Personal favorites include Dynaudio, Harbeth, ProAc, Sonus Faber, and Vandersteen for speakers.

And Audio Research, Chord, and Pass Labs for electronics.

Yesterday: Boards Of Canada, Belong, A Primary Industry

Today: Grimes, Pearly Drops

Lots of detailed explanations already, but practically speaking it’s not something I’d ever judge a speaker by. I’ve loved some two ways and hated others; same with three (or more) ways.

ATC? I think most of their speakers are sealed, and probably just inside your budget used (maybe even new since they’re based in the UK).

I don’t think anyone here is saying that the source isn’t important. Just that most $100ish streamers are beyond competent these days. But a $100ish speaker is bound to have severe limitations is not outright audible flaws. And these will be just as obvious even when paired with a $10k dac. But most people would still be blown away by $10k speakers and $100 source.

Both budgets are a bit silly irl, but it’s not about blindly following some ideal audiophile philosophy, it’s about practical value for money. Digital sources have simply gotten better and cheaper almost every year this century, whereas speaker technology has remained pretty much the same. Diminishing returns just kick in at very different price points than 50 years ago.

Turntables of course change that balance to some extent, but I still think a $2k setup (new Technics & nice cartridge, Rega if you prefer) is still good enough to reasonably and happily pair with speakers ten times the price.

Windows itself can mess with the sound if it’s not bypassed. So you do need to make sure you’re choosing ASIO, KS, or WASAPI output in your player to ensure it’s bit perfect. All of those options are available in Foobar (probably by default, but easily downloadable from their site if not). No idea about the others, but any player that supports any one of those should sound the same.

It’s always nice to see rooms that look practical/livable without the speakers being shoved deep into corners or right up against the walls.

Honestly never. A good system can certainly show the limitations of a recording (dynamic range, compression, distortion, etc.) but it still always improves some aspect of it, to some degree. But then, I’m pretty fond of a lot of lo-fi genres, so maybe my tolerance for ‘flaws’ is higher than most here.