Cheap HiFi for starters

Just a heads up with SMSL gear....
There are fakes around of their older model DAC. I am uncertain if this applies to the SA-60 but caveat emptor. Might be best to confirm with the seller that the board is an "exact" version of the one shown on Amazon / SMSL etc.
The no brand name parts and the "quality soldering & poorly aligned components" in the pictures are the give aways.
 
On the Overnight Sensations. They are good speakers but they are not a good "value." You'll spend about $200+ to build them all in all and at the end of the day that money could have been spent on a better pair of used speakers that still have some resale value. I've built 5 pair of different DIY speakers (Overnight Sensations included) along with my own design from Seas drivers (my avatar). Only my own design was a good value proposition as I got the drivers for free. On the low end DIY is not a money saver nor do the speakers wipe the floor with all others in their price range. Take the OSs for example. My build ran $250. My Q Acoustics 2010i cost $129. The 2010i are absolutely the better speaker to my ears though it does not play as low as the OSs.

Just some food for thought. I'm not knocking DIY at all. It is a great hobby and over the years I was very active in the local DIY community. I have heard some amazing designs that won't break the bank; Pluto and LX Mini come to mind as do some Fostex designs. The best system I have heard was actually DIY. A close friend of mine has some OBs designed by Nelson Pass that run a Lowther and 15" Eminence woofer.

Anyway, have fun but if you're looking to save money DIY is not all it is cracked up to be unless you go higher end; a design costing a grand in parts will usually outperform a thousand dollar retail speaker. BTW, the enclosure is really where you can beat out the commercial stuff. Brace the hell out of it, line it, etc as you don't have to worry about shipping weight and such :)
 
you are probably right, and the current place we're living in is rather small (40 sq feet in total, 22 listening space, but it's broken because the kitchen is included on the side).

I guess I should go with some best bang for buck smaller speakers and buy very good stands for them.

Don't know what to do because of the limited value gear in Europe.

There are awesome prices on the european gear like you said earlier, but not enough people reviewed them here and I generally don't trust review sites.

Thanks man!
 
What about euro forums like art of sound and audio standard? There's got to be ways of assessing European speakers other than audio press; which is biased as you know. AK is mainly US users so I understand the lack of reviews here for stuff not available in North America. I know there are some active German audio forums as well. Perhaps you can find something amazing in your neck of the woods and tell us how it rocks and we can be jealous because we can't get it here :)

P.S. Reddit Audiophile has a more international user base but it often is just a bunch of audio porn pics. This brand has had some murmurings there http://www.buchardt-audio.com/. Not sure how good it is but they appear interesting.
 
Thinly veiled "go away to another forum noob"? :)

Just kidding obv, will check those out cheers.

Maybe I will find something nice and let everyone know.

Thanks man
 
Ok, found some B652 airs for cheap, together with the tpa3116 and fiio d03k from above should be a really cheap decent system I guess.

subscribed to many sellers and waiting a really good local speakers deal (there was one a few months back but i wasnt very convinced then).

Thoughts?

I do have some 706V on the watch too, see with how much it goes.

Cheers
 
Last edited:
Ok, quick update

Bought the K7xx from massdrop (200 bucks right now). it's on for like 90 more mins.

So, will dial down on spending and get the above cheaper combos.

Cheers all
 
The speakers to the left are the Dayton B652 Airs. They're pretty good and better to my ears than the Pioneer B22's but a notch or two below the Overnight Sensations.

P1010032_1.jpg
P1010032_1.jpg
 
I've got some modded B652 airs (cabinet bracing, upgraded crossover) and also the QAcoustics 2020's. The Q's are clearly a better speaker and a great value right now. Thanks for the comparison between the Dayton and Pioneer, I've always been interested in how the two matched up.
 
@Poultrygeist Will receive the OBs in May-June and will send them to my father who was really crazy with building speakers in his youth (he is building a house now to move into and will be perfect).

My friend is coming here from the US in a month and was thinking to get some stuff from Schiit. What do you recommend?

@seikosha I could grab the train to London and get the 2020s for 99 pounds or the Wharfedale Diamonds 10.1 for 119.

Also, still thinking about the B652 Airs :)

Cheers
 
Last edited:
I have the tiny Schiit Modi MB DAC and couldn't be happier with the CCA streamed into it's optical input. I ordered the Schiit Mani phono preamp earlier this week and I've got to think it will also live up to the hype.

P1040003.jpg
 
Haha was about to ask about that too, but you already replied. Awesome! :)

Well my setup will be:

PC - <dac> - <amp> - AKG k7xx (or an dac/amp like fiio e17).

CCA - <dac> - <amp> - Speakers

How can I combine these as best as possible so I can reuse them? Issue is the distance between the PC desk and the amp - speakers setup (around 4m).

Most likely will need to have them all separated which will break the wallet, or many cables will be around the house which again has a low WAF :(

Found the European distributors, and will probably get stuff from them to not over complicate things. Modi 2 Uber is very high up on the list and really need to make up my mind faster.

Cheers
 
I use a 3 into 1 ( 3x1 ) optical/toslink splitter to select between 3 sources to feed a single DAC. You can also find a 1x3 which looks the same but it allows for the reverse operation. I got mine on eBay for under $20 but Amazon sells them.

Being close to your PC is not an issue with the CCA as it's wireless.

3X1-Digital-Optical-Spdif-Toslink-Audio-Splitter-Switcher-Fiber-Optic-Distributor-3-x1-With-IR-Remote.jpg
 
Nice one!

Using CCA right now, but wanted to use the same DAC for both the headphone amp and the speaker amp and they are apart.

Only thing i have through the wall is a low q coax :(
 
On the Overnight Sensations. They are good speakers but they are not a good "value." You'll spend about $200+ to build them all in all and at the end of the day that money could have been spent on a better pair of used speakers that still have some resale value. I've built 5 pair of different DIY speakers (Overnight Sensations included) along with my own design from Seas drivers (my avatar). Only my own design was a good value proposition as I got the drivers for free. On the low end DIY is not a money saver nor do the speakers wipe the floor with all others in their price range. Take the OSs for example. My build ran $250. My Q Acoustics 2010i cost $129. The 2010i are absolutely the better speaker to my ears though it does not play as low as the OSs.

Just some food for thought. I'm not knocking DIY at all. It is a great hobby and over the years I was very active in the local DIY community. I have heard some amazing designs that won't break the bank; Pluto and LX Mini come to mind as do some Fostex designs. The best system I have heard was actually DIY. A close friend of mine has some OBs designed by Nelson Pass that run a Lowther and 15" Eminence woofer.

Anyway, have fun but if you're looking to save money DIY is not all it is cracked up to be unless you go higher end; a design costing a grand in parts will usually outperform a thousand dollar retail speaker. BTW, the enclosure is really where you can beat out the commercial stuff. Brace the hell out of it, line it, etc as you don't have to worry about shipping weight and such :)

I often end up spending way more than I intended when I DIY. Usually double what I think I will spend. Sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's not, but I mainly do it to get exactly what I want. And that's exactly what I end up with, sometimes...
 
I have the tiny Schiit Modi MB DAC and couldn't be happier with the CCA streamed into it's optical input. I ordered the Schiit Mani phono preamp earlier this week and I've got to think it will also live up to the hype.

P1040003.jpg

I've followed your recs so far and assembled my system (CCA-->Sainsmart 6n3-->TPA3116) but need a recommendation on a DAC. The Schiit is appealing, if slightly more expensive than I'd like. I'd like to spend around $75 tops. That leaves me with a used SMSL Sanskrit 6, a Hifimedy Sabre USB (which doesn't have optical), or ... Thoughts?
 
Thanks for the replies guys

Being in Europe, the prices are different and I am blocked by shipping. I would love Concept 20, auditioned them, but they end up being super expensive here...

Only cheaper thing here is french brands like Focal, but I am very concerned with some of the peeps here saying the highs are fatiguing...

Did find some diamond 220 for 160 pounds though, worth it?

I mostly listen to music from the 80s and before, jazz, Queen, Pink Floyd, Gregory Alan Isakov etc...

Now I am thinking that maybe I should invest in some better DAC and Amp like PG said above, or something integrated...

Any good amp with integrated DAC which doesn't break the bank?

Cheers

Later edit: would an Onkyo 9010 meet all my needs? Is the DAC good?
Or a PM6005?
Yes the 9010 would be perfect its probably the most musical super budget amp out there, you might want to take a look at the new Mission Audio LX2, the same designer that made them did all the Q Acoustics and they cheaper than the 3020 and a lil more than the 2020i with more bass...
 
I've followed your recs so far and assembled my system (CCA-->Sainsmart 6n3-->TPA3116) but need a recommendation on a DAC. The Schiit is appealing, if slightly more expensive than I'd like. I'd like to spend around $75 tops. That leaves me with a used SMSL Sanskrit 6, a Hifimedy Sabre USB (which doesn't have optical), or ... Thoughts?

I like the base Modi for $99 but if you can't swing that the SMSL would be my choice.
 
Back
Top Bottom