and have them ready to go in the new one. The only problem is that these speakers are 2 ohms. My head unit is 4 ohms, and considering that these speakers are almost an order of magnitude more powerful, if I tried to run them on the built-in amp, said amp *will* melt.
I plan on keeping the factory sub amplifier as it is a standalone amplifier, and it doesn’t have any weird control fuckery. When the ignition is on, the amp is on. The mounting holes are still there on my base model, so whack it in and wire it up for a basic remote amp setup. Simple. It is also a stereo amplifier, which is unusual for subs afaik. It picks up its inputs from the rear door speakers, however I should be able to run a pre-out straight from the head unit. We’ll see what happens.
The subs I have covered, but at some point, I will be installing a little Focal Impulse 4 channel hideaway amp which will run the door and dash speakers. This amp will do, iirc, guaranteed 4x 70w RMS @ 2ohm all day, every day. Plenty of juice in something that can be hidden inside the boot/trunk skin next to the subwoofer amp. However it will also run a 4 ohm load if you need/want to. But I’m buying it as I need the 2 ohm spec.
If any of you are really really interested in this spergery, I can probably do a build log or something.
P.S. how could I forget? Desktop speakers are Microlab Solo6c. They’re about 12 years old, cost less than $200, and they are great value for money. Just the fact they they have lived as long as they have justifies the price. The fact that they sound pretty damn good is just a bonus at this point. Really happy with them, and they were a birthday gift!
