The new 800 D4 series is a huge step up in performance and price. Never considered them previously. Currently have the 702 s2’s in front and my intention was to get the new 702 s3’s for the front, 705 s3’s for sides and move the s2’s to the rear. Was also going to replace my CM series center with the new 700 s3 series center.
Wish I had not listened to the 803 d4’s, that screwed everything up. 4 702 s3’s, 2 705 d3’s and the center channel speaker can be purchased for less then a pair of the 803 d4’s.
I’m waiting for that memory to fade then demo the 700 s3 series again.
I didn’t see any mention of turntable in you gear. Vinyl could be the answer to your problem. Plenty of rabbit holes to go down - turntable, phono stage, cartridge, cleaning machine, storage solutions, and of course researching and hunting down the best pressings of favorite albums, crate digging for treasures, etc.
Stay curious … take a step back, search for new music and enjoy that! (Am in a similar place myself … as I do not feel the need to upgrade as I see no meaningful updates/upgrades at the mo)
My system is also perfect, to my ears. I’ve spent a lot of time, and too much money, tweaking but I don’t regret it now that everything sounds so good. Room acoustics tweaking has made a huge difference BUT by far my greatest joy has been discovering new music through ROON Radio.
Play some familiar music and when it ends ROON selects something for you next. Sometimes it’s a familiar tune, many times it’s an artist new to me, particularly in classical and jazz genres where the performances of different orchestra, conductors and style are endless.
Read the PDF “album covers” in ROON when you find them.
Use the native EQ to make small tweaks. Buy a calibrated microphone and use it with room correcting software like REW. This last one should keep you busy for a long time.
Robert, I have a Lumin X1 streamer/DAC/preamp that I run directly into a Kinki Studio EX-M7 amp. I’ve not wanted to change the Lumin but have thought a bit about upgrading the amplification. But the EX-M7 sounds so good I’ve recently discarded that idea.
Have you considered looking into home automation as a next step? I’m using home assistant, and you can do things like automate playlists at particular times etc etc - and consider adding things like smart lights to automatically dim when certain genres are played, the list goes on and on
Ok, thanks. The good news is that your quest for audio nirvana is far from over. Miles remaining to build and improve. For starters, I’d never heard of your amp but looked it up. Sells for just under 3k. There is always some sort of relationship between cost of goods and performance. So for context, many stereo amps cost 30k. You’ve got 1/10th that invested in your amp. And some amps cost 100k for context. So in the power area you’ve got massive room for improvement. And power reins supreme in Hugh end audio. Clean power.
So good news bad news. Good news is you can improve your listening experience by 50%, AT LEAST. Bad news is that it will cost money.
alex_wood
(Vinyl is still King, but Roon is heir apparent.)
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Haha. Kidding aside I think a good Krell or Pass Lab amp os a good start. Many quality pieces can be found used and in good condition for under 10k.
I have two AudioQuest Niagara 5000 units and along with my optical music streamer and Tambaqui those represent the most significant audible upgrades to my system. Cables are important for sure and I sense your sarcasm. That’s another conversation bc I recognize there are two camps in the cable arena. Cables matter and “snake oil.” I’m in the cable matters camp, but ONLY when the component for which it’s destined is of high enough quality to warrant the cost. For example, spending 5K on interconnects makes so sense when a preamp and amplifier in total cost under 10k. Just my opinion of course.
You are indeed screwed financially, but will be rewarded musically. I have thought about the 802D4 to replace my 803D3, but am enjoying music so much now via Qobuz/Roon that I cannot muster the effort.
One guiding principle for me is to wait to get what you truly want (fill the piggy bank).
I can certainly relate to the OP. Being satisfied can seem a bit strange after working so hard to get there. But you will get used to it!
I read your post as a celebration of sorts. This hobby can turn into replace-gear purgatory and we lose the goal of enjoying music.
My current system costs magnitudes more than my previous setups, yet I always enjoyed music with each setup. This one was kind of an experiment. After getting my speakers, I thought: “I want to see how good these can sound” and “These speakers deserve the best gear.” Both very effective rationalizations. We audiophiles are weak in the face of temptation.
I find in the HiFi world the relationship between cost and performance is practically orthogonal. Less so with loudspeakers, but with electronics the junk/sublime cheap/expensive scales have low correlation.
In my own journey I have spent months researching, consulting, deciding, purchasing. Then spent years enjoying.
After those years, and with a completely different financial situation than where I started, I did the same months long deliberation again. I settled on an arrangement that fits my ear and my budget. Now that it’s sorted, I expect to repeat the same years long enjoyment.
What do you enjoy? This is a hobby after all! If your thing is tweaking and obsessing, knock yourself out. However, if what you enjoy is listening to and discovering music, accept that perfection is the enemy of satisfaction.
Edit: Sorry, I intended to address the “What do you enjoy” part to the OP.
