Best Hobby related purchase of 2010

Hmmm… nice question. Hmmmm.

At first I was ga ga over the Hiface USB to SPDIF following x`my audition of one that was lent to me by another member. It was an RCA version. I then ordered a BNC version and an Oyaide 510 BNC all silver digi cable. That pair of items got a lot of playing time and my enthusiasm for them grew immensely. So much so I sold my M Audio Audiophile 192 sound card immediately.

Happy factor? Way up!

Decided then I was done with audio for a while and began thinking of getting a better display for the bedroom rig so a 50 inch Panasonic Plasma got picked out and delivered for $699 taxes included.

Way happier as the squinting factor was lowered.

I’m as curious as the next guy or gal about improving my system’s performance levels. Regularly in fact, though that pace has slowed greatly of late. The idea of and the popularity of the Lynx sound card as a viable interface for exporting audio in high security and on audiophile levels continued to gain ground with me and my curiosity finally piqued. I decided to pull the trigger on speculation and try one for myself.

The outcome was somewhat bittersweet. It is better with respect to music playback, albeit using a very very modestly priced digi cable, but not by a tremendous distance. So the Grin factor rose up some more, but the self appointed value factor dropped like it was hot. Well, almost.

Consequently, my main rig’s presentation of music was enhanced as a greater closeness to the actual performance was achieved for one. For another, the Hiface and Oyadie trickeled down into my Bedroom outfit thus enhancing yet one more audio system.

So for roughly $1600 I acquired a brand new Panasonic 50 inch Plasma HD TV, a brand new Hiface USB to SPDIF converter, a brand new Oyaide silver digital wire, and a Lynx AES 16 PCI EX card and associated cable.

Add to all of that the fact it was all made possible by the funding I recovered, found, did not have to spend, am able to keep as the result of..... ta da!

Sept 11 2010 I had my last ciggarette. I know it's oNly 3 months and change later but the habit is nothing to speak of... no cravings.... no regularly scheduled overwhelming desires for one... nada.

BTW... no pills, hypnosis, accupuncture... or any other crutches are in use now as the result of my smoking stoppage.

All in all, I gotta vote for 2010 as a year in which I found immense improvements overall. Electronically, and physically and personally speaking, by both additions and by at least one subtraction.

...and yes... I bought a lot more software than I usually buy each year too. DVDs & CDs & now, Blue rays.

Macbook Pro and Tranquility DAC.

Blindjim, you are in trouble. Your 'smoking' money will lead to overspending on audio, and that is a good thing or is it a bad thing. Since you will now be living longer, best you open a 'gold' account and put your 'smoking' money in it, otherwise you just found another habit to lead you to the poor house. Enjoy the music.

I bought a 45 watt Onix EL 34 integrated amp to drive my Triangle Celius speakers with grand results.

I also set up a full system for friends who are a married couple down the street and who both love music but were playing it through a 25 yo receiver with the left channel out and some small Yamaha speakers. They now have a 7 channel Marantz receiver and DVD and CD player and Triangle Comete speakers and a Marantz Ipod hook up and all for 1/2 price from Accessories 4 Less and other places. The wife payed for most of the gear as a surprise for her husband. It ended up costing me a few hundred out of pocket for speaker stands and for the Ipod dock and for a center channel as gifts as was my choice, but they are delighted with their new sound for CDs as well as surround sound DVDs.
It was fun playing santa.
John

On the expensive end, it was the CH Acoustic X20 IC's, SC's and PC's. These easily have been the best in my system. They seem to have no sonic signature of their own and work with the same 'no signature' magic on every component I had or auditioned. http://chacoustic.com/, http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?rcabl&1282568800

On the inexpensive end, it was the three Enacom AC filters on the same circuit as my system. Dave Magnan talked about them on his website in the tweaks section. They are only $85.00 each, and three of them do a fantastic job cleaning up AC grunge all of the way through the midrange frequencies.

Chuck