What new feature has inspired you to change your equipment to the latest & greatest?

[Mike0815]

Small teaser - this is my current DBA frequency response and waterfall. (just two different CamillaDSPs Linkwitz Transforms (two different speakers and housing sizes in front and back DBA grid) and some EQ):

 

[Chuck Gerlach]

The last decade has offered me lots of opportunities to upgrade [and spend LOTS more $$] due to new features or technologies:

Speakers: Upgraded to an all Wisdom Audio Line Source system. The sonic differences between line source vs point source, dispersion pattern, and seat to seat consistency.

Video Processor: Moved to Lumagen [HDR Tone Mapping] then to Envy to deal with edge distortion caused by use of A-Lens

Projector: First change was to get 4K [Sony]; next major change to get extra brightness, better blacks [JVC]; then to make use of Laser light source [JVC RS4500]; then to reduce noise [JVC NZ9]

Audio Processor: First to enable 3D audio (to a Marantz); then to enable more channels (Datasat); then to a processor that was being actively supported - and even more channels [Trinnov].

Woofage: Moved to Ascendo "kick" subs and "Infra" subs to greatly increase quality and quantity of bass.

The upgrades to 3D audio, Wisdom, Trinnov and Ascendo would have to be considered, for my personal preferences, "transformational".

There's one more "option" available to me but don't know if I will invest: a new screen with automatic screen masking to improve perceived black levels when watching 16x9 material on a scope screen.

 

[Greg Takesh]

I'm gonna go in a completely different direction with my answer. Not some feature on the equipment, but the room itself. The other day I had the pleasure of visiting Dave, who owned my speakers. He was using some box subs, I don't remember the brand. Anyway we were there to install some active Open Baffle subs, 2x12"/side. Usually the process of integrating the subs to the planar/ribbon main speakers would take some time to get right, I like using DSP for getting subs dialed in. In this case the process went surprisingly quick without DSP. A bit of a bump at 35hz to tone down with the analog PEQ controls on the amp, but that was about it, measuring quite flat down to 20hz when done. Now normally I would recommend using DSP to deal with in room response of the subs. BUT I NEVER USE DSP ON MY PANELS, NO HIGH PASS FILTER EITHER, IT KILLS THE SOUND IMO. In this case I can attribute the excellent sub to main panel integration to his custom listening room. Build expressly for music Dave went the extra mile with properly placed bass traps, and absorption. He double sheet rocked the room with damping compound between each layer. He braced the floor with an I beam under the floor joist's. He even had double doors like you would find in a hotel room when you open your door and find another door on the other side leading to the adjacent room. These doors were equipped with special hinges on a cam that when closed drop the door down into an air tight pocket built into the door sill to keep noise out and keep room bass pressure from bleeding out. The room had a wonderful quality of just enough damping and reverberation. Of course his equipment was well chosen and it made my speakers shine. I have to say out of all the listening rooms I have heard with my speakers, this room was the best. Your attention to every detail paid off quite well, the subs brought life to the music like he had never heard before. We were cranking Jeff Beck at stupid loud SPL's all from his 22 watt Linear Tube Audio integrated amp. Guitar, Bass and Drums all laid out in front of us with visceral impact and realism. With image height, width, depth and separation giving that you are there sensation. Now we all know the room is the biggest influence in any high end setup, some of us have no choice and have to work with what we have. But for those lucky enough to have their own listening space, doing it right reaps many more benefits than swapping equipment trying to find a component that will give you better performance in a flawed room. Here is a pic of Dave's room with my speakers and open baffle subs. GREAT JOB DAVE !

 

[Todd Anderson]

I'm gonna go in a completely different direction with my answer. Not some feature on the equipment, but the room itself. The other day I had the pleasure of visiting Dave, who owned my speakers. He was using some box subs, I don't remember the brand. Anyway we were there to install some active Open Baffle subs, 2x12"/side. Usually the process of integrating the subs to the planar/ribbon main speakers would take some time to get right, I like using DSP for getting subs dialed in. In this case the process went surprisingly quick without DSP. A bit of a bump at 35hz to tone down with the analog PEQ controls on the amp, but that was about it, measuring quite flat down to 20hz when done. Now normally I would recommend using DSP to deal with in room response of the subs. BUT I NEVER USE DSP ON MY PANELS, NO HIGH PASS FILTER EITHER, IT KILLS THE SOUND IMO. In this case I can attribute the excellent sub to main panel integration to his custom listening room. Build expressly for music Dave went the extra mile with properly placed bass traps, and absorption. He double sheet rocked the room with damping compound between each layer. He braced the floor with an I beam under the floor joist's. He even had double doors like you would find in a hotel room when you open your door and find another door on the other side leading to the adjacent room. These doors were equipped with special hinges on a cam that when closed drop the door down into an air tight pocket built into the door sill to keep noise out and keep room bass pressure from bleeding out. The room had a wonderful quality of just enough damping and reverberation. Of course his equipment was well chosen and it made my speakers shine. I have to say out of all the listening rooms I have heard with my speakers, this room was the best. Your attention to every detail paid off quite well, the subs brought life to the music like he had never heard before. We were cranking Jeff Beck at stupid loud SPL's all from his 22 watt Linear Tube Audio integrated amp. Guitar, Bass and Drums all laid out in front of us with visceral impact and realism. With image height, width, depth and separation giving that you are there sensation. Now we all know the room is the biggest influence in any high end setup, some of us have no choice and have to work with what we have. But for those lucky enough to have their own listening space, doing it right reaps many more benefits than swapping equipment trying to find a component that will give you better performance in a flawed room. Here is a pic of Dave's room with my speakers and open baffle subs. GREAT JOB DAVE !View attachment 76609

Hey Greg!!! Awesome story and pic -

Your speakers remain some of my favorites that I've heard... full stop. And they look amazing in that room!

 

[PeterP]

My most recent equipment upgrade has been removing a BlueSound Node (older model) from my system and replacing it with a streamer (DIY Daphile based) and a dac.
Reason was two fold, first the Node kept annoyingly falling off the network and had to be power cycled to get it back on. Bluesounds response was always there is a problem with your local network.
Odd it was the only device having network issues in the house.
And second I started obtaining music in DSD format (thanks to listening to Paul McGowan of PS audio) and quickly discovered the Node can not handle DSD directly it first wanted to convert the files to FLAC then play those.
Made the expense of DSD kind of pointless, Last I read was their latest version of the Node will finally handle DSD natively, someday, after a future firmware update.

I also just replaced my old E=MU 404 usb-xlr interface, thanks to no windows11 drivers, to an m-audio one that is supported so I can once again run REW.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Small teaser - this is my current DBA frequency response and waterfall. (just two different CamillaDSPs Linkwitz Transforms (two different speakers and housing sizes in front and back DBA grid) and some EQ):
View attachment 76607View attachment 76608

One of the better waterfalls I've seen.

 

[Mike0815]

One of the better waterfalls I've seen.

Thanks.
8x 18" CB in my front grid and 8x 15" in the back. Stopped testing today at 122dB. Getting dangerous. Distortion is also still nice at these levels. I think I finally arrived...

 

[wask]

An LED failure with its flashing shadow bar has led me to change the Samsung MU-6405 for an LG OLED55G4.
The change to OLED, with the good image results that the Panasonic 42G30 plasma has given me - and I still use - has been the reason. By similarity in image quality.
They deliver it to me on Monday.

 

[kevinp]

A year ago this month I upgraded my 65" flat panel Samsung TV to a 100" Hisense mini-LED U8. It's compatible with Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+, is certified as IMAX Enhanced, and supports DTS and Dolby advanced audio formats. I have on "open concept" viewing room with tons of light coming in from windows on both sides of the room. with the mini-LED backlighting the Hisense has been an absolute winner in this room. The picture is bright enough to compete with the ambient light at any time of day and the picture is is big and beautiful. We've pretty much quit lowering the 120" screen to watch our projector because the Hisense is just too good to turn off. I believe this television may be the best bargain of the century. I see that Best Buy has this exact set on sale now for just over $3k. If you're looking to get a bigger set, check out this deal. You won't regret it!

Hisense U8/U8K Review (55U8K, 65U8K, 75U8K, 85U8K, 100U8K)

The Hisense U8/U8K is a mid-range 4k TV released in 2023. It sits between the high-end, limited-release Hisense UX and the Hisense U7K in Hisense's flagship 2023...

www.rtings.com

 

[Sonnie Parker]

A year ago this month I upgraded my 65" flat panel Samsung TV to a 100" Hisense mini-LED U8. It's compatible with Dolby Vision HDR and HDR10+, is certified as IMAX Enhanced, and supports DTS and Dolby advanced audio formats. I have on "open concept" viewing room with tons of light coming in from windows on both sides of the room. with the mini-LED backlighting the Hisense has been an absolute winner in this room. The picture is bright enough to compete with the ambient light at any time of day and the picture is is big and beautiful. We've pretty much quit lowering the 120" screen to watch our projector because the Hisense is just too good to turn off. I believe this television may be the best bargain of the century. I see that Best Buy has this exact set on sale now for just over $3k. If you're looking to get a bigger set, check out this deal. You won't regret it!

Hisense U8/U8K Review (55U8K, 65U8K, 75U8K, 85U8K, 100U8K)

The Hisense U8/U8K is a mid-range 4k TV released in 2023. It sits between the high-end, limited-release Hisense UX and the Hisense U7K in Hisense's flagship 2023...

www.rtings.com

I've read a LOT of good things about that 100" Hisense set... and the price is just crazy unbelievable. I'd be all over it if I didn't already have my Sony 98".

I have also experienced what you have... my 98" Sony is so much better than my projector; it was simply no contest as to what I'd be using going forward. I've seen some of the most expensive projectors in action and owned one of the higher-end model JVC units, but none are as good as my TV screen, and the lights don't matter.

 

[Chris A]

Most recently I upgraded to 77" OLED and 4K/UHD...without of course realizing that ~95% of recent big budget movies made over the past decade or so shot in native 4K digital format are of the "comic book hero" genre.

So I've recently been scouring online sites for movies shot in native 4K (i.e., not upscaled or transferred from photographic film negatives--which I find virtually all have visible dynamic range, texture, and color pallet issues)--but that are also not of Marvel comics genre. That list is surprisingly short for the last 10 years of moviemaking. Nevertheless, we've been acquiring 4K movies from that short list within the last couple of months, and the visual presence is stunning. I never thought that the image quality, dynamic range (in particular the black portions of the scale) and rich natural color pallets would be so lifelike. The best looking movie that I can remember seeing is 1917...for its sheer beauty of natural landscape colors and lifelike fine resolution.
______________________________________________________________________________

As far as multichannel sound is concerned--well, that goes back more than 45 years (to 1978) when I heard an exceptional three-channel setup at Sheffield Audio in Houston (Klipschorns & a Belle center), and noted the clarity and insensitivity of the soundstage imaging to walking around the room and listening to that early setup. I foolishly allowed my best bud [the both of us basically just-graduated engineers working high paying jobs in Boomtown USA] to talk me out of them. I learned the hard way to trust my own ears and not someone else's over that notable experience.

I already knew the effect of delayed surround channels from my days as a music major listening to the long time delay reflections of a large pipe organ in a large music auditorium, and also a demonstration of delayed surround delay channels in a physics lab. I knew what 5-channel surround sound could do by that time. The issue was that there were no 5.1 recordings back then. So I had to wait until I had the capital and time to build a hi-fi 5.2 music system at home. It only took 32 years (finally empty nesting) to have a real hi-fi surround sound setup, and another 10 years to get it dialed in correctly to minimum phase performance (less than 90 degrees of phase swing, all channels, above the room's Schroeder frequency).

When I say that with the right surround recordings, it's very close to the real thing (live acoustic music), I'm not just saying empty words. I can close my eyes and listen to Beethoven's piano sonatas in 5.1...and I'm there.

 

[Chuck Gerlach]

When I say that with the right surround recordings, it's very close to the real thing (live acoustic music), I'm not just saying empty words. I can close my eyes and listen to Beethoven's piano sonatas in 5.1...and I'm there.

10 years ago, when 3D audio was announced at the 2014 CEDIA, several of the demo spaces used a recording [done in Auro 3D] of an organ playing in a large, empty and reverberant church. THAT was the closest experience I have EVER had to "I was there". Was it as accurate as full pipe organ? Not even close. But did it feel like I was there? Absolutely.

So while I most certainly agree with most what you said above, I do view your statement above ["VERY close"] a bit differently. I use to believe that statement as well, particular given my comments about the organ demo. And over the last 30+ years, I've both owned and heard some very over-the-top multi-channel home audio systems. And at the very least believed that for a small 3 piece jazz combo, what I heard in my room [and others] could easily and accurately reproduce that.

Until ........ about 13 years ago, post the 2014 CEDIA. For my birthday that year, my wife hired a 3 piece jazz combo to play in our home. One of my audiophile buddies was present [he still has one of the very audio systems I have ever heard] and, when they started playing, we looked at each other and started smiling. Conclusion: there is not an audio system on the planet that even comes close to being able to ACCURATELY reproduce what we heard [as in NO microphones or speakers] music. Is it a fun and enjoyable facsimile? Yes. Dynamics; nuance, clarity; impact. Not even close. And most certainly, multi-channel is miles closer than 2 channel, but still billions of miles away.

My comments are not meant to take from the in-home experience of listening to recorded music. The emotional connection to properly reproduced music can sometimes match, or even exceed, what might happen in a live performance. I recall tears coming to my eyes when listening to music [female vocalist] in a friend's system, and went home and purchased the identical system. But it sure ain't live!! And the miles a home audio system comes short of a 3 piece jazz combo become far greater when you consider a full symphony orchestra.

 

[pickindoug]

My techno breakthrough was discovering that the resident DAC within CD players could be improved upon, which led to CD ripping to FLAC files on a NAS. Then a few iterations of accessing NAS files with NUCs into better DACs, and I now rarely spin an LP to get "better sound". The ease of access, shuffle play, etc, are all side benefits.

 

[Todd Anderson]

10 years ago, when 3D audio was announced at the 2014 CEDIA, several of the demo spaces used a recording [done in Auro 3D] of an organ playing in a large, empty and reverberant church. THAT was the closest experience I have EVER had to "I was there". Was it as accurate as full pipe organ? Not even close. But did it feel like I was there? Absolutely.

I heard that demo as well, and have the demo discs used in my collection. The organ is one of 3 or 4 Auro-3D demos that are, as you say, the closest auditory experience to being there.

If I'm not mistaken, the demo room at CEDIA used PMC speakers?

 

[Spidacat]

Although I've bought some new equipment and much bigger and better subs, I'd say my biggest improvements have all been due to learning and applying things I've read on forums such as this and AVS. REW and a miniDSP to really dial in the sub integration before any EQ or room correction, really diving into the Mult-X software to find a good target curve and nail down impulse response and proper set up and timing of all channels.

 

[Chuck Gerlach]

I heard that demo as well, and have the demo discs used in my collection. The organ is one of 3 or 4 Auro-3D demos that are, as you say, the closest auditory experience to being there.

If I'm not mistaken, the demo room at CEDIA used PMC speakers?

I have that disc as well. And demo it quite frequently. I have no remembrance on what speakers they used.

That is really a "classic" demo disc and the organ piece is still the most "you are there" moment I have ever heard. A distant second is the tractor coming up the left side of the room on the same disc. In fact, other parts of the disc are quite excellent in showing the difference in a recording between 3D audio [in this case, Auro] and non-3D recording - subtle but very informative.

 

[Todd Anderson]

I have that disc as well. And demo it quite frequently. I have no remembrance on what speakers they used.

That is really a "classic" demo disc and the organ piece is still the most "you are there" moment I have ever heard. A distant second is the tractor coming up the left side of the room on the same disc. In fact, other parts of the disc are quite excellent in showing the difference in a recording between 3D audio [in this case, Auro] and non-3D recording - subtle but very informative.

The town square clip is also impressive… but, you’re right, the organ is crazy!

 

[Gerry Iaria]

The town square clip is also impressive… but, you’re right, the organ is crazy!

Anywhere i can get that disc? Amazon??

 

[Todd Anderson]

Although I've bought some new equipment and much bigger and better subs, I'd say my biggest improvements have all been due to learning and applying things I've read on forums such as this and AVS. REW and a miniDSP to really dial in the sub integration before any EQ or room correction, really diving into the Mult-X software to find a good target curve and nail down impulse response and proper set up and timing of all channels.

Pretty amazing how much improvement can be achieved with taking the time to set things up correctly - would love to hear your setup!