Beatus Vir

Above all else I'm a lover of music, not audio gear. My audio history is impoverished, Dickensian even. I've never listened to tubes. Or vinyl that didn't have dirt in the grooves. I spent a lot of teenage time loitering at the audio store and absorbing free knowledge and tunes. My entire PC audio collection was in RealPlayer format at one point. I sold my LP and CD collection in 2003 and fully embraced computer audio and 128kbps AAC as good enough. Back then I used a 90's Harman 2ch receiver and JBL L40's, and Grado 60's. Total cost, ~$350. My stereo was still huge but my audio collection was miniaturized beyond the visible. In 2010 I wanted something smaller and traded the L40's for a mint pair of 6208 powered studio monitors. At first I hooked them up directly to my sound card (HORRIBLE), then the nuforce UDAC.and shitty ebay TS-RCA cables. At first, hum and signal noise was even worse. But after lifting the grounds on both monitor's power cables (I know) I finally had good audio out of my speakers. I have tried them without the cheater plugs in many different homes and configurations and they always hum. The interference is carried by the USB cable, and both DACs I've owned are bus-powered, if that matters. The studio monitors are huge for a desk setup but the stereo imaging is amazing and are preferable to home theater speakers for reproducing the variety of awful noises a PC provides that aren't music; i.e. games and youtube videos. A few years ago I 'upgraded' to an M-Audio Fastrack USB interface I found for $35.
In 2015 I abandoned my hand curated (40% pirated, 30% ripped from friend's CDs) 128kbps collection and infatuated myself with Spotify Premium. It's enhanced my enjoyment of music and I cannot bear to return to buying individual albums. I'm aware that it's a critical flaw in the SQ chain but until they offer lossless or I go to Tidal I'm stuck. I'm big on making/sharing/consuming playlists, offline play in my phone/car/snowcat/shower, can't really go back to CD's I'm afraid.

I'm here to learn more and plan out my next upgrades. A Jotunheim w/DAC first, and some balanced XLR cables, and I can finally throw my cheater plugs into the middle of the lake