Official A/V Thread

[voltronbadass]

Was feeling really overwhelmed and frustrated after the schiit and forte 4 pairing. Sold off a ton of gear and have not listened to hifi once in many many months. Not a sitdown for the evening specifically to have a hifi night in a long ass time.

Today I snagged a parasound A21, non plus. Been after one at a good price for over a year I think. Internet says this is one of the very best “budget” solid state pairings with my forte 4’s, this time i’ll listen to all the recommendations and see how this goes. So preamp is now a NAD 165BEE which has grown on me quite a bit. Schiit gugnir multibit DAC, Klipsch forte 4 speakers, and the parasound A21. Svs 3000 sealed sub. All blue jean cables.

Ive been daily driving kef ls50 meta’s on a schiit vidar with that nad preamp. Thats been a pretty nasty combo for a smaller room or daily low level listening. Glad to get a break from hard to drive speakers and go back to the sensitive boys again. Time to see if I can get into a real hifi session back on a big boy setup.

Oh also picked up a wiim pro on release, been loving that thing, best $150 ive ever spent on hifi gear.

 

[prof82]

Let us now how the Fortes sound with your new Parasound amp after you've run them for a while. I'm curious about this pairing.

 

[voltronbadass]

It would have been nice to get the plus, ive bid on a few in this time, in the end I couldnt bring myself to spend kernau monies

 

[prof82]

It would have been nice to get the plus, ive bid on a few in this time, in the end I couldnt bring myself to spend kernau monies

I use a Parasound JC3 Jr as my phono stage. I recently upgraded my integrated amp to a Luxman, and after doing some A/Bing between the parasound and the Luxman's internal phono, I prefer the parasound. So it's remaining in my setup.

I'll probably try the Lux internal some more eventually, but I really love the sound of the Parasound. The internet hifi guys all tell me to give it more time though. It could be the fact that I always liked the parasound, but it now sounds so much better going into a superior integrated than my old Yamaha.

I plan on getting new speakers this year, and the Klipsch Heritage series is on my list.

 

[voltronbadass]

I dont think I experienced a true sensitive speaker before the fortes.

They showed every weakness in my chain, ruined a lot of the gear I thought was long term. They were also able to allow some vintage gear of mine to show off qualities I had never heard.

Just something to think about, its been a weird road of wtf since these speakers entered my life.

 

[voltronbadass]

Sat for about an hour and a half this morning.

Back at it now for a few hours, kind of blown away by this amp so far, I knew I wasnt touching what these speakers can do.

I’ll go ahead and say if you have klipsch forte 4’s that you shouldnt have Schiit freya plus, aegirs or vidars anywhere near these things. This amp preamp combo is way cheaper too, sigh, live and learn.

Sound stage is so massive and powerful now, I read that the JC5 is easily double the dynamic muscle, that must be a pretty ultimate combo.

Guess I start looking for a parasound p6 now to see how it squares off with this NAD.

 

[joeX]

Can anyone recommend some noise cancelling headphones (eg, Audio Technica, Bose, JBL, Sennheiser, Sony), where the noise cancelling feature actually works?

It would be good if they had an audio connection cable, so you could also use them as wired phones (rather than just Bluetooth).

 

[voltronbadass]

Sony wh-1000xm series has been the gold standard in the industry for years for good reason, they are now on the wh-1000xm5. The 3’s and 4’s are everywhere still.

Im pretty sure youve asked this before? Why am I responding, thats the question.

 

[joeX]

Sony wh-1000xm series has been the gold standard in the industry for years for good reason, they are now on the wh-1000xm5. The 3’s and 4’s are everywhere still.

So, the 3's and 4's are better than the earlier ones?

 

[skate323k137]

Even the "cheap" New Sony are better at isolating without a background hum than the old Bose. Even with active noise canceling off I can still barely hear anything.

 

[joeX]

Even the "cheap" New Sony are better at isolating without a background hum than the old Bose. Even with active noise canceling off I can still barely hear anything.

"cheap"- do you means ones like the WH-CH720

 

[skate323k137]

"cheap"- do you means ones like the WH-CH720

Yeah they isolate surprisingly well. Very bass heavy but what wireless phones aren't?

 

[joeX]

Yeah they isolate surprisingly well. Very bass heavy but what wireless phones aren't?

I've read that the WH-1000XM4 are less bass heavy than the WH-1000XM3

 

[Teddy KGB]

Sony wh-1000xm series has been the gold standard in the industry for years for good reason, they are now on the wh-1000xm5. The 3’s and 4’s are everywhere still.

Im pretty sure youve asked this before? Why am I responding, thats the question.

All of this.

I've read that the WH-1000XM4 are less bass heavy than the WH-1000XM3

Like anything audio related, reviews can be subjective. The fact of the matter is, the the Sony headphone mobile app allows you to adjust the EQ to your liking regardless of 3s vs. 4s. I also find that over time, the noise cancelling function on my xms to be somewhat fatiguing to my ears - especially on long flights - but the noise canceling strength can be adjusted via the app as well. Overall, this is the first pair of over-the-ear noise cancelling headphones that I've been fully satisfied with over the long term... I've had my xm3's since 2019.

Find the best price between the two, and jump in. The end.

 

[skate323k137]

I prefer structural isolation to active canceling but maybe that's the DJ in me

 

[kernow]

I dont think I experienced a true sensitive speaker before the fortes.

They showed every weakness in my chain, ruined a lot of the gear I thought was long term. They were also able to allow some vintage gear of mine to show off qualities I had never heard.

Just something to think about, its been a weird road of wtf since these speakers entered my life.

99db - Jesus, I thought mine were high at 94 odd

 

[theMot]

New cart.

 

[voltronbadass]

99db - Jesus, I thought mine were high at 94 odd

Yeah but you never know, I always look at the numbers as skewed for advertising. Also what gear did they use, what scale. Like in the car world with dynamometers, different manufactures measure differently.

I think the other part of my issue was that I had just never experienced a very sensitive speaker in person, no matter the measurement. Its kind of difficult to know what you are buying in hifi, just need to buy it and try it ultimately. In your space with your ears and gear.

Even though the experience was frustrating I knew to keep the fortes and change the gear instead of the other way round. I bought what I wanted instead of listening to the internet about good pairings, my mistake. A pile of money was lost but thats any hobby at times. Pretty damn happy now, looking forward to picking up the matching preamp and a power conditioner next.

 

[fake]

I think the other part of my issue was that I had just never experienced a very sensitive speaker in person, no matter the measurement. Its kind of difficult to know what you are buying in hifi, just need to buy it and try it ultimately. In your space with your ears and gear.

What do most people do about this? Buy used and sell what doesn't appeal to them / fit their system? Or do a lot of people buy new and take the loss of selling it a few weeks later as used?

 

[voltronbadass]

If you are buying new, most good companys will give you a listening period in which you can return, no questions asked.

The place I bought the speakers from runs a hifi listening focused air bnb about four hours from me, 8 rooms each with its own different hifi setup, some running hundreds of thousands of dollars. And even though Im sure my speakers are there, I cant afford the gear they are showing them off with, and the room itself is also massively responsible for how the system sounds, so I didnt see much point even though they offered me a free night.

Some of the bigger cities hifi distributors have like listening studios, by appointment only and you can tell them before hand what to have on stock that you want to hear.

But this shit is super expensive, most people can not buy new, then there is a whole segment of vintage hifi enthusiasts. There is no easy answer with anything in this hobby.

 

[kernow]

I've rarely bought any of my kit new, it's just not worth the extra.

 

[voltronbadass]

I am really tired of recapping and modding fucking video game and hifi trash. Really tired of things not working peak out of the box.

 

[theMot]

Very nice upgrade I received for the AT 540ml cart this week. RigB “rigid body”. This really makes a big difference ive found. Here im listening to Welcome to the Machine by Pink Floyd. Never could hear Roger Waters backing vocal until fitting this. It just upgrades the sonics, separation and soundstage in every direction.

 

[voltronbadass]

Stumbled into an easy clap on a half priced parasound P6 preamp, should be fun to test against the current NAD.

Also grabbed a furman elite 15 pfi power conditioner to round out the new setup

 

[voltronbadass]

Been a pretty fun past few days comparing the nad vs the parasound pre.

Parasound is much more focused smaller soundstage, more midbass driven. Very tight control over everything. Killer remote btw. Parasound is a lot flater sounding a lot less color than the nad.

I bet the parasound JC amps are a much better pairing with the P6 preamp. I think I prefer the nad. But still lots of setup tricks and cabling options to play with. The mark furman power conditioner showed up today too.