took me a while to save for it though. It's actually the cheapest part of my main system

mmm... I bought it for about 100 us dollars with only seven hours of playing time.
Most expensive part of my system is my amplifier (an audiolab 8000se).
I always wait for something dead cheap to come by. Haven't got the money to buy this stuff new. I got really lucky with my Sony PS-X70 which I bought for about 50 dollars at a thrift store. I'm not really into sony, but this sounds brilliant. And it's a lovely combination with the Goldring :)

the copland has a valve preamp in and sounds awesome.

The setup on my PC cost less than $100 if you don't count the speakers or PC, DAC $30 and amp $50 both new.

I chose to buy a good soundcard so I don't really have to use an external dac.
Still, your option is a lot cheaper. My soundcard on it's own is more expensive than your DAC and AMP.

I bought the DAC as a kit and built it then put it in a $20 case, the kit was like $11.

Hahaha. I would have made the case from an old cigar box, just to keep the price down ;)
Is it any good, compared to quality standalone dacs?

It's as good as the DAC in my Denon minidisk player I was using before I bought it. The connectors are card mount so I bought a box designed for the card so the connectors poke through holes in the case. I have never tried a 'decent' stand alone DAC, same as I have not tried a stand alone phono stage with my record player (read I'm skint).

I'm not into standalone dacs either, but it's hard to find an amplifier that has a truly good phono preamplifier built in. So I've got the Teac PA4, which will be replaced anytime soon with something that sounds a bit softer. Has some sharp edges.

A Denon MD DAC is a pretty good reference to me.
What DAC do you have? I'd like to see if I can find it.
Might come in handy for 11 bucks ;).

it's a Non Oversampling 1543 variant. The MM phono input on the Copland is very good, the only time I see me needing to go external is if I get a low output MC cartridge which is a long way away. Loving the 1042.

looks like the bubble burst they are over $50 now

Found it.
And a ****load of mods
Extreme DAC 1543 kit from Hifidiy.net - diyAudio

My previous CD player was a PHilips CD 650 with a TD1541A dac.
It originally has a TD1541, but I took the 1541A from a CD 630 and put it in the 650. And then the other way around. And it improved both players radically :D.

I haven't even got a clue what DAC is in my Yamaha right now.
According to this list
The complete d/a DAC converter list - Marantzphilips.nl
which is very handy, it's got a YAC514. I guess.
Well the Yamaha needs some modifications. You won't believe the difference after a new clock is put in and the muting transistor is replace by a relais. Entirely different player.

I no longer have a dedicated CD player, just sold my CD63KIsig for $250 without remote.

FLAC all the way?

No, I have FLAC, MP3 and Vinyl and CDs for the car.

I have Minidisc for my car. Still rocks :).
You can just put them somewhere in the center console and clean up when you get to your destination. I wouldn't recommend doing that with CD's :D.

I have a full sized Denon minidisk and a portable sharp, still in use by my son sometimes.

Ehh... Sony MDS-JB940QS, JE-770, JE-320, Yamaha MDX-9 and two Pioneer car radio's.
And a defective portable lying around somewhere.

I really just use it for in the car. It's a great system, but I wouldn't know what else I should use it for :)

I ditched my cassette deck when I went minidisk, great cassette replacement.

It's functional allright. But I think a good cassette deck (and I mean a proper one, three heads, dual capstan, the lot) kicks the crap out of an MD deck.
I'm not saying I have such a beast, but they do exist.

Mine was a bottom of the range Yamaha and JVC and Pioneer before that.
A Dragon would kill MD

That's what I was thinking of.
Altough I must admit that my Philips FC 870 is pretty decent :).
I have a Denon in the living room because it has a little drawer you put the cassette in.
Shouldn't listen with my eyes, but it sounds very nice :).

I use cassettes as a cult thing. I like all the different shapes they come in, I like to make mixed tapes. So I must admit, I don't take them too serious. But they can sound better than a CD, so obviously better than an MD. Analog tape FTW ;).

I have just bought a remastered (1990) 180gramme record of Queen 1, when I first put it on my son thought it was CD as it was so quiet. Gotta love good vinyl.

and queen doesn't even sound that good, usually.
the MFSL recordings are a bit better, but they're very, very expensive

I paid $32 for the 180g

Well I don't like queen, but apart from that I think that 32 dollars is more than I ever gave for a record. Bit too much for me :)
Most expensive one must have been the recent reissue of Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" on 2x180G blue vinyl. Sounds incredible. Even though it's blue.

I have 1 of 500 copies of Marillion's marbles, check out prices on ebay if you want a shock, the CD limited edition that I have is selling for over $400

i don't... like marillion either :D

It would indeed be a sad world if we all liked the same thing.

I just have a basic stereo system, you know...two speakers, and an added sub woofer to add some bass. It's nothing too special, but it's nice to have when I want to listen to my DVD's and music really house shakingly loud.

My TT
 

At work...Kleing and Hummel 0300's! love em, but can't bring em home unfortunately

Since I bought a nice new phono preamplifier:
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n.../Cambridge.jpg
I decided to radically rebuild my rig.
Got rid of the Equalizer (was in the tapeloop), MiniDisc deck and Cassettedeck. It's not like I ever used them.
Since I now have enough tape inputs I connected both tapedecks directly to the amp and got rid of the tapeswitch.
I lack one input for the digital cable receiver (or the radiotuner), have to find a way to solve that.

Anyway, looks like this:
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...Audio/set1.jpg

The way it's connected now:
CD: Yamaha CDX-880 CD player
AUX: Sony PS-X70 with a Goldring 1022GX cartridge connected to the amp via a Cambridge Azur 640P Phono preamplifier.
TUNER: Marantz ST-50L, but I have to connect my Samsung DCB-H360 when I want to hear my TV audio via my sound system.
VIDEO I/O: ESI U24 soundcard connected to an IBM Pentium IV 2.66ghz PC running Windows XP Pro
TAPE I/O 1: Akai GX-630D tapedeck
TAPE I/O 2: Akai GX-630D Pro tapedeck

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...Audio/set2.jpg
All this is connected via monitor speaker cables to my IMF Super Compact II's :).

I really need some decent interlinks.
I connected a reasonable cable to my phono pre. Thought it sounded a bit sharp. Replaced it with the (rather cheap) cables I use on my entire rig. Man it's awful! It's really flat and lacks dynamics. Put the other cable back again, but I really need to heat up the solder iron to bake some better cables.

So that's it for now :)

Ahhh, got to love the genelecs.
Can't find anything about the Motu, what's that?

Valve buffer amp added between DAC and tripath amp to add some 'Valve' sound to the Solid State system on the PC. Another well spent $39

My guess is Audio interface.

Seeing where he posted it in the list, I guess it is.
But google says no and I'm just curious :D.

I'm at my exes' place right now.
She's got a pretty decent sound system (provided by me, obviously :D).
The Amp is a Sansui AU-G55X. Speakers are JBL TLX43's.
Her record player is a Technics SL-Q2 with an Audio Technica AT95E Cartridge.
Her CD player is a Philips CD 624.
There's a nice three head JVC Cassette deck, a decent akai tuner and a ReVox A77 tapedeck. She uses the tapedeck rarely, but she loves the look of the thing :)

Pics from the web:

http://www.elektroda.pl/rtvforum/fil...um/x1_1402.jpg

http://img04.taobaocdn.com/bao/uploa...pg_310x310.jpg http://www.hollandaudioservice.com/revox-A77-2.jpg

http://www.stereomanuals.com/vintage...hnics_slq2.jpg http://www.monalbum.fr/Foto-CXSVSUAI.jpg

I've done quite some updates since that last posting.
I bought a house, to start with.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0616.jpg
That's my rig right now.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0596.jpg
It's my Rotel amplifier. This will be replaced anytime soon.
I'm still thinking about what to buy. I am going to test some different amplifiers. An Audio Analogue (pre/end), an Accuphase (integrated) and a Densen (pre/end).

My speakers are, since yesterday:
http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0574.jpg
Boston Acoustics A26's.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0575.jpg
Which is nice :)

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0565.jpg
My record player is a Rega P25 with a Goldring 1022GX Cartridge.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...o/IMG_0603.jpg
This is my Myryad T-10 CD player with my Cambridge 640P Phono Preamplifier on top of it.

The speakerstands are a design from audiofriends.nl.
I've got the same stands in my 'studio'.
The ones on the pictures shown above are built by a friend who sold them as he bought a nice pair of Sonus Faber Concerto's. They come with stands :)

Well here's my set-up

http://i.imgur.com/GJAgG.jpg

B&O turntable and amp combo

Arcam rDAC to connect laptop to amp and improve sound

B&O speakers that accompany the amp and turntable

Audio Technica ATH-M50 headphones

All sounds pretty great

An Audiophile
 

Here is my set up:-Attachment 4826

Attachment 4827

The CD player is connected to the amp by QED qnex four 0.5mm
The speakers are bi wired with QED silver anniversery.
The amp is a dual mono choke regulated configuration.

With this set up I can hear the appropriate sound stage depth, dynamic range and instrumental placement necessary to say I truly hear the progressive music I play upon it.

A different experience to Yu Tube then!!