Two days, two different systems.

[radio times]

So I've been on the hunt. Do I erect some speakers, or do I plump for the Ruark R7?.

The first system was a CD transport, the splendid Chord Qutest DAC and the Musical Fidelity M6 amp, with some fairly basic speakers around the £1k mark. I was using the Fleetwood Mac Tusk album, the '78 Madam Butterfly with Pavarotti and Freni highlights, a Lana del Ray, an early 70's French African group CD and a mono Parker. Very nice sound, really got the earthy tones of the African CD, and it was delightfully jumbled on the Lana del Ray. Not so good on classical, good detail and SS on the poorly recorded Parker. Great work on the Chord and it deserves it's praise. The same for the MF amp.

Then next day I looked at the Roksan Kandy K3 Amp and CD combo with the Dali Opticon 6 floorstanders and some Chord interconnects and speaker wire. I slightly preferred this system, and all Cd's came up trumps and they would do very nicely chez moi. Can't easily imagine a better sound at the price, until we changed the speakers for the Aria 926. Slightly more in your face sound, easier to drive and better on all except a bit flat on the African CD, so with a £300 Yamaha tuner my first hi fi system could be got for around £4.6K. Low volume with ye olde harmonic sweet spots.

And yet....the R7 was worth another visit. I have been happy with the R4 as a bedroom system for a long time and have been totally in love with the convenience. In the wide open sales floor of Selfridges with music sounds coming from all around it was very hard to get an accurate appraisal. It didn't fail anywhere but of course couldn't compete with the above systems though it didn't distort at high volume. Would my lifestyle suit sitting on a sofa for hours on end listening to a pair of speakers? Or do I chill out nicely enough with what I have? I go out a lot, I work, I have no real link anymore with the music biz, I need a radio alarm in the mornings, and with a bigger SS and the same kind of signature,albeit only a reported 30% better, I feel that would suit me more.The R4 is very sweet in it's segment. The R7 will be better everywhere. I can always go higher end with me Daps/phones if needed. I will muse some more.