What is that one thing you own that suprised you the most.

vintage 5.0

vintage 5.0
Subscriber
I was thinking the other day what is the one thing I own that I got and it surprised me how much I like it and use it. For me it is the Music Hall PH 25.2 headphone amp. I use it all the time and it sounds so good I would not want to be without one. I was not really into headphone listening that much until I got it and now it is one of my favorite ways to listen. It is for me the item I got and now would not want to be without one.
 
Mytek 192 DSD DAC. A lot of surprises with this one.

1. Introduced me to how wonderful the DSD format can be.
2. Firewire input is noticeably superior to USB, Coax and Optical inputs, at least on the Mytek.
3. Oyaide Firewire cable made a noticeable improvement over generic Firewire cables.
4. Headphone output/amp is quite robust and sounds surprisingly very good.
 
Has to be my Yamaha C-80 preamp, for two reasons.

In the last 10 years I've been into using small headphone amps (mostly tube amps) for headphone listening. I got a lot of enjoyment out of that little side-hobby, especially swapping tubes, etc. I got my C-80 as a preamp, never giving a single thought as to how it might perform with headphones. When I ultimately tried it with my headphones, I was absolutely blown away by the quality and power output. All my stand-alone headphone amps were nearly instantly retired. I have had less than stellar experiences using vintage gear for headphones in the past. Of course, many receivers, integrated amps, etc just have their headphone output as a cheap tap off the main speaker amp. That's obviously not the case when talking about a preamp :)

The preamp has also blown me away just in the sense of how much extra it does for my amps. It allows me to bridge two of my amps that wouldn't otherwise be easily bridgeable. It allows me to invert one channel as it passes through my stereo amps, giving the power supplies extra headroom which helps especially were bass is concerned :)
 
My frankman integrated speakers in my avatar, ive owned them for 3 or 4 years now, they gave me my first jaw dropping audio moment when I first hooked them up and laid ears on them for the first time, I now have speakers I consider to be a tad better overall, but none surpised me like those did, they are now reinstalled in their origonal custom cabinet and residing in my bedroom where they will probably remain till I die.
 
What me surprised me most was my "Phonokoffer" Dual 1011 V26. With a cristall cartridge and just two ECL86 tubes as pre- and mainamplifier in one case, it sounds amazing. Cute little rascal...
 

Attachments

  • DualP1011V26.jpg
    DualP1011V26.jpg
    46.7 KB · Views: 95
Last edited:
Without a doubt, my Polk SDA SRS2's. It's been almost 2 years and they still surprise me every time I listen to them.
 
It'd have to be the Trio L-07D direct drive with Ortofon Rohmann LOMC cart.
I never knew vinyl could ever sound this amazing (credit must also go to the Trio L-08C pre-amp). The L-07D easily surpasses my old Linn Sondek LP12/Zeta tonearm/Koetsu black goldline cart combo with it's amazing up front SQ.. I wanted to get back into vinyl again and am so glad I took the plunge.. just couldn't be any happier at the mo!
 
the $11 at goodwill Monitor audio Silver S1 i bought last year..

they looked like butt when I bought them (bad rattle can spray paint job to black) ...I figured I was going to try them and then part them out..cause the cabinets looked so ugly..

tried them fell in love... got some mineral spirits and magic erasers that did a awesome job removing the black paint... put some restory a finish on them..

and now i have pretty presentable Monitor audio Silver S1's for $11~

Listening to them now at my pc ...just love them..
picture.php
 
Last edited:
It'd have to be the Trio L-07D direct drive with Ortofon Rohmann LOMC cart.
I never knew vinyl could ever sound this amazing (credit must also go to the Trio L-08C pre-amp). The L-07D easily surpasses my old Linn Sondek LP12/Zeta tonearm/Koetsu black goldline cart combo with it's amazing up front SQ.. I wanted to get back into vinyl again and am so glad I took the plunge.. just couldn't be any happier at the mo!

Pretty unobtainable TT over here. Did you pick from a few of those or was it the only one you ran across? Really nice, BTW.
 
It would be my Sansui D-W10 tape deck. I researched double decks in 1985 because I wanted to record other peoples tapes. It had the best specs of what was available. I remember paying about $300 for it in the Philippines. It worked fine until I brought it back to California and then started auto reversing early. The service center fixed it under warranty, and it hasn't been opened since. After 30 years of service it still works like new at least to my ears.
 

Attachments

  • P1010108.JPG
    P1010108.JPG
    123.8 KB · Views: 68
Adding a sub to full-range floor-standing bass reflex speakers with 12" woofers.

I never thought my JBL L100Ts lacked in bass ( -6 db 35 hz) but they do. There are a lot of distinct notes in a lot of music below, 40 hz, 35 hz, even below 30 hz that I never got to enjoy until I added a sub.

I smugly resisted subwoofers as boom-boom toys until I understood bass reproduction, now I realize I was an idiot.
 
For my it was my Yamaha RX-V375 AVR because it made my full-range Goldwood 8" speakers sound superb. The YMAO smoothed the mids and added just the right amount to the highs and lows. That is the "2" system in my signature. Peace and goodwill.
 
Has to be my Yamaha C-80 preamp, for two reasons.

In the last 10 years I've been into using small headphone amps (mostly tube amps) for headphone listening. I got a lot of enjoyment out of that little side-hobby, especially swapping tubes, etc. I got my C-80 as a preamp, never giving a single thought as to how it might perform with headphones. When I ultimately tried it with my headphones, I was absolutely blown away by the quality and power output. All my stand-alone headphone amps were nearly instantly retired. I have had less than stellar experiences using vintage gear for headphones in the past. Of course, many receivers, integrated amps, etc just have their headphone output as a cheap tap off the main speaker amp. That's obviously not the case when talking about a preamp :)

The preamp has also blown me away just in the sense of how much extra it does for my amps. It allows me to bridge two of my amps that wouldn't otherwise be easily bridgeable. It allows me to invert one channel as it passes through my stereo amps, giving the power supplies extra headroom which helps especially were bass is concerned :)

This is the sort of post, infrequently as they occur, that causes me to logon to AK every day. It's informative, intelligent and is from an actual user of said devices. Well done.:thmbsp::thmbsp:
 
Back
Top Bottom