Would you rather £20000 of music in whatever format you choose, or a NAC 552DR?

I'll play.

Can I have both?

552 and a streamer for me! I never run out of interesting new music with the streamer.

I'll have a 552DR please.

Would you like to swing on a star? Carry moonbeams home in a jar? Be better off than you are, or would you rather be a Mule?

Most of my music purchases are used CDs, as they are cheap and plentiful. £20k would easily buy 4000 of them, probably more, and honestly, I don't feel the need to own that much music. I only buy albums that I really like, and know that I will keep coming back to. So I guess I'd go for the upgrade.

Consciousmess posted:

That is question is also for you, Adam!

What would YOU do! You seem to start threads but hardly ever reply or contribute to them.  So, here's your chance: what would YOU do and WHY?

Tony mate, what took you so long?!

Best, Chris

The music's easier to replace, the 552 is all in one lump (I'd better add "financially that is" for the sake of the pedantry). I wouldn't be able to choose 20k worth of music in one go.

Why not by a S/H 552 DR for around £11 - £12k ish, sell your preamp and still have upwards of £10k for music

lyndon

552 and the music will follow.

Oh, we are taking this seriously are we?

Good music is pretty cheap these days (with some exceptions of course) what with good as new CD's from the river, so I would have to go for the 552DR.

An you CONSCIOUSMESS?

Well, my collection amassed over some 45 years  probably cost the equivalent of £20k in today's money, so as you're offering I'll take the 552, thanks - but I'd probably swap it for a 500, or better still a secondhand 500 and pair of 300s for triamping.

I'd find it impossible to spend that much on music I don't already have - so it would have to be the 552 - but like Innocent Bystander I'd sell it and buy a 300, NDS & 555.

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...orum-coming-to-posts

.sjb

Seriosly??  Its quite simple.  I already have almost all the music I enjoy listening to.  I couldn't spend that much on music if I wanted to.  I'd buy the hardware because it woukd make all the music I already have sound better.

Same for me - I have the music, so would go for the electronics....

Clearly Consciousmess has come i to more money than he can spend, and is feeling magnanimous.

To the OP: please confirm when I can expect the 552 you offered. (If it helps, I am happy to accept cash instead and save you the hassle of buying it, and the cost of delivery.)

Well, Mr Innocent Bystander...

My prompt for asking questions often comes from reading forum posts - occasionally with humour - but in this instance, note the number of posts to hifi corner being 4x that in the music room. Isn't that quite an illustration of electronic obsession over art?!

(By the way, I'd have £20000 of music organised album genre performer composer as that is a collection for life. A NAC 552 needs servicing every 10 years.)

Well perhaps you should have added the caveat that it would be starting over from nothing. I value the music more than the gear, but as others have stated, with my current collection I couldn't find another 20K worth of music to purchase. My current collection is probably worth 10-12K replacement cost, so I would likewise take the 552 at this point in time.

Consciousmess posted:

Well, Mr Innocent Bystander...

My prompt for asking questions often comes from reading forum posts - occasionally with humour - but in this instance, note the number of posts to hifi corner being 4x that in the music room. Isn't that quite an illustration of electronic obsession over art?!

(By the way, I'd have £20000 of music organised album genre performer composer as that is a collection for life. A NAC 552 needs servicing every 10 years.)

Interesting, so you are the professor/scientist and HiFi Corner is the actual compound/cage and we are the rats/mice inside the compound/cage.   By posing different questions to start different threads you are changing the physical lay out/of the compound/cage and seeing how we would react to different situations..?

Consciousmess posted:

Well, Mr Innocent Bystander...

My prompt for asking questions often comes from reading forum posts - occasionally with humour - but in this instance, note the number of posts to hifi corner being 4x that in the music room. Isn't that quite an illustration of electronic obsession over art?!

(By the way, I'd have £20000 of music organised album genre performer composer as that is a collection for life. A NAC 552 needs servicing every 10 years.)

It is more a commentary of the recording industries lack of producing music worth owning.

Can't imagine spending 25 grand on music, or a piece of audio gear for that matter, a new Harley dresser would be my first choice for that kind of money!

Consciousmess posted:

Well, Mr Innocent Bystander...

My prompt for asking questions often comes from reading forum posts - occasionally with humour - but in this instance, note the number of posts to hifi corner being 4x that in the music room. Isn't that quite an illustration of electronic obsession over art?!

Have you actually counted the number of posts? Yes, HIFi corner has four times the number of topics, but have you seen the number of posts annually on just the "what are you listening to"? thread in the music room? Vastly more, I suspect, than the combined responses on all hifi topics in the same period.

Even if that were not the case, as this is a forum hosted by an equipment manufacturer, it should hardly be surprising that a lot of queries/comments come up about equipment, often seeking help or other guidance from others, whereas there is less need to do that with music, unless someone wants suggestions for what to listen to or where to buy it. Arguably there could be more on music interpretation - but I suspect that the vast majority of people simply listen to music for pleasure without ever wanting to analyse it in any may.

My guess is that anyone who can afford to spend £20k on a single stereo component can afford to spend another £20k on music. I can't afford either, but thank you for making me feel frugal and responsible about my 300 DR!

badlands posted:

Can't imagine spending 25 grand on music, or a piece of audio gear for that matter, a new Harley dresser would be my first choice for that kind of money!

When I was first buying LPs, (37s/5d ~£1.87 rings a bell in about 1970) the cost was equivalent to about £25 in today's money allowing for inflation. When CDs first became popular in the mid 1980s I seem to recall them around the £10 mark - also roughly equivalent to £25 today. Prices are much more variable today, but hi res downloads are often not far short of that. So my collection of ~1200 albums must have cost in the region of £25k in today's money, possibly more. Some people on the forum have cited collections three or four times as big as mine!

Is a Harley dresser similar to a Welsh dresser? Or is someone to dress your Harley for you? () And just think, you can play music on and fully enjoy your hifi system regardless of weather, and without risk to life and limb from oil spills or idiots on the road....