To impress friends and family with systems

Innocent Bystander posted:

Dan Steel posted:

F*** friends and neighbours,

You are clearly surrounded by very liberal people, if that is what you do.

You can all join in. ????

Iconoclast posted:

Ask yourself the following question (and be honest): If you were living alone and NEVER had any family or visitors at your place would you still be as inclined to pursue this hobby to the same extent?

I do, I don't very often (ADHD get in the way) and I do.

feeling_zen posted:

At the pearly gates you shall be judged by a man in white flowing robes who says, "Thou had an 'impressive' hifi".

"Sorry our sound system isn't that good... It only does 'vox angelica'!"

(... A comment for any organists out there.)

MDS, ever got spotted by your neighbour watering your earth spur?? ???? ATB Peter

Huge posted:

Iconoclast posted:

Ask yourself the following question (and be honest): If you were living alone and NEVER had any family or visitors at your place would you still be as inclined to pursue this hobby to the same extent?

I do, I don't very often (ADHD get in the way) and I do.

I asked myself, but didn’t answer out loud:

Yes. If anything, solitude makes me play music more, while with no-one else sharing the home to accommodate their needs and limit my excesses, and only myself to keep fed etc., there would be nothing holding me back from buying or doing whatever I can afford - and this would be one of my driving hobbies (time for that DIY speaker building, room treatment, etc).

Huge posted:

feeling_zen posted:

At the pearly gates you shall be judged by a man in white flowing robes who says, "Thou had an 'impressive' hifi".

"Sorry our sound system isn't that good... It only does 'vox angelica'!"

(... A comment for any organists out there.)

I have good connections there and it seems that Bach and Handel are in an eternal competition who's the best. Bach is not willing to give up his current turn and is improvising on an indefinite theme given by Escher. His fans are convinced that he has only started the exposition of the fugue.

I have an idea... to use Chord Mojo straight (3.5mm Mini Jack Plug - Naim Style 5) to power amp (example nap150, 200).

Would it work well (i know that volume control will be on either Mojo itself or audio player)? Does nap sounds better/different than same price level XS/XS2, SN1?

Thank you.

VytautasK posted:

I have an idea... to use Chord Mojo straight (3.5mm Mini Jack Plug - Naim Style 5) to power amp (example nap150, 200).

Would it work well (i know that volume control will be on either Mojo itself or audio player)? Does nap sounds better/different than same price level XS/XS2, SN1?

Thank you.

Most people who have tried running a DAC straight into a Naim power amp have found that it is better to use a preamp between them, so I would only do this if you have a chance to listen for yourself before you commit to a purchase. 

As Chris advises try by all means, but at a dealer or dealer loan. I tried a Chord Dave into NAP300, just sounded lifeless. Interesting experiment, particularly if it had worked, but it did not for me.

Hi Gazza ....... your findings were interesting.........I listened to the Dave/NAP300dr ........... I found it lifeless too. In theory it is a dream combo.........I eventually went down the 552 route..........other than cost ........... this was all terrific. Naim preamps and poweramps ........ seem to behave as a singular well designed system ........ 

Interesting to read yours experience. Thank you very much!

My thinking was do I really need to pay out a lot of cash for a preamp with 6 inputs, when I was only going to use one. Answer was yes, and bought a 252/supercap.

I think there’s a strong argument for Naim to produce a stripped down preamp (or two) with just a volume control, 1 or 2 inputs, and an output. There would, of course, be howls of protest from the usual suspects who like to run multiple sources, and I’m not suggesting that the current range should be scrapped. But for many of us, a streamer is already a multiple input source, with UPnP, iRadio, and a growing list of other options. I for one have no intention of adding more separate sources than this. 

Following that logic, there is a strong argument for more streaming preamps. A streamer with volume control and a couple of analogue inputs. 

feeling_zen posted:

The only time I every try and show off a system is never to other audiophiles (I'll give a track a spin if they specifically ask), it's to music buffs. Friends who have utterly massive music collections they play via some micro system. In those cases, I'm not trying to impress them so much as show them a window onto their own music. That sometimes results in them asking for help in building and setting up a budget real hifi system. And we know those budget systems are often more fun to put together.

I couldn’t agree with this more.  For me, the pleasure is in playing music that people like so that they can see what’s possible.  And they generally don’t ask about the cost of anything except my speakers, which are Magnepans, and thus not something most people have any experience with. 

I’m proud of my system as I worked hard to earn the money to put it together.  But I’m proud of what it does not how much I spent.  I generally avoid discussing costs as with most others here. 

I have a friend who loves music even more than me - he writes, performs, produces. They can hear what my lower-mid level system does and like it. It doesn't motivate them to commit the funds to having a better system at home. Given that I'd feel really silly proselyting hifi to anyone. 

I find decent hifi a bit of a guilty pleasure. I fully understand that most, even relatively affluent, people think spending 5 figures, let alone 6, on cluttering a room with black boxes is a bit mad. More discreet systems are appealing in part because of that. 

We discovered we have a fan of our hi fi.  Our neighbors have little kids - and the last warm day we were playing music during dinner with the windows open.  The next door 7 year old boy was hanging around outside the living room windows and kinda dancing along to the music. It was cute!  We didn't want to acknowledge him for fear of embarrassing him.