The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

I love Roon and have been using it almost exclusively since I paired it up with all the SACD iso files, vinyl rips, and Qobuz membership. It covers all the bases minus some of the existing vinyl that's not in as high of quality on Qobuz. I'm probably doing 10:1 on listening now of Roon to vinyl. It's completely cured me of my need to buy vinyl, which is great for my budget. I work from home so it's easy to just dial up what I want to listen to or bring up the Qobuz portion to try out new music. I'm actually listening to more new music now since starting the membership. The only thing I can't get to work well is Roon in my car. Qobuz on my phone works just fine with Carplay so I'll just bring up My Favourites (love you Brits) and have access to the music I'm currently listening to.
 
I love Roon and have been using it almost exclusively since I paired it up with all the SACD iso files, vinyl rips, and Qobuz membership. It covers all the bases minus some of the existing vinyl that's not in as high of quality on Qobuz. I'm probably doing 10:1 on listening now of Roon to vinyl. It's completely cured me of my need to buy vinyl, which is great for my budget. I work from home so it's easy to just dial up what I want to listen to or bring up the Qobuz portion to try out new music. I'm actually listening to more new music now since starting the membership. The only thing I can't get to work well is Roon in my car. Qobuz on my phone works just fine with Carplay so I'll just bring up My Favourites (love you Brits) and have access to the music I'm currently listening to.

Is Qobuz working properly with CarPlay now? Interesting. Back when I had it last it only worked off line (so had to have everything you wanted to play downloaded to the phone), Siri didn’t work (so had to take eye off the road which I hate doing) and it was a glitchy mess.
 
Is Qobuz working properly with CarPlay now? Interesting. Back when I had it last it only worked off line (so had to have everything you wanted to play downloaded to the phone), Siri didn’t work (so had to take eye off the road which I hate doing) and it was a glitchy mess.
No Siri but it can access and switch albums that aren't imported. I use this more than Spotify in the car. I just don't access any other albums unless I'm at a stoplight.
 
No Siri but it can access and switch albums that aren't imported. I use this more than Spotify in the car. I just don't access any other albums unless I'm at a stoplight.

Yeah I suppose Apple Music being lossless means I just use it now and hit the Siri button on my steering wheel whenever I want a change!
 
Well the voice control button then if we’re being picky. It defaults to Siri when you’re in CarPlay mode.

I have a Ford, a Puma!
A ford puma sounds like what my wife and I refer to as sneaker shoes (cause they look like shoes for a transformer). Anyhow, is a cute little thing I could put in the bed if my f150?
 
A ford puma sounds like what my wife and I refer to as sneaker shoes (cause they look like shoes for a transformer). Anyhow, is a cute little thing I could put in the bed if my f150?

I live alone in a big and busy city in a small country. I also kinda roll my eyes over here if I see someone with a raptor or an f150, they’re way too big for daily use on our roads and particularly for our parking. Maybe if your a tradesman but even then the ubiquitous white van is much more suited to here.

It’s also a bit bigger than the car it replaced lol. It’s effectively a mini suv on a fiesta chasis (I think you get the fiesta over there). So a fiesta on steroids lifted a little off the ground.
 
I live alone in a big and busy city in a small country. I also kinda roll my eyes over here if I see someone with a raptor or an f150, they’re way too big for daily use on our roads and particularly for our parking. Maybe if your a tradesman but even then the ubiquitous white van is much more suited to here.

It’s also a bit bigger than the car it replaced lol. It’s effectively a mini suv on a fiesta chasis (I think you get the fiesta over there). So a fiesta on steroids lifted a little off the ground.
The f150 can be a chore to park. I drive it to work (when the fucking mice haven’t decimated it) but for errands, I take the wife’s Subaru.
 
The f150 can be a chore to park. I drive it to work (when the fucking mice haven’t decimated it) but for errands, I take the wife’s Subaru.

Yeah a lot of our supermarkets are in older shopping developments and even European cars have eaten a bit more cake than they should have since the 80s/90s. I’d be really impressed if you could fit it in a single space here lol!
 
I live alone in a big and busy city in a small country. I also kinda roll my eyes over here if I see someone with a raptor or an f150, they’re way too big for daily use on our roads and particularly for our parking. Maybe if your a tradesman but even then the ubiquitous white van is much more suited to here.
When my wife and I visited Ireland we got a Fiat Punto as a rental. I thought it was ridiculously small, right up to when I was nervously navigating it out of the parking structure. Then it was clearly two sizes too big!
 
When my wife and I visited Ireland we got a Fiat Punto as a rental. I thought it was ridiculously small, right up to when I was nervously navigating it out of the parking structure. Then it was clearly two sizes too big!

The multi story next to T1 where the short stay and the rental pick up are located is an experience. It is very old and very tight. I hate it. I always try to go up and pack on the roof because those spots are really tight and those pillars definitely jut put into them!
 
I want to extoll the greatness of Qobuz and Roon again. I'm trying to only listen to jazz this month. It's a lot easier to just get on Roon and either go through my existing collection or use it to find albums by certain artists that I may not own. I love Miles Davis and am able to go chronologically, for the most part, in hi-res. Previously, I'd have to go find his discography online and then check what I had and play them in that order. Now it's all there for me and adding new albums is so simple and quick.
 
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Got my Luxman D-03x back after a little tune up at the shop. I stopped getting sound output after a brown out a few weeks ago. Ended up being a simple fix under warranty. They replaced the MQA board, which they had upgraded shortly after mine was built anyways so good deal.

Because I’m not sure that my old Panamax outlets were protecting anything, I also picked up an Audioquest Niagara 1200, which incidentally is a beast.

Got everything back together now with the new C7’s. Should be a fun remainder of the summer.
 
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Got my Luxman D-03x back after a little tune up at the shop. I stopped getting sound output after a brown out a few weeks ago. Ended up being a simple fix under warranty. They replaced the MQA board, which they had upgraded shortly after mine was built anyways so good deal.

Because I’m not sure that my old Panamax outlets were protecting anything, I also picked up an Audioquest Niagara 1200, which incidentally is a beast.

Got everything back together now with the new C7’s. Should be a fun remainder of the summer.
Have you noticed any difference with the Niagara?
 
Have you noticed any difference with the Niagara?
I honestly have too many new variables to make a statement that would stand up to scrutiny (speakers, Niagara and speaker wires) but I will say that I have full confidence it will protect my equipment from surges/ brownouts which I was really concerned about… if it’s adding a slight perception of improved clarity and oomph… all the better.
 
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I honestly have too many new variables to make a statement that would stand up to scrutiny (speakers, Niagara and speaker wires) but I will say that I have full confidence it will protect my equipment from surges/ brownouts which I was really concerned about… if it’s adding a slight perception of improved clarity and oomph… all the better.
I picked up an Audioquest PQ2 recently as my surge protector/power conditioner. Haven’t noticed much difference in audio. I was hoping the linear filtering would get rid of some of the noise coming through my setup (almost sounds like white noise when headphones are plugged in but no music is playing) but it didn’t do anything. It wasn’t too expensive though and am glad to have it protecting my gear.

Still can’t figure out what’s causing the noise annoyingly. Aim assuming it’s the old wiring in my house. But been frustrating trying to diagnose it. The sound is there even with no sources plugged into it at all. Has happened with two different amps now.
 
I picked up an Audioquest PQ2 recently as my surge protector/power conditioner. Haven’t noticed much difference in audio. I was hoping the linear filtering would get rid of some of the noise coming through my setup (almost sounds like white noise when headphones are plugged in but no music is playing) but it didn’t do anything. It wasn’t too expensive though and am glad to have it protecting my gear.

Still can’t figure out what’s causing the noise annoyingly. Aim assuming it’s the old wiring in my house. But been frustrating trying to diagnose it. The sound is there even with no sources plugged into it at all. Has happened with two different amps now.
There is a lot of engineering evidence that power conditioners really don’t improve the output of audio devices, but they can still protect them from surge damage. I use a SurgeX for that purpose.
 
I really thought it sounded like a slightly improved gain with the panamax mr4300.
Of course it could have just been an improvement over a less than stellar cheap surge protector I was using previously.
 
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