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Comment by cyberpunk | Hacker News Reader

I’ve listened to a bunch of these “audiophile” setups (usually owned by retired boomers with bad hearing in untreated rooms) and while 60k of amps does look good i really struggle to believe that anything other than the speakers makes much difference.

Having done that, my opinions are simple;

A good set of floor standers connected to pretty much anything will sound good.

Basic room treatment will go far enough for everyone unless you’re running a sfx studio or something and even then…

Anything over 320 mp3 is basically pointless, but the better masters you get on some of these 24/96 platforms make it probably worth the subscription (sometimes).

I prefer good headphones.

And this is how i’ve avoided spending 6 figures on audio gear :)

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Trinnov is not snake oil though.

I agree with you on the untreated room and 60k amps (just buy hypex), I have a room that is designed by a professional and treated (massive traps completely covering all the walls and ceiling). Most people can’t dedicate the space to that type of setup though - particularly as it completely changes the look of a room.

But something like Trinnov can make a difference to even that setup - its what the acoustician will some days testing and tweaking particular as all speaker designs have flaws. Not that I have one yet, I didn't have the budget for it so I am making do with a cheaper alternative - but DSP for treated rooms makes a noticeable difference.

Yeah, I'm in opposite situation. Mine is in a regular living room. Certainly can't afford a house with a dedicated theater. I've got some unobtrusive panels but the worst reflection point is against a giant glass window. So instead of +$500k for a bigger house, it's $12k for a trinnov. Don't even need a professional. The trinnov has a 4-mic array that you plug in to the back and place it where your head is going to be. It plays sounds from all the speakers; measures frequency response of every speaker; measures all reflection paths; absorption. The four mics form a tetrahedron, so it also measures speaker position in 3D. Then when you're listing to anything it just adjusts for all that. It's just physics at this point. I have 30 year old Meridian speakers: each speaker has a DSP, 2 DACs and three 75-watt amps; one amp per driver. Can't afford new ones: the modern equivalent are $12k per pair. The trinnov is the cheapest solution that allows HDCP content in and plain (unencrypted) SPDIF out. So my path is digital right up to the 2 DACs in each speaker, and everything analog was designed as a unit. The $12k trinnov is the one that ditches the analog stage entirely - so you don't have to pay for the gold-plated XLR sockets =) Instead, it's 2x AES/EBU DB25. You get SFP cages for network! Ok, maybe the SFP cages are snake oil =)

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