Hi-fi gear nerds assemble (to recommend me things)

The Roam? I’ve read mixed reviews… some said it’s really bass-y. I’m in the market for a portable wifi/bluetooth speaker though…

Yeah a roam. The bass sounds good to me, you can turn it down easily enough on the app if you wanted to :man_shrugging:

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Awesome, thanks!

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I’m a sonos mark on account of my brother working there so I can usually get it dirt cheap. Bought the ARC recently and while I can’t comment on it being worth its RRP (which to me is mind-blowing and way beyond what I’d spend on an all-in-one system), it has properly transformed movies for me. I had a Sonos 5.1 setup already but these Dolby Atmos mixes are something else. Mad Max: Fury Road in particular sounds fantastic. I think you probably need the sub to get the most out of it though. As someone who likes their low-end I think the sub is probably the single best piece of audio gear I’ve ever bought that isn’t a pair of headphones.

On the other end of the scale, my Roam arrived yesterday. Haven’t had a chance to test it properly (i.e. outdoors and pissed) but considering its size it sounds great. I think Sonos being too bass-y is quite a common complaint because of the default “Loudness” option. Given it’s designed to be used in public I’d imagine that loudness off is probably the way to go.

Right at the other

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Utterly bizarre ending to this post. long day yesterday.

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Very pleased with my Roam, sounded good outside when I hung out the washing yesterday.

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Good to hear! I think they’ve nailed the aesthetics and the size/portability too. The Move is a bizarre piece of kit.

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So I’ve now managed to damage my trusty 20+ year old Pro-ject Debut 2. What an idiot. Not major but too intricate a job for me to do and lockdown means no prospect of getting it sorted in the foreseeable future.

So what should I do?

  • Live without a turntable until you can get it mended in…a year?
  • Buy a cheap turntable to sell/give away/keep as backup once old deck fixed
  • Buy an equivalent new deck then sell the old one once fixed.
  • Buy my dream deck even though my current amp&speakers are a bit rubbish too.
  • It’s 2021 take the hint and sell/give away your records.

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Are you sure about the getting it mended option. I got my amp repaired just before Christmas and the place were operating a kind of click and collect service (luckily I got it just before the last lockdown) but with more places operating/opening then there may be possibilities. Having said all that, the place that did it were really good (Electrofix, Bristol) but I fear their like may be few and far between these days.

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Thanks.

Unfortunately I live in a really small place so options are limited. There is one place nearby though that is an outside bet I’ve just thought of so I’ll give them a go.

Get your dream deck then, next year or when you can afford it get your dream speakers etc.

I think buying less good things and updating every couple of years is a false economy and probably not great environmentally either.

I have the same amp I bought 20 years ago. It was more than I should really have spent on an amp but divided by 20+ years it’s not much at all and way better for my wallet, and the landfill, than buying less good ones and replacing.

I mean it obviously depends on your circumstances but I’m a big fan of good quality bullet proof stuff you splash out on and lasts for years.

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Yeah I’m with you on that. Just a money issue tbh.

Actually I’ve thought of a place that might be able to do the repair. It’s a computer repair place but I remembered they sell some second hand Hifi so might be possible.

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If anyone wants a smaller older amp with decent phono inputs I can recommend this. You can pick them up for about 200. Much more expensive when they came out. I think it is a teac a 500 or something.

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Ah 500?

Finally got to properly test my Roam today. Absolutely incredible. Definitely lay it down horizontally, remarkable stereo separation for a unit the size of a lucozade bottle. And I can see how it might be bassy (I love it) but that’s definitely remedied by switching Loudness off.

Also, switch on auto-trueplay. I’m biased of course but I cannot wrap my head around such a tiny speaker sounding so fucking good

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+1. I know I’m not getting the most out of my deck, cartridge, and phono stage, but once I can afford the amp and speakers I want I’m gonna be so happy I already spent the money on the other items.

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I have a similar teac amp

, it’s good :+1:

Fully in love with my massive Yamaha receiver though

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Technical question

Looking to add a CD player, for mostly aesthetic reasons I’d like a Yamaha but anything new is $$$$ and I don’t want to spend too much.

The internet says my receiver has a decent DAC built in, so, with a digital cable the quality of the actual CD player shouldn’t matter too much. So as long as I get an old unit with a working laser it should sound good.

Does this sound anything like correct?

Yes it is correct the only part of a cd player that’ll impact the sound is the DAC as all other parts are strictly digital and the signal will remain the same regardless until its converted to analog

So if you bypass the dac the cdplayer has no say in the sound quality

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Cool, How does it know to use the dac from the receiver and not the CD player?