Need help deciding!

Hi Paul,

The MD-807T & MD-809T look like awesome tuners, though I buy all my new gear through my Dealer in Melbourne and can't get access to MD products. I don't think I'm ready for a one stop shop kind of product like that . I'm not convinced internet radio is overall better than a purist analogue FM tuner. Also in Australia, Dab+ doesn't have the same bandwidth as Europe and imho doesn't sound as good as premium analogue.

The Accuphase is certainly a purist analogue fm tuner, simple, beautiful and tremendous sounding.

Btw, you mentioned your system is similar to mine...what amp, speakers & front end do you run?

Cheers,

[pweg]

HI David

Magico S1, Vitus SIA- 025, Jorma cables, Finite Element Rack

you won't spend all your time trawling though the 20,000 plus stations. What u will do is find stuff you love that u never knew existed. For example i now almost exclusively listen to french radio.

also there are some stations like the Linn stations that broadcast at 320 kbps, which sound great - and they are all totally free.

also, i agree that Boris is a great resource

cheers

[pweg]

David, forgot to mention - front end is Vitus as well

Hi Paul, you've got a very nice system. If you're running an SIA-025, i'd assume your cdp is the SCD-025? That is a great redbook player. I was very tempted to go for that player for synergy with the rest of my system, but i'm aiming a bit higher up the food chain and plan to invest in a CH front end.

I've found the Primes have excellent synergy with Vitus & Magico. Boris prefers Siltech Royal Sig series, though I already had mostly Prime cables, so it didn't make sense to switch. Besides that, Jorma are very good value high end cables imho

I found the S1's in Boris' treated room had suprisingly good bass, but the S5's sound like a more complete speaker according to my sensibilities and better balanced. YMMV however.

Back onto tuners, yes I can see the attraction of having access to all those stations. Thanks for those tips btw I can access internet radio through my Itunes while i'm on my desktop, so i'll check them out!

Thanks to everyone who posted their thoughts in this thread. It has taken me on a journey and allowed me to find a better pathway to achieve my goals.

Matt nailed it when he suggested the option of adding a W4S modded Sonos & idea of adding a Mac Mini in future. The W4S Sonos is not too intrusive & offers internet radio. Or I could stuff a couple of terabytes of music and movies onto a Mac Mini, stream movies via gigabit ethernet connection & control it through wifi via Iphone/Ipad.

Steve also nailed it when he commented on the law of diminishing returns in analogue radio which in reality is a fading medium. Digital is the future whether we like it or not.

What I have decided to do is forego a high end tuner or streamer altogether at this stage & invest in a better front end. I won't mention my specific plans as that is a while away. Once my front end is finished, i'll definitely look into the W4S modded Sonos and Mac Mini/Ipad options.

guys!

[mgbaron]

David, glad to have helped. Most of us don't have bottomless bank accounts so it's good to prioritize. I look forward to hearing how your CH Precision front end works out.