Another Happy Cake Day! I have some left over Apple Pie saved. Well, it is close enough to a cake for me.
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Happy Cake Day Mitch!
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I’m 71 and not sure yet. However I am very satisfied with the equipment I have. I have 6 intergrated amps I rotate. I have a Pass 250, McIntosh 352, Hegel 390, Krell K300, Accuphase 380, Electrocompaniet 6 mrk2. I use these with an Aurender N20 streamer, Holo May Kte dac and an Audiolab 9000 cd transport. I also use a B&W bd3 sub. I have 12 pair of bookshelf speakers which include the PS audio Fr 5. I think overtime it does not matter what equipment you have. You get use to the sound then you just yearn for something different. So my rotations keep me from getting bored.
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Great plan and implementation of inventory. I do something similar to stay intrigued by rolling tubes. Where I know there is always room for improvement is in sources. I am very happy with mine but if I could upgrade that would be where I would start.
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While I don’t agree 100%, I do partially agree, as I do have equipment that I like to rotate in and out of my system. I have realized that a lot of the music I listen to sounds best with 100% solid state gear, while some music that I listen to is unquestionably better with tubes in the signal path. My speakers, the FR20, are no longer rotated in and out of the system. The FR20’s now stay in the main system full time.
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I have hit the endgame of my budget. While I have improved the sound quality of my system over the last few years by spending another $20k, I certainly didn’t improve the sound quality $20k worth!
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That is a very interesting plan since most of us just want to find that holly grail, and ended up spending too much. So, maybe your plan makes more sense.
I do have enough cables to rotate, and you maybe right. After a while, the “bad” cables produce music just as good; it could be due to the fact that the rest of the system is good enough, or more likely the music is good enough. Does that mean I should stop upgrading cables? Probably not. 
I read somewhere one of the keys to live longer after retirement is finding (or revive in my case) interesting hobbies. Oh well, Audio upgrade for sure is a fun hobby. The study did not mention if more expensive hobbies will make one lives even longer. But I will leave enough for my wife to be happy for rest of her life so I think so. 
She may bury the audio system along with me to make sure I continue the hobby afterlife. 
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Another happy cake day here!
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Two in one day! Happy cake day!
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If you had to pick and rate the three “best” integrated amps you use would the Accuphase kit be in the top three?
Cheers.
Yes. 3 would be Pass, Krell, and I would have to say tie between my Accuphase and Hegel. Each amp has its own unique sound or character. My journey has been more or less a learning experience. There is rarely any night and day difference. The difference seem to be more on the subtle side.
You should add a Gryphon 300 or 333 to that list! Now we’re talking! 
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I am not a Gryphon fanboy by any means, but if you heard a Gryphon Diablo 333 integrated amp, your list would most certainly change. Same goes with Vitus.
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Wait, you are not? I thought it was in your New Year resolution.
I had a nice round of golf in the rain this morning, and now I am ready for the big dinner on NY Eve. I am going to turn on the system now. 
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I don’t doubt you one bit. However both those amps are substantially more expensive than my amps. When I purchased my pass 250 I got full trade value for my Pass 60. Therefore I only had to put out 6k for my 250. Thought I’ve never heard any of those amps you mentioned I know about them and have read many reviews.
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Shameless plug if interested!
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650278997-gryphon-diablo-300-with-internal-dac/
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I’m seventy and long-retired. Over the past five years or so, I have dipped into my savings to “accelerate” purchases I knew I’d likely be making in the future anyway, thinking: “Why wait? You’re not getting any younger, you’ve saved for years, and this lifelong hobby, and the musical enjoyment it enhances, gives you great pleasure for hours every day.”
After I got my MU2 and an SRX cable loom eight months or so ago, I felt that I had most likely curated my endgame system–at least in terms of the main components–though I figured that I would likely continue to opportunistically upgrade things around the edges.
Then I started studying the Theoretica Applied Physics BACCH-SP sound processing system, aided in part with the observations made by certain denizens of this very forum.
I’m an intentional listener, meaning that I very seldom listen to music in the background. In my case, I’d say that I listen solo from the sweet spot about ninety percent of the time, and for this and certain aspects of my setup (point source speakers, semi-nearfield in a well balanced room) I thought I might be a good candidate for this technology.
As I researched and thought about it more, I came to realize that this wouldn’t be so much an ‘upgrade’ in the traditional sense–getting a better version of a traditional existing component–but that it meant adding completely new functionality to the two channel listening experience I’d been chasing and enjoying since I was a kid.
So, in several weeks, a BACCH-SP adio unit will be replacing my beloved MU2. (For those keeping score at home, mine will be black as I’ve gotten used to the black MU2 in my system, and other than my silver AGD Gran Vivaces, most of the main components in my system just happen to be black.)
At that point, I think I will largely be done.
We shall see…
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I’m only 65. I may upgrade by the time I’m 70 but for now I’m impressed for where I’m at. I just recently discovered that my DSD mk1 frequency of reboot requirements is not the dac failing but a result of the power supply I am using. The DSD mk1 sounds quite nice APS modded and with Keces power supply. Unfortunately the power supply is causing me the need to reboot my dac every few days. The sound is Nice however and I am thrilled with my system. I have a PST transport and an Auralic Aries G2.1 with a Hoer-Wege power supply. The long term keeper in my system are my 26 year old Hales T5 speakers with upgraded crossovers and Seas Millennium tweeters. My pass X250.8 and XP-32 preamp with RAL umbilical cables run my Hales nicely. My most recent upgrade are my RAL cables everywhere except for ac cables which are Neotech NEP-3200/3001 mk3 with Furutech FI-50 NCF connectors on all ends. I have 5 cables of each with the 3200 for the high current and the 3001 mk3 for the front end digital. I use a Keces IQRP 3600 power conditioner and a Shunyata Hydra 6 to isolate digital. Purple fuses everywhere. I’m entering 2026 well done.
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Now that I know you ordered a black adio, you made the right decision.
On the serious side, congrats!!
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@mitchb105 I can unreservedly recommend the Uptone Audio JS-2 and JS-4 linear power supplies. Bridging both rails of the JS-4 was transformational when powering my Nucleus+ server / streamer…