Image courtesy John Keogh under Creative Commons
For as long as I can remember, music has been a integral part of my life. I’ve had conversations over the years with folk who openly admit take no interest in music – something I find alien and a bit odd. Are they defective? How can music not move you? To have no opinion on what is good or bad? [I have plenty of opinions on such matters, which usually result in me being described as ‘music fascist’ or something similar by those who know me best]. I like almost anything, although music charts these days are generally a barren wasteland, gutted by ‘tin-eared, graph paper brained accountants’ and MTV, as noted by Jello Biafra*.
The Beginning
On turning eighteen, I came into some money I’d been left by my Grandad; angler, Brylcreem enthusiast and hi-fi lover. My Mum & Dad inherited his old brushed aluminium ITT hi-fi after his death, and what I realised, years later, were Grado cans. My sister had bought a car with her inheritance – a Fiat Tipo. When I revealed my intention was to buy a stereo with mine, my dad wondered why I didn’t want to spend it on a car too. Fifteen years later, I still have the hi-fi. Does anybody still own a Tipo? I’m still smug about that. π At any rate, Grandad would have approved!
I spent about six months prior to my eighteenth birthday studying and researching the market. If I was going to be dumping a sizable chunk of cash on a hi-fi, I wanted to make a good choice. I looked closely at some rather nice milled aluminium Musical Fidelity gear, but eventually went the Arcam route. Award winning, built in the UK and within budget. I had an Alpha 8SE CD Player, Alpha 8R Amplifier into a pair of Acoustic Energy AE109 floorstanders. I went all digital too, with a Sony Minidisc recorder replacing cassette [remember when Sony used to innovate?].
The Evolution
The minidisc player is long gone now, but the core of the system remains. The Alpha 8R is now paired with an Arcam P75+ power amp to biamp the AE109s. I remember the jump in performance as vocal tracks became more separated from the music and the soundstage became more expansive, it was like taking the earplugs out. Sceptical others were surprised to hear the difference too. People have a habit of underestimating their ability to notice the improvements component upgrades bring – until I forcibly sit them down, equidistant from each loudspeaker and stick on their favourite song.
The Alpha 8SE was eventually replaced by a DV88, Arcam’s first DVD player, which also happened to be a highly capable CD player. My sister actually won it doing the crossword in Q Magazine. I could never have afforded the purchase back then, it was about Β£1000 in the shops [I read online that someone had picked one up from a dealer for Β£75 recently!]. She got a new hallway carpet, and I got a cheap upgrade. These days, it’s retired from DVD duties, as my Β£100 bluray player has it beat. Since I bought the Sonos ZP90, it doesn’t play too many CDs now either. The addition of a BK Elec Gemini II subwoofer filled in the regions that even the AE109s couldn’t reach. This wasn’t strictly required, but I bought this for my home cinema, but have found it to be quite capable musically too.
The Future
The ZP90 streams our music from the NAS on the network, [Lossless, of course]. My iPhone, or Margaret’s Android act as interface for queueing up, skipping tracks etc. It works beautifully. Clearly Sonos have watched Apple’s approach to usability and simplicity. When I had a poker night recently, everyone downloaded the apps to their phones and just started queuing up their favourites! One feature where the Sonos really pulls ahead of it’s rivals is that it isn’t just a streaming device, it’s a multiroom system too. I also have a Sonos S5 in the kitchen which wirelessly and seamlessly interfaces with the ZP90 in the lounge. The S5 is small and light enough to be taken into the garden on rare sunny summer days for barbecue entertainment. Sound quality is decent for an all-in-one of this size.
As I say, since I bought the Sonos, I rarely play CDs now, but a month or so ago, I put on GusGus’ Polydistortion, what a difference! The Sonos sound quality had become my new ‘normal’, and I’d forgotten just how good my CD player sounds. A quick switch back to the Sonos and the lossless version of Polydistortion confirmed the ZP90 was nowhere near the quality of the old DV88. A solution was required.
I found it in Arcam’s [are you seeing a pattern here?] rDAC to which the ZP90 now offloads its digital to analogue conversion duties. The rDAC is using the same Wolfson DACs [designed in Edinburgh!] that Arcam use in their top of the range CD player.
Lossless files through the ZP90/rDAC now rival/exceed the quailty of the DV88. In fact, the DV88 is just the CD transport now, it too is offloading DAC duties to the rDAC. The final piece of the puzzle is a Spotify premium subscription which allows me to stream 15 million tracks at a decent 320kbps, through the Sonos and around the house. I think I’ve bought my last CD. Although I’ll still purchase albums I fall in love with as FLACs where possible.
But anyway, I’m done buying hi-fi componentry, for a while at least. Bits of it are getting fairly old now, but a good stereo doesn’t become bad overnight. Admittedly, the AE109s are too big for this room, but careful placement and tuning has more or less ironed out all outstanding issues there. In fact proper speaker placement is the best hi-fi upgrade you can give yourself, regardless of cost. A 5ΒΊ difference in angle can really tame harsh high frequencies and improve stereo imaging, it’s all trial and error of course, but an evening or two with a small selection of songs can transform your listening experience from a good one to a great one. And that Spotify Premium subscription you’ve been putting off? Do it!
* I’m acutely aware of the irony whenever I hear the ‘five grand stereo’** line in Holiday in Cambodia. What would Jello think?!? Should I be keeping it real with a Β£50 Matsui stereo? Don’t suppose there’s any chance of some Dead Kennedys remasters anytime soon… π
** Mine didn’t actually cost 5k, but I feel chastised nonetheless!
Hmm. You a baad man. Been salivating over Sonos for some time. Feel an inexplicable urge to spend!
Do it! =]
oooh, too much too much! I’ve just got to the stage of biwiring a Cambridge Audio Azur 350A (rookie!) and the sound difference is amazing. Now trying to understand preamps for the turntable. I still have the Panasonic Minidisc though. Been looking at streaming too so your article is spot on Fraser. Lucky sod!
Yes, it’s an expensive business. I was lucky to be able to go out and buy an complete system to build on. It was a lot of money back then and the Sonos and rDAC weren’t exactly cheap either. But it’s given me a lot of pleasure over the last 15 years, so great value overall. I hope the Sonos and rDAC will be in service for another 15! The world of hi-fi can get silly expensive pretty quick. I didn’t even mention interconnects did I?! π
So when you buying a poweramp? π
One of my mates did some investigation at replicating the functionality of the Sonos on the cheap. He came up with the following, if you have an Android phone:
http://www.mysqueezebox.com/download
http://sourceforge.net/projects/softsqueeze/files/softsqueeze/softsqueeze-3.8/
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcr71
This DLL was missing from softsqueeze, place it next to the setup exe
for softsqeeze, once installed put a copy in the install directory.
On Android market: SqueezeControl.
I’ve been using a Sonos system, including a S5 and two ZP90s and I’m very impressed with the quality, simplicity and robustness. The only criticism I have is that it can’t manage studio master quality files.
The next step I took was to get some AVI ADM9T active speakers (and a sub woofer) http://www.avihifi.co.uk/adm9.html removing the clutter of boxes and cables. Superb. The other good thing is that it is the end of the road for upgrading as there is nowhere else to go. AVI also have excellent customer service.
I subscribe to Napster, which has been great to sample music, even if the quality is not quite up to CD standards. When I started Spotify was in its infancy. As it is now streaming 320k, I’ll have a look.
Would love to get my hands on some studio masters – just to hear them, but they don’t seem to be widely available unfortunately. I know Linn do them, but I haven’t seem much out there for music I like. Know any good sources?
Don’t you have some of those AVIs already Robin? I thought you did a post on those last year? I’m currently drooling over some Dynaudios at the moment! π
I signed up for Spotify a while ago, but never got around to signing up for the Premium account until last week, but I’ve been impressed so far.
Yes I bought the AVI’s but after I had had the Sonos for a while. I’m very impressed by the active system and wouldn’t go back to passive speakers. For HiFi, it’s not outrageously expensive.
Studio masters are not widely available and Linn seem to be the most enthusiastic. I do have a SACD player and SACD is better than CD, but I can’t play it through the Sonos. SACDs are not readily available either. Good for classical music!
Ah, I misread you first comment.
Have you given any thought to an external DAC for your Sonos, or are you too entrenched in clutter free hifi to consider it now?
The AVI ADM9Ts have their own DAC. Just feed the toslink cable from the Sonos into them and away you go. Very neat. I’ve had external DACs before (Arcam Black Box 50, DAX Decade) and found them to be worthwhile. However, DAC technology has moved on and very good DACs are now quite cheap.
The AVIs certainly appear to be reasonably priced for what you get. I’d be interested to hear some, pity their dealer network seems quite limited.
AVI mainly sell direct now. The sound is excellent, but you are buying blind (deaf?). I’ve had quite a lot of AVI electronics in the past and they are high quality.
I have a pair of Celestion speakers biwired through a cambridge audio amp. Sounds way better than any plastic all in one system but still no where near the “silly” end of the market.
My sources are where it gets a little more interesting…
2x Technics 1210’s, a Philips CD recorder, the stereo output of the telly and the PC (which uses the telly as a monitor) are all going through my Pioneer DJM600 mixer.
Makes for an ineresting and all encompassing visual/audio entertainment system where everything can be controlled from my “groove” on the couch…except when spinning vinyl of course.
Yeah. My system would sell for pennies these days. It was relatively expensive to put together, but still tame by hifi standards – things can get pretty silly, pretty quick. Unfortunately, robin now has me drooling over a pair of active speakers. Must. Be. Strong.
I kinda skirted the whole vinyl thing. I had the odd picture disc, back in the day. Being lazy, convenience is the way forward for me controlling everything via the ipod is great. The CD player is gathering dust now…