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Ideas for budget audiophiles

I recently rented an apartment closer to work to save myself a long drive. A big system, like I have at home, is out of the question. So, a headphone system would be perfect. The system I put together is inexpensive and it is a very nice system. The thought occurred to me that people on a budget, or for gifts for the holidays, might appreciate "reasonably priced" ideas. I put together a Pure i-20 ($90) which outputs Toslink to a Maverick Audio TubeMagic D1 pre-amp/DAC/Headphone unit ($199). If someone on your list has an iPod or iPhone or ipod Touch, the i-20 pulls the digital stream and can output to analog audio, Toslink optical, Digital coax, and has a USB input from their computer. Pretty good for $89. The Maverick has USB/Toslink/SPDIF coax/analog input so their computer can stream from the hard drive or Mog/Pandora/etc. I have my music stored on a classic ipod in lossless apple and I have tried my Sennheiser 600s and the sound is amazingly good, although there are remarkably good $99 headphones out there. So, $400 gets you outstanding sound. Now, what other systems out there would you recommend for the budget audiophile? Can we keep it under $500? My rig could add self-powered speakers for an additional $300-400 and make a complete system. I am interested in your ideas. Maybe we can make this holiday something special for those who love great music and sound but have limited resources.
tgrisham

Showing 1 response by chaskelljr2001

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chaskelljr2001
458 posts
 
For the Audiophile on a limited budget:

For Speakers, I would look at PSB, Paradigm, Polk Audio, Wharfedale (New), and maybe Dynaudio (Used)....

Integrated Amps (for a Budget System, Separates are OUT), I would only look at Cambridge Audio, Marantz, NAD and Rotel....

CD Players, I would look at Cambridge Audio, Marantz, NAD and Rotel.....

DAC's, I would look at Alpha Designs, Cambridge Audio, HRT, iFi, ,Marantz, Musical Fidelity, Peachtree Audio, Pro-Ject Audio, and probably a few more.

Turntables, I would look at Music Hall, Pro-Ject, Rega (New), otherwise, I would look at Audiogon and e-Bay and see if I can spot me a quality vintage table at a bargain price.

Cables, I believe Signal Cable is the obvious choice. Otherwise, I would shop the Internet and see if there any quality bargains which can be snagged.

--Charles--
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