I remember well, a younger man, when I first ventured into the wonderful world of high-end audiophile audio. I spent quite some time in a significantly obsessive state of mind pondering one purchase over the other, being tempted to spend more money than I could afford and significantly struggling with settling for second best on any component, gadget or accessory. This article would serve as a letter to a younger audiophile self of all the things that I have learnt since. It has been a journey.
1. Fix your listening room first.
There is nothing that will sound great in a room that has problems with acoustics. You may well be amazed how great the things you might already have sound once you put them in a room that can make them shine. Look for room nodes and standing waves. Play with different set-ups and be systematic. Be playful and try things that are out of the box. You might be surprised.
Take care of Very Early Reflections. Human hearing requires at least 5 ms between the onset of a sound signal and its first reflection for it to make any judgment as to the origin of the sound. Keep speakers away from walls by at least 80 cm for good stereo imaging and look for these design cues that a speaker might image well.
2. Your most important investment will always be the speakers or the headphones.
Spend the bucks on decent speakers or headphones if you prefer those. Everything else in the chain has pretty much reached the point of diminishing returns, so speakers and phones are the lowest-fidelity component left, and spending more money can still result in noticeable gains, however, many expensive speakers are really not that good. This keeps the decision interesting. There really is no need to go over board. Many companies like ours make great sounding speakers at very reasonable prices.
3. Don't understimate the importance of good stereo imaging when buying loudspeakers.
Most novice audiophile buyers mainly look for low distortion, deep bass a high sound pressure level and perhaps a flat response. It is only later that stereo imaging even slips on the radar for many. To chose good imaging speakers look for the following.
Avoid acoustic lobing, like the devil avoids the holy water. Look for these indicators that your speakers are designed to avoid acoustic lobing.
4. Choose the speakers that are right for you and the music you listen to.
When choosing speakers, define where you want to be in the trade off. Very low bass, very loud, good imaging: chose any two. Price is also a factor. Some speakers perform a little better within the trade off, but the laws of physics apply to all. Be clear about what your needs are and select accordingly. If you listen primarily to music made on “real instruments” bass down to 48 Hz is sufficient and you will find great imaging speakers at good prices. If you love electronic music, you will need lower bass and imaging might not be that important. Look for those cues that a speaker you are considering buying is designed for good stereo imaging.
Also avoid cabinets that are too wide at the front as they will cause very early reflections that blurr any stereo image.
Also when chosing speakers listen to coloration in the bass. Do you actually distinguish the lower bass notes as music, or is it all the same tone? One tone bass will become tiring and keeps our brains on alert, as there is no congruency between the bass and the overtones. Quarter wave designs tend to have a very smooth bass roll off, but so do other designs. There are many ways to skin a cat. Equally avoid speakers that have too much trebble, they get tiring to listen to.
5. Avoid the snake oil. Especially expensive speaker cables.
Use speaker cables that are sufficiently thick for your system and keep the contacts clean. Those cables neither have to be expensive nor use exotic materials, but they should conduce electricity well. Don't be fooled into buying expensive cables and invest the money in good speakers instead. A cable that is too thin for its length will reduce the ability of your amplifier to control the driver at lower frequencies by reducing what is called the damping factor. This means is that the amplifier has less control over the mechanical movement of the speaker driver. The result is most noticeable at low frequencies, causing bass that is less "tight". Tight bass is almost more important than loud bass, as the human brain tends to equalize bass notes so they are perceived loud enough to match the overtones. Thicker cables can help here within reason. Gage 14AWG is thick enough for most home applications at reasonable lengths.
6. Clean power can help, but no need to obsess.
If you have analog playback devices, it can sometimes help to not share circuits with large inductors like a fan, air-conditioners, washer dryer or other machinery that contains large electric motors. I say sometimes, because most amplifiers have transformers that naturally eliminate the circuit harmonics caused by inductive devices. A simple surge suppressor can help and is always a good idea to protect your investment. Some companies offer specialized Power conditioners, which probably have little or no audible improvement over a standard surge protectors. If your wall power is clean, then there is no improvement to be expected. No need to pay for expensive power cords. They do nothing.
7. We can start to relax around DACs and Computer audio, very good has arrived in main stream gear.
In computer audio, sound cards can make a difference. Sound chips integrated on a computer's motherboard used to be outright terrible causing a high noise floor and buzzing. Like anything silicone, the cost of making good ones has significantly dropped over the years and modern hardware should offer great sound straight from the box. The one difference are when using particular high impedance devices like some tube amps and some head phones. There you might have a noticeable improvement when buying a sound card with a built amplifier or a USB preamp.
Class D amplifiers are cost effective and can sound great. Expensive Amplifiers do not necessarily sound better, they may sound different. Sounding "different" is arguably the job of the recording engineer, not the amplifier designer.
8. Get great recordings.
HiRes Music does make a difference, but the law of diminishing returns is high. Like anything else the reasonable thing is to be reasonable. If you can´t enjoy a particular song at 44 kHz, I´d talk to the band first. That being said, a great recording masterfully made by people who know their terrain can reveal spatial cues that are not otherwise audible. I personally love the recordings by HD tracks and Chesky Records, but not only because of the resolution but because of the masterful approach to recording. All amplifiers include filters in their end stage and while 44 kHz is far above what humans can hear, these filters do have the potential to bring down the issues into the audible domain. Either way, most of the quality is created in the recording studio and no poorly recorded music will soud great on any system.
9. Have fun:
Buy a system you like and enjoy owning, set it up well and then simply enjoy. While tinkering and tampering can be fun at times, it can get in the way with enjoying what matters most: the music. As Sting famously put it: “To look for perfection is all very well, but searching for heaven means to live here in hell”
Arved Deecke is founder of the Danish / Mexican Loudspeaker company KVART & BØLGE that makes audiophile quarter wave loudspeakers and sound systems at a price anyone can afford. In his free time he blogs about all things related to sound, music and audio.
