richardgrant

To toss in another thought, I just invested a roughly similar amount (US$750) in an Audioengine HD6 powered speaker system, which incorporates DAC and integrated amplifier. Just set it up and haven't broken the speakers in yet, but it sounds pretty great so far, and the design & build quality are excellent.

I found this to be a fascinating and enlightening dive into a musical genre I've known only in passing: The Quietus | Opinion | The Quietus Essay | Music For A Purpose: KPM And The History Of Library Music The focus is on the British scene in the late 1960s through 70s, though it ranges a bit farther. It definitely piques one's interest.

Well it would have to work that way, wouldn't it? I remember reading someone's recollection of a visit to Georgia O'Keefe a long time ago, at her place in the remote Southwest. The high point of the evening was sitting down in the gathering dusk to listen to classical music on the phonograph -- Beethoven, I think. And apparently Ms. O'Keefe was very serious when it came to listening to music: you sat there and listened, no side-chat, no getting up for a snack, the recording was all-important. Anyway when I read this story, I tried to imagine what kind of phonograph Georgia O'Keefe might have had up there in the mountains of New Mexico, sometime in the mid-20th-century, and what sort of platter she would have slipped onto it, what the actual sound would have been like. But in a weird sort of way, none of that could have mattered so much -- it was all about the music itself, and I can't imagine Ms. O'Keefe's engagement and absorption in that experience was any less intense than ours would be right now, regardless of the technical superiority of our audio systems and our music sources. Which does kind of put things in perspective.

David, thanks for this suggestion — we do have some really decent music stores around Maine. Indeed this is sort of apt, in that my only close-hand exposure to JBL equipment came via the system owned by the bass player in a soul band I used to play with, a long time ago. I may have just experienced moderate short-term hearing loss just remembering this.

My apologies if this was mentioned earlier in the thread (I was only skimming as I am not a technically savvy chap) but ... the iFixIt teardown revealed that the new Apple lightning-to-3.5 adapter contains DAC circuitry — I believe in the form of an unbelievably tiny chip with a hitherto-unseen identifier that starts with "TW", presumably signifying that it was fabricated in Taiwan. Here you go: Apple Lightning to Headphone Jack Adapter Teardown - iFixit

Gavin, thanks for hopping in! I'm kind of assuming that stands will be a good thing for this system, in this room -- and I see you're now selling Sanus stands through your store. Is there a general rule for choosing the appropriate height? I'm thinking the taller stands might be better at filling this space with music, though I've noticed that audio reviewers almost invariably test speakers on two-foot stands. This is new territory for me; any wisdom will be most appreciated.

Hey David, I appreciate the comment and recommendation. Thanks! I really should figure out a way to audition these speakers.

This is an interesting and, I think, a nuanced and complicated topic. My own musical tastes run to popular music of varied sorts recorded in the era of 78rpm platters and continuing into the postwar stereo era — jazz and R&B, lounge and exotica, surf guitar, garage rock. A lot of this music never made it to CD, or even to decent vinyl editions — but it's been shared widely online since the early days of digital music. For some of this stuff, I think you might legitimately wonder whether, for example, a 96kbps mono rip is about as good as it's going to get when the source is a scratched-up 45rpm single issued by some obscure blues label in 1954. In any case, that may be as good a copy as you're able to find online. (Though as we speak, I'm going through the process of syncing my library with iTunes Match, for the first time since Apple boosted the track limit to 100K — and it's amazing how much of this obscure stuff can be matched with 256kbps AAC copies from the iTunes store.) But where does this leave the computer audiophile? I can only answer for myself, and my only point of reference is my own experience of playing this kind of lo-fi music through a sort of minimalist entry-level hi-fi: assorted Apple hardware plugged straight, via headphone jack, into decent but decidedly entry-level stuff like Grado headphones and 1990s-vintage Cambridge SoundWorks amp/speakers. The results have been a lot more pleasing than one might expect. The playback equipment is good enough, especially in the mid- and vocal range, and "warm" enough (though I'm never quite sure what that means) to convey a palpable sense of the fire and vitality and soulfulness of the old performances. But it's also forgiving. There's probably something like high-end rolloff happening, which would be annoying in some listening situations but is a blessing in this context. I imagine it's possible to design good audio equipment with a realistic (and tolerant) view of the range of source material that might be played through it -- from pristine vinyl and high-res digital files down to the latter-day equivalent of worn-out cassettes and barely-playable LPs. I read somewhere (maybe in the company's own PR material) that Audioengine tries to take this kind thing into account in designing its speaker systems. Complicated trade-offs involved here, I would guess. But I may be the sort of customer who would appreciate it.

Wow, JJ, thanks for this cautionary story. This is exactly the sort of thing I have some anxiety about. A couple of people have mentioned Spearit. Good source? Specialize in refurb equipment? They're not all that far from here, in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks, mkevenson, that is very heartening. I've been impressed by the little A2s for much the same reasons. Though it's funny, my two sons who actually own the speakers don't seem to have any particular feelings about them one way or the other. They listen to music mostly through stock Apple earbuds or modest (at best) car radio speakers. But they do like music so I suppose eventually they'll start thinking about where it's coming from.

Thanks for these wise observations, Old Listener. I only go back as far as the Advent Loudspeaker, but I think I may have had the same 2.1 Cambridge SoundWorks system you did -- my ex got that in our amicable parting of ways, and I got the portable Model Eleven. I do have optical output on the iMac that's currently hosting my music library. (These things are subject to reassignment as my grown kids and I have evolved a sort of family-sharing economy for consumer electronics.) I'm glad about to hear your experience with Audioengine. We've been happy and impressed with the little A2 speakers, which is one factor in my thinking -- and another is the remote you've mentioned that comes with the HD6. This is by all accounts a very nice little piece of gear: a svelte but solid chunk of polished aluminum with minimal controls -- something Johnny Ive might look kindly upon. I've just been reading more about Cambridge Audio and NAD amplifiers, which I am quite certain are really excellent in terms of audio quality. And they've got these remotes, which look rather like all the other little black plastic cases packed with tiny buttons that seem to propagate like tribbles if you don't watch out. Now this is a small thing: a remote. But these sophisticated audio products are made of a *lot* of small things; lots of fine-grained thinking and prioritizing and compromising go into them; I'm personally inclined to feel that this level of attention to an easily overlooked accessory conveys some insight into the depth of thinking and commitment that went into more crucial, and less visible, aspects of the design and manufacturing. None of which is to suggest that any of these products is shoddy, by any means. And I have to say I'm intrigued by other speakers, especially the Wharfedales. We once actually had a decent audio store in the nearby town of Camden -- but alas, there's no longer much chance to actually hear these speakers in person without actually ordering them.

I agree with all this. And I think it can't hurt to make our feelings known at apple.com/feedback. In fact, I suspect that feedback from users like us over the years may be partly responsible for Apple leaving some of the older features more or less intact, though increasingly deprecated or hidden behind layers of the new UI. There was great relief, for example, when it became clear that you could restore the "classic" column display in the main iTunes app (which is now done via "View > View as... > Songs). As long as it's possible to continue to manage my music library as I've done for many years with iTunes, I'll stay onboard and content myself with grumbling occasionally. But I feel like we're approaching some kind of precipice here.

17629v2, I'm doing some quickie research on the Cambridge gear you mentioned, and already I got a lol out of this line in an Absolute Sound review: "With Topaz, clearly Cambridge is targeting the prime sub-$700 territory—NAD country. In fact you might say Cambridge is making a BEE-line in that direction."

Re the sub: I'm sure you're right about this. The 1990 Cambridge SoundWorks system I've been living with has two small 2-way satellites and a subwoofer, as well as a little amp that is like a Mini Me clone of some late 70s Advent gear, I can't remember the model. Anyway, one does get used to having this subwoofer around, even if it is kind of indistinct and boomy. This may end up being a deferred upgrade, though -- it depends on how tightly I budget the rest of the system and, who knows, the alignment of stars in the literary heavens. This audiobook income just dropped out of the sky, so maybe the next cloud has a subwoofer in it.