The NAD could be special.

When comparing amps, people inherently listen for detail and bass. That’s your first test. Underpowered amps always have weak bass.

Then play vocal music. Nature sounds (waves especially). Complex music with strings. Listen for harshness in the highs. Cheap amps will sound harsh and thin.

Klipsch especially. I don’t know about other brands. Amplifiers have far more exaggerated specs TBH.

If you want to go balls deep into Shoegaze, check out “I was a Teenage Shoegazer”. It’s exactly what you described.

Speaker wattage means nothing. Chances are, you can blow out the speakers with 15W of (continuous) power. But there’s 10 different ways to rate power so that sentence means nothing.

The only metric worth reading is the sensitivity. Under 87db/1m/1W, you should consider a bigger amp. Of course brands like Klipsch rate their speakers like children and lie on the specs. Fortunately, Klipsch speakers are usually easy to power and sound bright (which helps with low volumes).

After chasing the hobby like an idiot, the Samsung EO-IA 500 felt like a FOMO killer to me. They actually fit the ear and stay securely. The sound is good enough! Not too bright, the mids are clear (V shaped earphones never fail to disappoint) and the bass is kicking. Yeah, the Samsungs are muddy at times. But that’s a small sacrifice I’m willing to take, considering that everything else is perfect.

For serious listening I have Closer Acoustics OGY speakers. It doesn’t get more transparent and clear than that.

I always get back to Kurt Vile, no matter what. I dig his attitude.

Pink Floyd has a squeaky clean production with great dynamics. So the sky is the limit as far as speakers go. Get the biggest and best speakers you can afford.

With psychedelic indie rock (Of Montreal, MGMT, Toro Y Moi) with loads of compression you’ll want speakers with stellar midrange. I find that cheap exciter drivers mounted on plywood sheets sound incredible (watch the world’s greatest speakers YouTube video). I am currently using a single driver speaker (Closer Acoustics OGY) and it’s even better but the price is steep.

Hi! I am kind of partial to esoteric designs. But in a DIY context and the stuff doesn’t have to be expensive. You could have cable risers made of Lego for example. No need to spend thousands on that.

You can even experiment with placing heavy objects on top of your speakers. It won’t cost you anything and it might make a small difference. Or you might fool yourself into perceiving a difference. Either way, you don’t have much to lose.

And to be clear, my room has a pretty high noise floor. So I am not experimenting with stupid expensive cables with cable risers or placing heavy objects. The sound of my fridge will cancel out all of the gains.

Finally, I doubt that this subreddit will go anywhere. There’s no interaction other than “Haha silly product is too expensive”.

I watch internet reviews daily and it’s driving me crazy. There’s too much hyperbole and too many biases. Measurements don’t fix that problem, they aggravate it. Everything is becoming a ranking system. Not agreeing with the top ranking products is a curse. Not having the same priorities as the internet reviewers will guarantee buyer’s remorse. This entire hobby can be summarized with a Starter Pack meme showing KEF speakers, Hypex chip amplifiers, SMSL DACs and Wiim Streamers. This hobby is so diverse and we’re narrowing everything down to a tiny list.

And I feel like a crazy person thinking that single driver speakers are the way to go. I heard single driver speakers alongside 2 or 3 way speakers in a showroom. And yeah, the single driver speakers just sounded more clear and life-like. The 3 way speakers had more bass and were more dynamic, but they sounded like speakers. I was not immersed in the music.

I have the Bluesound Node and I love it so much. I don’t care for the other streamers because they don’t have a sub out and an HDMI eARC. Yeah I use both of these. Any other streamer wouldn’t do.

I have been saying the same thing for years. I am frustrated on both ends. Interior designers don’t care for HiFi. You’ll often see them design living rooms with awkwardly placed TVs and no speakers. Sometimes you’ll see the occasional KEF LSX or KEF LS50 placed on a sideboard underneath a TV (which is too high). In a recent AD video I saw an enormous palace of glass and steel. It looked empty and cold. But there was a living room with a pair of KEF LS50 speakers which looked puny. Room acoustics are the bottom priority. Architects love huge empty spaces with hard shiny surfaces. Everything has to look like an international airport.

On the HiFi side of things it’s exactly what you described. I don’t care if you have $300k Magico speakers if the room feels like an empty basement with neon lights. I am referring to Jay’s Audio Lab. And he’s so adamant about room treatment and not having any tables to reflect the sound. Spending any amount of time in Jay’s basement would make me uncomfortable. It’s just not cozy.

On a different note, I think we’re chasing the wrong things. Diminishing returns happen very early. There are countless amazing amplifiers and speakers from the 80s, 90s or 2000s on the used market for hundreds of dollars. Buy that before it gets hyped out of affordability like the Marantz amps of the 70s. I would definitely focus on the decor most. Your mood has a greater impact on the appreciation of music than fancy cables and electronics.

And where the heck are the Focal and Ligne Roset collabs !?

When I was a complete novice to this hobby, I watched a lot of Steve Guttenberg videos on YouTube. At the time he was enamoured by the Klipsch RP600M. The internet community as well. And by complete coincidence, the RP600M was 50% off bundled with a Yamaha RN402 amp. So I purchased the combo deal without hesitation. Steve Guttenberg can’t be wrong?

I set up the Klipwch RP600M and the disappointment was immediate and persistent. In short, there was a suckout in the midrange and the speakers in my work van sounded better. I didn’t understand what Steve Guttenberg was experiencing with the Klipsch RP600M. They sound like generic speakers you’d find in a van or a soundbar. My dad’s speakers (Q Acoustics 2020) just sounded better and less like speakers.

For 2 long years I was basically resisting the urge not to upgrade my speakers. And then I was fed up. I walked to audio shops in Paris and everything else sounded pretty good. But the standout was definitely a DIY cabinet built around the Audax AM21 fullrange driver paired with a Unison Research Simply Italy amplifier. Finally, the vocals sounded realistic. With the Klipsch it sounded like a door was in front of the singer. In the same room there were regular 2 way bookshelf speakers from Davis and Atohm. They sounded veiled like the Klipsch next to the AM21 single driver speakers.

Since the AM21 speakers were too large for my room, I researched small single driver speakers and landed on the Closer Acoustics OGY on a Google advertisement. And yep, they’re the real deal if you’re looking for realistic vocals and guitars.

I don’t think that you have to spend exorbitant sums of money to enjoy realistic sound. You could just go the single driver route and compromise on bass quantity (single driver speakers with smaller drivers don’t do deep bass).

I heard more expensive speakers in showrooms and they all sounded more artificial compared to my OGY, but the sense of scale and bass were more impressive.

100% agree. And I am so tired of internet reviewers celebrating each new product from KEF, Schiit or Fosi Audio like it’s a miracle.

I purchased phenomenal speakers (Closer Acoustics OGY) last year and I have been begging internet reviewers to take notice ever since. So far, only Jay’s Iyagi and Steve Huff have taken notice.

If you make a parallel to vinyl and CDs, reviewers should expand your tastes and knowledge.