Hello

[LPgeek]

The semi-abridged version of the very long story is: I started out with some old Paradigms (don't know what they were... they looked like older version of 3se) I got for $50. I enjoyed those for years with a Rotel 1070 pre and 1080 amp. AR es-1 turntable with ortofon red cartridge and Rotel CD player. I saw some 5se mk3 for $175 and gave them a shot. Definite improvement. Sold the older Paradigms for $50. That lasted a few years until I picked up a Rega p25 with Goldring cartridge.

Then I tried the Acurus rl 11 pre and loved it. Loved it so much I wanted to try an acurus amp too. At this point I started biwiring and noticed a huge improvement as well. With the Acurus pre I needed a phono preamp and headphone amp... Phono pre was Cambridge Audio. Beyerdynamic A20 headphone amp. Didn't like it with my Grado 225's. sold it and got a schiit Magni. Headphones now sounded so great that listening with speakers was a disappointment. So I tried to improve speakers with studio 20 v5. Not enough bass so I sold those and kept the 5se mk3. Around the same time I changed Goldring to Denon 110 cartridge.

Gave studio 40 v2 a try hoping they'd have the treble of the 20's with fuller sound and better bass. Better bass was true, but sound wasn't so full. I can't put my finger on it but they were just unsatisfying. Around the same time I went to trade my p25 for a p5 and cartridge from Denon 110 to Dynavector 10x5 (fantastic cartridge). They had Aragon 8002 really cheap at local store. It was so cheap I didn't want to miss the opportunity. I'm very glad I bought it. The improvement was astounding. So clean and clear. Was still deciding between studio 40's and 5se so I got to try both with it. I again preferred the 5se. Very fortunate considering I could sell the studio 40's for what the Aragon cost, and I had financially extended myself too much buying the Aragon.

Since then I upgraded the phono pre to Jolida jd9 and upgraded Magni to Burson Soloist. The Jolida was good when I 1st got it. But after switching the tubes it was like the clouds parted and the heavens opened up!

Somewhere along the line I tried the Schiit Valhalla 2 and Lyr2. Ultimately settling on the Lyr 2 because it handles both the Hifiman he-6 and the Grado pr500. I don't remember when I switched those headphones. I do remember trying hifiman he-500 and being disappointed how weak they were in the upper frequency.

...And that's the abridged version! If you hung in there... wow!

Since I bought mostly used, I was able to sell almost everything for what I paid (including shipping) so I've tried a lot of stuff without spending tons. Every time I'd switch (or decide not to) I'd A/B the 2 options for a while before selling. At some point I'll post some of the comparisons I made.