Good Starter Audiophile system

Vickram,

I say goto a Cadence dealer and listen to the Arista's and the VA 1 amp, give tubes a try for that matter even Viren's amp.


Regards,


Satyam

I would prefer a Marantz, Rotel any day above NAD....
The Nads sound just too mechanical IMO...

Cambridge Audio can be considered;

CD Player + Integrated Amplifier from Cambridge Audio.

http://www.cambridge...n%202)%20CD%20player

Speakers from PSB or MA or Quad or Dali;

Cables from Supra or Jacob;

100 K should give you a very very good set up;

I like SBFX's suggestion too, Cadence VA-1 Amplifier + CD Player + Book Shelf Speaker [this option will go to 125K]

BHAGWAN69

Hi Abhi,
Sorry to disagree with you. Nads do not sound mechanical to me and most audiophiles I know. For the money you pay, you would be hard pressed to find anything as musical as Nad in the SS domain. They are an honest product. Marantz, CA , Rotel too are good but with different voicing. The listener has to decide here. For example, if you compare the C352, Marantz PM 7000 and a Rotel Ra 03 all which costs around the same, I would take the C352 while others may prefer any other depending on the voicing and their tastes.

Hi Audiojet,
First you have decide which route you want to take. A tube amp plus a good bookshelf speaker will give you a different sound than a floor stander with a full solid state system. The tube setup will be more musical and would fit an all-music scenario but may not deliver if you are into rock and some movies and all that. All setups comes with it own advantages and disadvantages. You need to weigh all those and decide what is good for you.

Your choice seems nice except for the wharfedale speakers. The c542 and c352 definitely deserves better. If you can’t stretch your budget and still want floorstanders, try Lyrita audio floor standers which can be had for around 30k. Check out brands like Dali, mission etc… for speakers around this price if you want to go the branded route……. If I was in your shoes and had only 36k for a pair of speakers and wanted to go the branded route, I would stick to bookshelf speakers like quad 12L or dynaudio audience 50/42 etc………most branded-floor standers around this budget have serious flaws.

I agree with square wave.however, i haven't heard the APs with a NAD..only the Plinius that they have at Corrson.
Good speakers, but you might want to check on the price though. 50k without taxes seems a bit over the top to me. But i am sure they will perform really well with the NADC352.

Check out Dali while you are at it.

Agree with square wave that stnadmounts are the better choice at this pricepoint.

square_wave schrieb:

Nads do not sound mechanical to me and most audiophiles I know.

Buddy Square_wave,
Why this audiophile mention here ???
Even I know that the NAD has got good reviews.....but thats it....
I have just heard two of their models 320bee and another 150wpc pre-power model (I dont remember the model number, but its an older model around 4 years old)....
Both were just ok to me......nothing really caught my ears.
Basically I never craved to give it a second audition....

Whereas I had always liked the Marantz PM7200 from day one for its excellent mids and the Rotel for its Dynamics.

I know its a matter of personal taste.....and may be the NAD542 is a better model (which I havent heard yet). But at this point I would certainly pick a Rotel or Marantz than a NAD.

..And I prefer the colour Blue while my Wife prefers Green

Last thing I would do is argue over which colour is better..
(Of course if I argue with my wife, in the end Green WOULD be better )

Audiojet, at this stage what is going to affect the sound the most is the Speaker .. and that is where thisngs will be the most subjective.

Unless you have heard the diamonds and Like it, i would suggest in looking around more on speakers.. from an Amp/CDP view, you will very rarely go wrong with any of the Rotels/NAD/Marantz/Cambridge. Once you have the speakers only then do you have to have to worry if the Amp/CDP will sound good with it

And in most cases they will all sound good. you just need to figure out what sounds better to your ear.. and even if they all sound the same, do not worry and buy the ones fitting your pocket the best as it really does not matter ! in the end you should enjoy your music !

Abhi, I think it is a personal choice. I have the NAD C352 and love it very much. The NADs are more laidback compared to the Rotels and Marantz. So it depends on what speakers you use them with. A close friend of mine likes "forward-sounding" configuration, while I prefer the laid-back. I find his Rotel+Triangle combo to be too forward for my taste. On his speakers the NADs sound very neutral and smooth. The soundstage is atleast 2-3 feet back when using NADs.

Square_Wave - It entirely depends on listning configs that a person like an amp. Probably we like laid-back sound while Abhi prefers forward presentation.

So, I guess Square_Wave and me will prefer the Sennheisers, while Abhi will prefer the Grados. Do you guys do headphone listning?

you might try out the lithos speakers - they are good

srini196812 schrieb:

you might try out the lithos speakers - they are good

Brilliant young designer,who unfortunately had faced problems in the Mumbai flood situation.I believe he is back in action though.Happy for him.
Sadly his ideas and mine regarding loudspeaker design are very different,would love to work on a project someday with him though.
Regards Deaf.

Vickram,

Go out to all the dealers that you feel have a product that fits your budget, listen to all of em then decide what colour you enjoy well it takes time as to what one enjoys and get his priorities right about when he wants from his setup.

It takes time enjoy your mistakes in the process of getting there :D.

Regards,

Satyam.

PS:Square_ware tube play ROCK very well

Hi Abhi,
Have you heard all these in the same room connected to the same speakers with the same source and listening to the same music ? Still if you feel NAD is just ok for the price you spend, I guess it is personal taste. I prefer Rotel separates over NAD integrateds but never a pm 7000 series amp or rotel integrated amp. I have had a friend checking out the AP’s in my home with his pm7000 integrated amp and in the end we both agreed my NAD C350 is better in every way. I guess the poster will have to listen and decide here.

Hi Sbfx,
I know tubes do rock. I was talking about a budget tube amp playing through a budget Bookshelf speaker. I know even that will give you clean sound but if you know the normal rock listener’s ‘SOUND WALL” expectations, I guess he will be rather under whelmed by the sound. We are talking about someone in the market for a starter audiophile system. I agree that a proper tube setup running speakers like your merlins will rock………..
Cheers…..

milpai schrieb:

So, I guess Square_Wave and me will prefer the Sennheisers, while Abhi will prefer the Grados. Do you guys do headphone listning?

Hey milpai,
Youa are right there. Recently I got a Alessandro MS-1 (basically a Grado with a more balanced sound). Man it has made travel head-fi heaven. I was initially looking for a budget headphone under 2.5k (maybe a philips, Sony kind of) but as I went into the research and joined headfi.com I was caught by the headfi bug and ended up spending almost double and got these Alessandros.

I wanted a ipod friendly headphone and not the ones which demand a dedicated headphone amp (which most audiophile headphones do) but I am stunned that these headphones are just too comfortable with any portable player. I normally use it on my PC which has got a Creative Live 24bit sound card.....oooohhh...I just cant get it off once I am on the roll. It just gives you that extra bit of ashtonishment as you browse through your favourite collection of tracks. Those extra instruments being pronounced so easily and moreover the TEXTURE of the sound is just too close to the instrument itself. Man its AWESOME...

BTW few days back square_wave also had the chance to listen to it and he jotted down his experience in a thread (then I was just on my research to headfi) but some of the guys compared the Alessandros with the Philips HP800....Man there is absolutely no comparision. I did hear both of them and they are miles apart to be even compared. But yes, the philips is a good entry level VFM product but thats the end. Nothing else can be said to bring in any comparision between the two.

The sad part is that Grado/Alessandro is hardly available in India (atleast I could'nt locate a dealer in 3 months).

Abhi,
Cool man !…….you got the Alessandro MS-1….
A guy in my office has got them and it is the hottest conversation piece in the office today. We have a hot collection of headphones in my office. Sennheisers, technics, all models of Philips, some assorted sony stuff.. the MS-1 beat all of them by a wide margin.

mil pai,
Yes I like a slightly laidback sound with a wide soundstage, black background with all the instruments clearly delineated from each other. I guess we have similar taste.

Ya Buddy they are just too different from the conventional headphones. But I suppose they are bit on the brighter side and looking at your taste you shouldn't have liked it as much. I mean it doesnt have a huge soundstage, infact it feels like standing almost on the stage or maybe within the first two rows......what was your opinion...your taste should be more inclined towards the Senns I suppose.

Give it some time. It takes some time to properly break in. It does not sound bright at all when I took it home and plugged it into my Nad amp and also a friend’s Rotel pre. It is a very revealing headphone so will sound bright if you use it with a computer or even the i-pod. I guess hi-end headphones are like any other audio equipment. The associated equipment has to be right….. I am not much of a headphone guy. In fact I do not use headphones at all unless I am bored at work, traveling or playing games on the comp. I agree the grado has a slightly forward character which is not much to my taste. But I kinda liked the sound in spite of its inherent signature sound.

yah...I notice the same...its around 15 days now and around 40 hours of breakin...and its kindda sounding better and better....

If you think its not bright I would take it because your taste being on the warmer side would be more sensitive to any brightness in character shown by a audio equipment.

How did it sound with your NAD btw....I am desperately looking to try it out with a good rig. On PC it sounds a bit bright as well as forward and that too differs from Soundcard to Soundcard. In my office with the onboard intel soundcard its not as revealing but as I plugin it in to my home PC with a decent Creative soundcard...it opens up....still I suppose it needs much better partnering equipments. Any reccommendations for a good portable source are WELCOME.

Initially I was confused whether to go for Grado SR80 or the Senns HD485 or the MS-1...since in any case I have to buy them unauditioned so I went by reviews purely and got this one....now I am curious to hear the others on the list..just to check out how far are they from each other..

From what I could gather from my time in the headfi forums, if you like laid back sound, the Senn or the Bayerdynamic are better options. but if you do like your rock then MS1 is the real thing..perhaps followed by the Grado80/60.

I am really tempted by the MS1 as well.. but do not do any earphonse listening these days ! hence need to fight that urge !

Hi Abhi,
It sounded clean and crisp on the Nad. Not at all bright. It sounds different on different computers in the office. Frankly it sounded so much similar on the Nad and Rotel rig so I guess the comps are the culprits.
The i-pod should sound decent if you are playing 256 kpbs or above……….
I guess the right guy to ask headphone related stuff is my friend in the office. I believe you have his e-mail id. He actually asked me if you got your headphones recently. That guy knows his stuff.

What does your friend use as source ??

Right now the office comp…. I guess he has some real fancy plans. He was talking about something which has a headphone tube amp which has a built in DAC and this connects directly to the USP port.. I don’t know for sure. Best is to check with him.
Some useful links he forwarded me
http://www.bottlehead.com/et/adobespc/S.E.X./SEX.htm

http://www.audioadvi...be%20Headphone%20Amp

http://www.dansdata.com/cmoy.htm

http://www.headphone...headroom-airhead.php

and finally.... THE site for headphone accessories etc etc etc

http://www.toddthevinyljunkie.com/

NAD 542
NAD 352
Monitor Audio B2
This is a kickass system,with regards to musicality and communication.Absolute sound says so,HiFi choice too,and Stereophile.And not to forget I agree with them too.
Get a knowledgeable guy to install it,and this system will amaze you .
Regards Deaf.

Abhi..congrats dude. So enjoying your headphones? Wow..this is great man..I predicted what you would prefer..and you REALLY got it.

Square_Wave, if you don't want a dedicated headphone amp, then the Sennheiser HD555 are a great sounding pair of cans. I heard that Sennheisers are coming out with newer models in Jan/Feb 2006. Waiting will that time, as also cooling off with my system completion.

Hey Milpai, Square_Wave,
You know what during my Headphone hunt I cam to know that the best VFM sounding Cans are the Sennheiser HD580. It is priced at $149 but it is actually the headphone from which the legendary HD650 ($600) is based. Actually HD580 was the top of the line Sennheiser some 6-7 years back and then they came out with HD590, 600, and finally HD650 all based on the HD580 infact headfi.com says that even the drivers are almost the same on 580 and 650. But its not as iPod friendly as the MS-1, headfi guys say that they need a good a headphone amp to sound close to its potential....thats the only constraint.

Abhi,
Congrats for the headphone.
Did you import it from US? Via some website?

BTW what the status of your Amp & Floorstander hunt?
When you are getting them?

Thanks Disk, Yah I got it from US through a friend...the Alessandro Products are available only through online media....cant get it at any Store.

As far as Loudspeaker is concerned...even I am worried like when I would finally get them..

But yes, I am planning to get atleast one of those in a month or two.

Yes Abhi. It is one of their best and has achieved legendary status among head-fi enthusiasts. As you correctly mentioned, the drawback is the difficult load. I think it is 300 ohms and 87 db which makes it a good candidate for a dedicated headphone amp. There are lot of guys out there with budgets over 400 dollars who buy this headphone and then get a decent headphone amp, do a cable upgrade and have a killer system which will beat any headphone under 500 dollars.