As I’ve mentioned a million times around here, I frequent quite a lot of music forums and sites, trying to stay up-to-date as much as I can. These sites don’t only deal with content – the music bought, collected and played – but also with the presentation of it – the gear used to actually transfer those bits and bytes (or grooves) into listenable music. On these forums I’m always surprised about those people who love music and often comment on sound quality and then at some point state that their main listening device is some 90s boombox they have standing on some vibrating glass surface in the office or dining room. Don’t get me wrong: I think the music should be in the foreground, and it doesn’t really matter how it is reproduced, but if you are into it as much as I am, it is a shame to play great stuff on less than mediocre equipment.

In the past, I didn’t really have a bad stereo. It just wasn’t really good either. Besides the shelf speakers, which I had invested a comparatively large sum of money in, I had a cheap 1st generation plastic Philips CD-player and an Onkyo receiver. On top of that, I had this old German Grundig turntable which didn’t really deserve to be called turntable. The platter turned, but that was about it. Continue Reading →