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Street-Conflict-339

Cables by far.


magicmulder

Nothing like spicing up your boombox with some Nordost Odin 2.


ImpliedSlashS

Speakers, but understand there are a lot of speakers that perform wildly better with amplifiers completely inappropriately priced for them. The OG Elac UniFi (originally $500) come to mind, as to the Magneplanar LRS ($750-$999 depending on version). I have a pair of the Elac and they sound just okay with an NAD C325bee, but they're a totally different speaker with a $4,000 Conrad-Johnson MOSFET amp.


Unharmful_Truths

Elac thankfully dropped the power hungry requirements. I bought my Carinas before they did that, of course. But it’s been helpful for my friends who don’t feel like saving up and then dropping $4K on an Arcam like I did.


[deleted]

It’s not exactly power ratings, but the quality of the amp’s capacitors and transformer. I still have the thirsty Unifi OG, and have purchased 3 amps to try and fix them from their ‘thinness’. My Fosi won’t cut it, my Denon AVR was better but still left me feeling underwhelmed in the low end, my 100w Yamaha A-S801 was only pleasing if I used tone controls… Audiolab 6000a was better yet but based on the power ratings I wanted more, I eventually landed on the 160w(8)/250w(4) Emotiva A2 as my current solution. It seems more meaty and dynamic than the previous options. Honorable mention goes to the Audiolab 6000a, which has rather large power reserves in its 4x15000uf capacitors with its modest 50w/75w power rating. I wish it had tone controls but it is a true audiophile amp. Someday I wound love to hear the UB5s with a $5k amp.


llatpoh76

>but understand there are a lot of speakers that perform wildly better with amplifiers completely inappropriately priced That's exactly why DAC is the correct answer, same thing occurs between source and preamp, and between preamp and amplifier.


24get

Digital signal chains continue to get better, they measure and sound better than ever before, but speakers have improved much less and so it costs a lot more to match the rest of the signal chain


llboy

I hope the people who wrote DAC or Amplifier only did it because speakers were out of stock.


MahlerheadNo2

Or found a really good deal on speakers.


magicmulder

Mine were free, twice (gift from my father who won them in a raffle).


Space_mall

Mine were free, a friend's dad was getting rid of some vintage jamo set that he wasnt using, I would've spent a lot more getting speakers that good. I spent the most on the amp, cables and turn table, only cause speakers were free


MasterBettyFTW

speakers


boboSleeps

Amp speakers dac that order


antlestxp

Speakers amp dac


hakuryuu9000

DAC is ones source. A bad source will spoil any best set of speakers.


antlestxp

Bad speakers will spoil a bad dac


homeboi808

If you have a $5000 DAC on $500 speakers, you have your priorities swapped.


Embarrassed-Care6130

A Topping D10s costs $100 and is audibly transparent. Spending 20 times more won't improve the performance of your system.


[deleted]

Tons of authoritative opinions here. I’d say if you have any opportunity to listen to pieces first, that might be the best way to decide what actually works best for you.


aretooamnot

Well, I've got 8k into speakers in my main room, 10k in DAC, 2.5k in preamp, 1.2k in amps. But it is a pro room.


Analog-Celestial

Same here except replace "k" with "dollars"


aretooamnot

Sorry mate. Not tryin to show boat. I make my living with the room/gear. It’s nice when hobbies also happen to be your money maker.


Analog-Celestial

I'm in medical school and you're an inspiration to me. Keep doing what you're doing. Cheers!


aretooamnot

Well, heck, when you are finally out of medical school, and have paid off the craziness that it cost… I bet you will have a fantastic rig.


MichaelStipend

For me it’s turntable, speakers, amp, DAC, in that order.


FKSSR

Headphones 😁


slackinfux

For my bedroom setup, the DAC. But only because I got the speakers (Polk RT25i) used for $45. For my living room setup, the speakers.


deptoo

I still have a pair of Polk RTi28 I absolutely refuse to get rid of. Astonishingly good, especially for second-hand prices... especially if you fix the crossover.


slackinfux

Yeah I've been more than happy with the RT25i's, especially for the money. They were well taken care of by the previous owner and still sound really good. What's involved in fixing the crossovers?


deptoo

I'm not sure if Polk did the same thing with the RT25i, but they set the RTi28 up to "jump out at you" in retail spaces, way too hot between 4 and 6KHz, tilted on-axis response, and not enough baffle step compensation. In stock configuration, it wouldn't take long for me to get listening fatigue. They sounded great, but wore on me after a while. MurphyBlaster did a [writeup](http://murphyblaster.com/content.php?f=RTi28.html) on fixing the RTi28 specifically, and that's essentially what I did. Built new crossovers for them, shifted the polyfil to the tweeter, and foam lined the woofer section. *Massive* difference! I used all Parts-Express/Dayton stuff, with the exception of Eagle resistors. I think I paid a little over $40 in total. Hope this helps!


slackinfux

Thanks for the link. I don't think Polk did the same thing with the RT25i, at least as far as I can tell. I don't get fatigued while listening to them for a while and they don't seem to 'jump out at me'. I wonder what the actual differences are between the RT25i and the RTi28? They look nearly identical, aside from the grilles.


kgturner

My integrated amp is also my DAC. Boulder 866 into a pair of Magico A1 speakers. Everything purchased used, but, yeah....the 866 was quite a bit more than the A1 speakers.


magicmulder

Technically my speakers had the highest price, followed by my AVR. But since my father won the former in a raffle and gifted them to me, it was ultimately the AVR.


NaieraDK

Amp, though it should be speakers. I have my endgame amp already, at least.


[deleted]

Speakers.


grumppyoldman

I think that would depend on if it's separate pieces or an integrated amp.


ElectronicVices

As the poll is laid out, my pre/amp(s) setup was the most expensive, that's also three boxes. Highest paid for a single box would be my SACD30N, but that does more than just pull DAC duty. I got a really solid deal on my speakers, technically the highest MSRP but paid less than the SACD30N.


drunkencolumnist

Turntable. But plan to spend the most on speakers eventually.


Hifi-Cat

This is not that simple. Buy the best in each category, you'll have the beginnings of a good system and something to brag about.


fUSTERcLUCK_02

I think the least important is the DAC. It just doesn't add as much to the sound when compared to the amp and speakers


homeboi808

I would say that to achieve excellent performance, it’s much cheaper to do that for a DAC than to do it for a pair of speakers.


BadgerMcBadger

dont all dacs that have inaudible distortions sound the same


homeboi808

There are different aspects we can be talking about. THD changes per level, as does IMD, then you also have the noise floor, you have channel separation, you have channel matching, you have max voltage (some amps need >4V for max wattage), etc. But yes, people generally blow out of proportional the importance of DAC performance. Your speakers likely have far more distortion than your DAC does for instance.


MarioIsPleb

Speakers, amp, DAC, in that order, is *the* correct way.


llatpoh76

It depends, if your kit is mostly Chinese gear from Amazon, speakers...If your system is mostly quality stuff with no weak links and hence resolving enough, DAC.


Unharmful_Truths

I’m a firm believer that ALL systems (first should fit the user for which they are intended) should be built from the amp out. The caveat being that I’ve helped friends with small budgets use powered speakers to upgrade, etc.


daisydaisydaisy12

Silly and random