Noise canceling is complicated. There’s active (expensive) and passive, and neither may be a panacea for this situation because they aren’t good at blocking mids.
Expensive is ok, assuming weren’t not talking about $1000s.
Wired is actually better for my Dad. He’s plugging this into an old TV or record player.
Maybe something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Sennheiser-PXC-550-II-Wireless-Cancelling/dp/B08J8FQDXQ/ref=sr_1_88
Or these seem to get the highest reviews just for noise cancellation:
https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WH-1000XM4-Canceling-Headphones-phone-call/dp/B0863TXGM3/ref=sr_1_8
How much does simplicity matter? Should be able to still plug most of these into a source, but I dunno how confusing it’s gonna be for your dad figuring out the cabling and ANC stuff.
Simplicity would be great, but I can’t seem to find any remotely new models that don’t have tons of bluetooth/app bells and whistles. I had an old pair of Sonys which were pretty simple IIRC. So I’m leaning towards new model Sonys for him. I can walk him through tricky parts. I assume he won’t need an app just to turn on the ANC.
I don’t think there’s gonna be an app required for any features your dad will be using. Anyway, I’d probably go with the XM4 since it’s discounted now that XM5 is out. An issue will be that the included audio cable is short (under 4’), so you’re gonna need to do some work there. And if your dad is plugging into an old TV or a turn table, chances are he’s gonna need a 1/8" → 1/4" adapter for at least one of those. It’s not a big deal, just more shit to keep track of. How much cable length do you think he’ll need?
1 hour per week doesn’t seem that bad. It is just one continuous hour or like 10 min a day? Either way, doesn’t seem that bad unless it’s timed such that it’s waking him up every night or something similarly disruptive.
I got him the Sonys and a 10’ extension cable. I’ve seen his stuff and it’s new enough that he only needs 3.5mm.
1 Like
OK I finally got this figured out. It’s my old tuner that was causing the buzz. I took it in to the local stereo shop guy and he used it with his cables and speakers and got the buzz.
So, now I need a new integrated amp/receiver. I have been quickly overwhelmed by options. Currently considering:
- A cheaper receiver, maybe something around $500 or so. Denon, Sony, whatever.
or - A step up to an integrated amp. I like the look of this one, and the reviews are pretty good:
https://www.leakaudio.com/products/stereo-230-integrated-amplifier-in-walnut
However, that one doesn’t have a tuner built it. What component would I have to add to listen to the mf radio?
I am torn between trying to cobble together a system on my own, and letting the local stereo shop guy guide me. He would probably cost more, but at least I’d be giving my money to a local business, and not amazon. His choices are more limited though.
1 Like
You’re right, the options are overwhelming. If it was ten years ago, my advice would have been to find one of the better value vintage units. Last time I checked, the prices have skyrocketed and I’m not sure there’s much “value” to be had anymore. I’d probably go that route and do the research before dropping $1700 on a unit though. A few years ago I had a chance to buy a Mcintosh and Marantz from a guy who flips estate sales. He was selling them AS IS though, so not something I was gonna drop several thousand dollars on. I know this guy and he’s not a scammer but more risk than I was comfortable with at those prices. Of course today I bigly regret at least not grabbing one of them.
1 Like
Funny you should mention Marantz, my local stereo guy had a 2252B for $1200 and a 2238B for $850. Not exactly cheap, but he had fixed them up, and going by internet reviews, he stood by his work (meaning if something went wrong in first few months he’d fix it). After doing some research I kinda wished maybe I’d picked one of those up, but that was six months ago and they’re probably gone.
Hey I have a question, say I did buy a Marantz and then wanted to stream music to it, or play music I had bought digitally. What would I have to buy? A network audio streamer? a DAC? All of our music is on CDs (and a little vinyl), but we are going to start streaming/buying digital for space reasons.
It doesn’t help that I have a couple friends telling me things. One says “you have to buy a class A amp”, but he also thinks music peaked in 1968 and that there is a Bermuda-type triangle in Wisconsin. Another friend knows a lot about equipment, but his system cost around $40,000 and he is deep in the rabbit hole.
There are so many options that I’m not exactly sure what to tell you because it’s not something I know a ton about. The simplest cheap thing I can think of might be Rune on a Chromecast Audio. They’re discontinued but surely you can still find one for a decent price. Curious to hear what @eeAWW and others think because it’s not something I keep up to date on.
I would hesitate to pay big money for a used vintage receiver unless you know exactly what you’re buying. I’ve seen threads where people paid too much for the name (Mcintosh, Marantz, etc.) and received a unit that was only cosmetically restored. All of those are gonna a need a full recap and whatever else at some point which I assume is major $$$ if you can’t do it yourself. I have an old Sylvania that isn’t a highly desirable piece of vintage gear but it’s good enough for me. Labor cost on restoring would be way more than the unit is worth unless I did it myself, so not sure what I’d do if it blew up.
“I would hesitate to pay big money for a used vintage receiver unless you know exactly what you’re buying.”
This is the crux of the matter either way (new or used). I feel like my two main paths are:
-
Go Amazon etc. (if I go the $300 Onkyo/Sony route) or some other online store (Crutchfield?) if I decide to go a little more nuts. But I can’t try things out, and returns/defects could be a giant hassle.
-
Go with one of my two local high end shops. One guys repairs and sells vintage (and has a few new models), and another local shop sells new higher-end stuff (with a pretty good selection). Either local shop I choose, I feel like I’m sort of putting myself in their hands. My choices won’t be as numerous as Amazon/Crutchfield, but at least I can try stuff out and have someone to go to if there’s an issue. Of course, the local route would be more $$, but at least it’d be going to a person down the street rather than to Amazon.
Either way I feel I’m flying blind.
“I’ve seen threads where people paid too much for the name (Mcintosh, Marantz, etc.) and received a unit that was only cosmetically restored.” FWIW the local guy who repairs and re-sells vintage stuff seems to go in deep on the boards and replace tubes/fuses/sprockets/dongles* rather than just doing cosmetic stuff. Of course, I have no idea if he’s good at what he does, repair-wise.
*I know fuck-all about amps and what is inside them.
All I know is: (i) I need a new amp/tuner; (ii) I’d like to take a step up; and (iii) lots of people pay huge $$ for imaginary sound quality, and I don’t want to be one of them. First world problems for sure
Capacitors, resistors, diodes, and transistors. The first three should be things you can obtain suitable replacements for at reasonable cost, but the labor to solder them onto the boards is tedious which is why restoration price is high. Generally you’re hoping an amp doesn’t require some oddball transistor or op-amp that’s unobtainium. Blown transformers might also be problematic if good replacements aren’t available. On top of that, I imagine someone who truly knows what they’re doing has a tone generator, scope, and some way to measure distortion. I wouldn’t hand anyone a bunch of money for a “repair” unless they could outline exactly what they did because what I’ve seen a lot of on forums and Youtube vids are people opening these things to find amateur hack repairs. Here’s a 2235B after restoration:
I’m not a huge fan of buying things that can easily break from niche / microbrands. There’s no shortage of companies who will sell you a $6,000 audio device but there does seem to be a shortage of ones that aren’t defunct in several years. If I had to make a snap decision, I’d definitely default to something like Onkyo / Sony at a lower price point than giving way more money to some magic unicorn brand. If I didn’t have to make a snap decision, I’d do a lot of research most likely. Come to think of it, I have an older Sony from early 2000s that’s still great except the VFD display is dead (hate those things).
I thought I’d update my search. Feel free to point and laugh.
My old cheap Onkyo tuner was kaput and I wanted a new one. I checked out two local shops. One shop sold mainly refurbished vintage amps/preamps. The owner did all the repairs and service. Like @Lawnmower_Man I was reluctant to buy a vintage amp for big $, even if the repair guy is good. I didn’t want to have to worry about repairs down the road, with parts that may not be available.
So I went to the other hi fi store, which sells a variety of new stuff. First I had my eye on a NAD integrated amp; they had a couple models in the $400 to $700 range. However when we listened to the NAD, the sound was… muddled or something. Both my wife and I heard it. We compared the NAD to a Rotel amp (blind test, same speakers), and we both thought the NAD sounded bad.
Then we blind tested the entry level Rotel and the mid-level Rotel. We thought the mid-level was noticeably better.
I looked at reviews and prices on Crutchfield, which is the most popular audiophile online store. These reviews were pretty helpful.
I ended up buying the Rotel RA 1572 MKII from the local shop. They had the same price as Crutchfield. I also upgraded my CD player. The new setup sounds great. The integrated amp has a 5-year warranty, whereas most other brands had only 2 years. My speakers might need an upgrade eventually, but they are actually entry-level audiophile speakers (Paradigm) so they will be fine for now.
So I guess my condensed advice would be:
Decide if you want to do el cheapo (Onkyo, Sony) or higher-end.
If you go higher end, research reviews on Crutchfield or other online sites.
Definitely listen in a store before you buy something. Try some blind tests. I was surprised at how stark the difference was between the NAD and the Rotel (and I wouldn’t call myself a serious audiophile guy). My wife also noticed the difference immediately.
It was a lot of money but YOLO and I had a little bonus money to spend.
It would be funny if the local shop somehow futzed with the blind test to make the NAD sound bad. Not much I can do about that I guess. They did use the same speaker and the same CD.
1 Like
I don’t really know anything about this amp but it appears to be quite powerful. Could it be that the speakers they were using are difficult to drive and the other amps you heard were underpowered? I dunno. It’s so hard to demo this stuff in person due to speakers, room, media selection. Seems to me like one of the advantages of owning this amp will be having a wider selection of loudspeaker pairings to choose from if/when you decide to upgrade.
It’s possible. However I did listen to the candidate amps with very good speakers, and with the speakers I currently own (I bought them at that same store, and so they had a pair equivalent to mine).
Before I bought the amp, my speakers were the strong point in the system (the amp and the CD player were trash). Now, after the upgrade, my amp is probably the strong point and the speakers are the “weak” link. But as you said, I am in good shape to upgrade speakers down the road if desired.
1 Like