Hi folks,
I wanted to share the short journey of mine which saw an upgrade due to a couple of recent purchases.
TLDR: I managed to upgrade my setup to something that sounds great without breaking the bank. Words marked in bold are/were the equipment in my setup.
Just like most of you, I've admired good sound since my early days and always wanted the best of the best once I grow up and started earning.
Growing up taught me this:
1. Some of the best sounding setups cost a lot of vitamin M
2. Someone's best setup need not be your best in your room
3. Everyone has their own best setup and you'll have to settle for the best in your budget
First spending:
With the above three things in mind, I started my journey with a humble set of Polk Audio Monitor 40s and a Yamaha Aventage A710 receiver.
The combo sounded extremely good compared to my computer speakers. I was shocked to hear my fav tracks giving out details that I had never heard before.
This went on for a few months until..
I visited a Best Buy Magnolia room and heard a couple of floorstanding speakers. That was when I first experienced the so-called itch to upgrade!
After auditioning several brands, I realized that in most cases, speakers are priced based on the brand name and not based on how good they sound ('coz sound is subjective!?)
Second spending:
Finally, when I was clear of some responsibilities, I did some research and found Polk RTi70 floorstanders with a matching center CSi3. I was overwhelmed with how the RTi70s went toe-to-toe with several soft-dome counterparts which costed 3-4 times the price and held their own with authority.
Unfortunately, the Yamaha suffered a short circuit and went kaput. Purchased the Denon 2400H as its replacement, got myself a Klipsch R-10SW sub, Polk OWM3 for surrounds, Micca 8C for atmos speakers, an APC Online UPS and I was set in my medium sized living room for some decent 5.1.2 sound.
Third spending:
Few years passed, and after listening to setups from several friends/fellow FMs, I slowly started to realize that what I heard in my setup was just the tip of the iceberg. I then tried experimenting with speaker cables, placement, equalization, etc and tweaked the sound more to my liking.
What I noticed was that there was always someone who had a better sounding setup at a similar budget that I had! How can this be possible?
I then narrowed down the problems to 1. Center channel which was underwhelming despite center lift applied and 2. AVR which was bad for stereo listening.
I now had to change the center and get something for my stereo listening.
Like a blessing in disguise, the home minister and her senior decided to get a different cabinet for the TV and I had to downsize my Polk towers to some bookshelves. I was happy and sad at the same time. I decided to audition few bookshelves and found them good at their respective showrooms (the likes of Klipsch, B&W, Paradigm, Focal, KEF etc). But how will they fare in my 22x11 living room? No idea...
In 2020, I came across Indiq Audio and the fellow FMs who've created a cult following of sorts for speakers that were made in India. With the group buy that was going on, it couldn't get any better as a choice. The owner, Mr. Amit was polite and listened to my endless requirement patiently. He then asked me to visit his place for an audition. But due to the pandemic situation, I was unable to visit there, nor place an order during the first GB.
When the time had come that I had to sell my Polk Towers, I reached out to Amit again and was surprised that he greeted me by my name. Not only that, but he also remembered the requirements that I had put forth several months ago. With the second GB starting soon, I realized that I had to somehow get the bookshelves for audition at my place. Amit arranged for a pickup of the Diamond Mishras and I was pleased with what I heard those couple of days before returning them.
I first ensured that I did justice to stereo listening and I ordered these:
1. Leaf Audio CMD-23 Balanced DAC - rather less known yet good performing DAC. Found this gem through ASR and it has most of the inputs one would need for a DAC.
2. Aiyima A07 Class D amp - based on the popular TPA3255, this amp gives tremendous VFM and it comes very close to few popular class AB amps without breaking a sweat!
I then went ahead and ordered the Diamond Mishras and Platinum Center in white. The color choice was purely due to how awesome it looked in @fLUX s room. Couple of other minor customizations and few weeks later, they arrived.
These are rather big for bookshelves and scored 10/10 in the looks department approved by my family members.
Since I had heard the demo pair with my AVRs, the first thing that I wanted to try was with the new DAC amp combo.
Two words: MIND BLOWN!!
I could not fathom the sound that was coming out of this simple setup. I streamed spotify from my phone to the DAC with BT and USB. The speakers were singing from the get go. The midbass and midrange is something that shines with these speakers. Vocal clarity matches that of speakers which cost 3x or more.
From popular tracks to movie scenes, the performance was always top notch.
All I need is less than 40% of the amp capacity to fill my 22x11 room with extremely loud levels of music. Also, details at very low volumes were evident and crisp. A happy camper I am with this
Yesterday, I decided to try something out of the ordinary... I decided to watch The Dark Knight movie on my stereo setup without the center channel and subwoofer
Boy, was I in for a surprise...
The glass shattering and shotgun firing was very close to what I had heard from few big towers in their respective theater rooms. The center imaging was excellent and to untrained ears, there's absolutely no need for a subwoofer. Kudos to Amit for achieving this feat with his speakers.
I cant wait to put the Indiq Audio Platinum Center in place and watch movies with the new LCR. Will update with my impressions in this thread soon.
Conclusion:
With my recent purchase of Indiq Audio speakers and relatively inexpensive DAC amp combo, I am pleased with how good they sound together.
I will wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who wants to an overachieving system at a relatively inexpensive price point.
Thanks for reading.
I wanted to share the short journey of mine which saw an upgrade due to a couple of recent purchases.
TLDR: I managed to upgrade my setup to something that sounds great without breaking the bank. Words marked in bold are/were the equipment in my setup.
Just like most of you, I've admired good sound since my early days and always wanted the best of the best once I grow up and started earning.
Growing up taught me this:
1. Some of the best sounding setups cost a lot of vitamin M
2. Someone's best setup need not be your best in your room
3. Everyone has their own best setup and you'll have to settle for the best in your budget
First spending:
With the above three things in mind, I started my journey with a humble set of Polk Audio Monitor 40s and a Yamaha Aventage A710 receiver.
The combo sounded extremely good compared to my computer speakers. I was shocked to hear my fav tracks giving out details that I had never heard before.
This went on for a few months until..
I visited a Best Buy Magnolia room and heard a couple of floorstanding speakers. That was when I first experienced the so-called itch to upgrade!
After auditioning several brands, I realized that in most cases, speakers are priced based on the brand name and not based on how good they sound ('coz sound is subjective!?)
Second spending:
Finally, when I was clear of some responsibilities, I did some research and found Polk RTi70 floorstanders with a matching center CSi3. I was overwhelmed with how the RTi70s went toe-to-toe with several soft-dome counterparts which costed 3-4 times the price and held their own with authority.
Unfortunately, the Yamaha suffered a short circuit and went kaput. Purchased the Denon 2400H as its replacement, got myself a Klipsch R-10SW sub, Polk OWM3 for surrounds, Micca 8C for atmos speakers, an APC Online UPS and I was set in my medium sized living room for some decent 5.1.2 sound.
Third spending:
Few years passed, and after listening to setups from several friends/fellow FMs, I slowly started to realize that what I heard in my setup was just the tip of the iceberg. I then tried experimenting with speaker cables, placement, equalization, etc and tweaked the sound more to my liking.
What I noticed was that there was always someone who had a better sounding setup at a similar budget that I had! How can this be possible?
I then narrowed down the problems to 1. Center channel which was underwhelming despite center lift applied and 2. AVR which was bad for stereo listening.
I now had to change the center and get something for my stereo listening.
Like a blessing in disguise, the home minister and her senior decided to get a different cabinet for the TV and I had to downsize my Polk towers to some bookshelves. I was happy and sad at the same time. I decided to audition few bookshelves and found them good at their respective showrooms (the likes of Klipsch, B&W, Paradigm, Focal, KEF etc). But how will they fare in my 22x11 living room? No idea...
In 2020, I came across Indiq Audio and the fellow FMs who've created a cult following of sorts for speakers that were made in India. With the group buy that was going on, it couldn't get any better as a choice. The owner, Mr. Amit was polite and listened to my endless requirement patiently. He then asked me to visit his place for an audition. But due to the pandemic situation, I was unable to visit there, nor place an order during the first GB.
When the time had come that I had to sell my Polk Towers, I reached out to Amit again and was surprised that he greeted me by my name. Not only that, but he also remembered the requirements that I had put forth several months ago. With the second GB starting soon, I realized that I had to somehow get the bookshelves for audition at my place. Amit arranged for a pickup of the Diamond Mishras and I was pleased with what I heard those couple of days before returning them.
I first ensured that I did justice to stereo listening and I ordered these:
1. Leaf Audio CMD-23 Balanced DAC - rather less known yet good performing DAC. Found this gem through ASR and it has most of the inputs one would need for a DAC.
2. Aiyima A07 Class D amp - based on the popular TPA3255, this amp gives tremendous VFM and it comes very close to few popular class AB amps without breaking a sweat!
I then went ahead and ordered the Diamond Mishras and Platinum Center in white. The color choice was purely due to how awesome it looked in @fLUX s room. Couple of other minor customizations and few weeks later, they arrived.
These are rather big for bookshelves and scored 10/10 in the looks department approved by my family members.
Since I had heard the demo pair with my AVRs, the first thing that I wanted to try was with the new DAC amp combo.
Two words: MIND BLOWN!!
I could not fathom the sound that was coming out of this simple setup. I streamed spotify from my phone to the DAC with BT and USB. The speakers were singing from the get go. The midbass and midrange is something that shines with these speakers. Vocal clarity matches that of speakers which cost 3x or more.
From popular tracks to movie scenes, the performance was always top notch.
All I need is less than 40% of the amp capacity to fill my 22x11 room with extremely loud levels of music. Also, details at very low volumes were evident and crisp. A happy camper I am with this
Yesterday, I decided to try something out of the ordinary... I decided to watch The Dark Knight movie on my stereo setup without the center channel and subwoofer
Boy, was I in for a surprise...
The glass shattering and shotgun firing was very close to what I had heard from few big towers in their respective theater rooms. The center imaging was excellent and to untrained ears, there's absolutely no need for a subwoofer. Kudos to Amit for achieving this feat with his speakers.
I cant wait to put the Indiq Audio Platinum Center in place and watch movies with the new LCR. Will update with my impressions in this thread soon.
Conclusion:
With my recent purchase of Indiq Audio speakers and relatively inexpensive DAC amp combo, I am pleased with how good they sound together.
I will wholeheartedly recommend them to anyone who wants to an overachieving system at a relatively inexpensive price point.
Thanks for reading.
