nodough

Warning up front - this is long and tedious and no TL;DR summary. You asked for us to share a little - and much of it may be unnecessary because many of us seem to have common stories - but hell, here’s pretty much all of how I got to where I am today with my interest in audio tech.

I was influenced as a pre-teen in the early 70’s by two older brothers who left their stereo unattended in the basement. I fooled around listening to their records on their system of AR turntable, Pioneer receiver, Advent speakers, and a pair of Sennheiser 424 headphones, and quickly realized this stuff made music so much better than the pap my friends had. I was hooked.

Went off to college and joined the school’s “stereo club” to learn from those who shared my interest. The club was also able to entice a local stereo shop to set up high-end gear in one of the dorm rooms every now and then. One system had these insanely large Infinity speakers that had dozens of drivers driven by gear I can no longer remember. Oh, but I do remember hearing how real drum solos sounded from a 45 RPM LP played through those speakers. I liked to dabble playing drums myself and that system was so resolving I could tell what kind of tips the drumsticks had (nylon). Wow. This was probably in ’77, pre-digital (I have lots of LPs, and later bought lots of CDs)). I couldn’t hope to assemble a system like that, but damned if I couldn’t try to get close. With the few coins I could scrape together, I built a Dynaco amp and preamp (both SS; BTW, not really DIY; more like an erector set with some soldering for hook-up wires), bought a cheap Dual TT with Shure and Stanton carts, a Sony cassette deck, and (unfortunately) chose Polk bookshelf speakers over Rogers LS3/5. I also got my own Senn 424. I remember it all, because I still have all of it.

Graduated, got married, had kids and no money or time; you know the story. Family needs and other interests (cars, motorcycles, RC planes and cars) stalled stereo development for decades. Occasionally came by used gear cast off by friends and family - big NEAR speakers and an Onkyo amp come to mind - but made no real investments in my system, though I did audition stuff on rare occasions. Meanwhile, video recording happened and became essential to document the kids growing up and time shift late-night movies (I went with a Sony Betamax and camcorder). It also served to steer my interests back to electronic gear.

Finally had some time and money after the kids grew up to indulge in audio gear, and Audiogon came along about the same time to enable purchase of decent gear on the used market. After listening to Bryston, Classe, Krell and British integrated amps whose make I can no longer remember, got myself a used BAT hybrid integrated amp (w/phono card), used VPI TT, a Clearaudio MM cart, and a Sony ES CD/DVD disc player. Still had the NEARs. Also found an old MF X-Pre on eBay, which I picked up to play around with tubes using the old Dynaco amp. Digital was happening and I bought into the CD hype, albeit with cheap gear (because that was the promise of digital). And then another Infinity moment happened. While looking around for affordable speakers to replace the NEARs (which had to be the weak link), I was amazed by what a pair of relatively inexpensive floor-stander Spendor speakers sounded like driven by something called a DarTZeel amp and (I think) a California Audio Labs CD player. Wow all over again. The emotion that system conveyed was a revelation to me about what a stereo was capable of doing. Then I learned what the DarT cost. I shook my head and bought the Spendors’ diminutive little brother.

Now I was (am) chasing that DarT sound. Not understanding at the time how certain choices constrain flexibility down the road, I started with speakers, buying first the ubiquitous KEF LS50 (before they became de rigueur) and then found a good deal on a pair of new ATC SCM40 (latest version). I adore the ATCs, which is problematic given their power-hungry 85 dB inefficiency. I also replaced the Sony player with an Oppo BDP-105, more for its DAC utility than as a disc player, and it went a long way toward making digital sound better (recently, the addition of a Schiit Eitr helped even more). But it still wasn’t good enough. I had grown up on analog, so I guess I am overly sensitive to digital grunge/digititus. As I explored gear (particularly amps), I soon realized the ATCs married me to a need for power, and good digital requires careful selection and, apparently, an aptitude for or at least willingness and patience to figure out networking and IT stuff. Ever the stingy bean counter, I learned about Schiit and subsequently discovered SBAF. Hello, everyone!

I’m still jonesing for the emotional impact I heard listening to Patricia Barber singing Ode to Billy Joe on that DarT system (yeah, it was the amp and source, not the speakers). So last fall I bought two Aegirs (one of which I just broke doing something stupid) to run as mono-blocks from the BAT’s preamp outs. I also got myself that Eitr to clean up what was clearly a problem with USB from my Mac Mini to the Oppo. Worked pretty well, too. But then my brother lent me his OG Bifrost upgraded with Gen 5 and Multibit, which clearly outperforms the Oppo/Eitr combo. I now need a new DAC.

So here I am, chasing amps and sources, knowing I am wedded to high power. That need for power and a lust for the intimacy the DarT revealed have me searching for an amp solution I can afford. I now know the Aegirs, as good as they are, don’t get me there Wirth the ATCs. With the BAT as a front end and driving the ATCs, the Aegirs are sweet and resolving, but they just don’t have enough grunt to produce the excitement the ATCs are capable of. I have a MicroZOTL MZ2 headamp, which also happens to a better preamp than the BAT - works really well with an Aegir driving my brother’s Tekton speakers - but, alas, it’s not balanced so I can’t run the Aegirs mono-block with it. My brother’s Parasound Halo A21 with the MicroZOTL made the ATC’s jump, but the Parasound lacked that ethereal emotional nuance I heard with the DarT. Might the Vidar work better? Maybe, but my search for quality watts at a semi-affordable price has lead me to class A circuits (hence the Aegirs) and Pass Labs (not affordable). I don’t have the means to purchase the Pass XA60.8 mono-blocks I think I want, but I do want to hear what a Pass amp might sound like in my system.

Harkening back to my college DIY (sort of) days, I just bought (not yet assembled) the First Watt-derived F6 boards and JFETS from DIYAudio to see what a decent, albeit lowish-power 25W Pass-designed amp can do with the ATCs. I also bought the Wayne Colburn designed Pearl 2 phono preamp PCBs & JFETs from the Pass DIY site and I got a Hana SL MC cartridge, which awaits the Pearl 2 build. I have lots of things on the table now to keep me busy during COVID.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve read well into many of the threads here. The conversations resonate with me. I like the community’s approach, its honesty, its mistrust of megabucks=better and the corresponding kinship with like-minded people searching for value, our joy of music heard as the gods intended, and the thrill of the chase. Nuff said.