The Sound That Turned Me Around — My Audiophile Journey || Stereo Setup Guidance

[AirborneMonk]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lurking on HiFiVision for a while now and finally decided to introduce myself - and hopefully get some input from fellow audio enthusiasts.

My audiophile journey started in the most unexpected way - on a chaotic Mumbai local train. I was listening to a live version of Jumper by Third Eye Blind on a pair of what I later realized were likely knockoff Bose earphones. But in that moment, the sound was so real, so present, I turned around thinking someone had spoken behind me. That was my first brush with soundstage and imaging, though I didn’t have the words for it back then.

Since then, I’ve explored various gear - Monoprice IEMs, Shure SE215 (which I still admire for their punch), original Bose SoundSport earphones (loved them to death - literally, a zipper accident!), and eventually got into DACs and balanced cables via Headphone Zone. That led me to the Shanling UA5, which I still use today, and later the Audio-Technica ATH-R70x, my first open-back headphone experience - incredibly detailed and analytical.

But what’s been missing from my life is daily, room-filling, soul-soothing music - not in my head, but in the room.

After auditioning a friend’s gorgeous setup (Sonus Faber Lumina III + Rotel A12 + REL sub), I decided to build my own humble stereo system - one that gives me emotional warmth, imaging, soundstage, and low fatigue, to contrast the ATH-R70x’s more analytical nature.

Current Plan (based on forums, YouTube, and long conversations with ChatGPT and Gemini):

• Speakers: Wharfedale Diamond 12.1

(Considered ELAC Debut 5.2, 6.2, Q Acoustics 3010/3020, Fyne F300i, Tangent Spectrum X5, and Edifier S2000MKIII as an active option. Chose the Wharfdales for their warm, non-fatiguing character and musicality.)

• DAC: Shanling UA5

Will feed analog RCA into the amp (should work fine, right?).

• Amp Options (Need help choosing):

1. Fosi Audio V3 (48V PSU)
2. Fosi ZA3
3. Aiyima A07 (36V PSU)

Music I Listen To:

• Rock/Alt Rock: Green Day, GnR, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, Linkin Park, the usual suspects in the genre.
• Bollywood & Vocals: Lata, Kishore, RD Burman, Rahman, Nusrat, Amit Trivedi, Vishal-Shekhar, (select popular songs)
• Orchestral & Cinematic: Hans Zimmer, Ludovico Einaudi, random western classical or jazz playlists.
• EDM & Groove: Daft Punk, Meute

Sources:

• Tidal
• Apple Music
• FLAC files

What I’d Love Input On:

• Are my expectations from the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 realistic? I'm aiming for good imaging, wide soundstage, and low fatigue - something that contrasts the ATH-R70x’s sound signature.
• Between the Fosi V3 (48V), Fosi ZA3 (48V), and Aiyima A07 (36V) - which would suit the Wharfedale 12.1 and my taste in immersive, emotional music better?
• Any other amp or speaker recommendations I should consider in this price range?
• General feedback on the setup and if I’m missing anything obvious.
• Placement and cabling tips - especially for aligning it with desk use (I will be approx. 3 feet from where the speakers would go, I can adjust the distance to 5 feet if needed), with possible seasonal shift to the living room (room sizes will vary as I move around rented apartments, at present it is around 8 feet).
• Trying to keep the setup around ₹50,000, including cables and stands/pads.

Looking forward to becoming part of this amazing community and learning more from all of you.

Warm regards,
Shishir

 

[Nikhil]

Welcome to the forum! Nice to see your journey so far.

The Wharfedale Diamonds are very nice speakers. Do get yourself good speaker stands if you haven't got them. They should place the speakers at roughly ear height when you sit in your listening position. I would suggest looking at some good amps to begin with. The Fosi Audio and Aiyima amps are good value for money but you can get very good amps that will improve your sound significantly. There are some really good DIY guys on here who can give you very good amps for reasonable prices. There are also some very good Indian brands like Acoustic Portrait and O&B Audio that make very good amps at a higher price level.

Don't rush into the next upgrade. Listen to your setup as it is and take time to listen to other setups to understand what you can get. With some luck you could possibly borrow an amp and hear it in your own setup. Do this at leisure and with an open mind. You will find yourself liking certain sounds and preferences. There are aspects about sound quality that you will discover as your ears start to resolve sound better. The better amps are the ones that sound natural and can be listened to for a long time without any fatigue. Be wary of amps that immediately grab your attention - these very same attributes can become irritants over time.

Good luck and keep sharing your journey on here.

.

 

[Analogous]

hi Shishir,
Sounds like you are well on your way into the audiophile road already. Congratulations!
I am not familiar with your short listed components, but would offer some general thoughts for you to consider.
To my mind the shortlisted components will all make good music but do read up on “synergy”. There are threads discussing this that you can find using the search function.
While choosing speakers and amplifiers you will need to consider the resistance and impedance of the speakers vis a vis the output power of the amplifiers in consideration to ensure you don’t run out of power from your amp and risk damaging the speakers.
Do always keep in mind audio quality one likes/prefers is very subjective and the biggest challenge is to discover the “right sound “ for you before upgrading anything. This can take time and effort listening to other well set up systems- seek help from FM in Pune who may be willing.
Given your choices of music you may discover some speakers are fantastic for vocals centered music but may not energise your room enough with heavy pulsating hard rock to your expectations. There are no perfect speakers or electronics; just the ones good for your needs.
Set ups that sound great in a show room or someone else’s room will likely sound different in your room.
You have a challenge with room acoustics as you will be shifting the set up frequently but you have flagged speaker placement and room sizes which indicates you have this in mind. Again search for threads discussing these to get good insights.
Taking time to understand what each component of the chain does and how it all comes together is well worth the time spent.
In the end if it sounds good to you and you enjoy the music that’s all that matters. This could take some time, effort and budget depending on how ambitious you are in the quest.
Enjoy the journey and discovery.

 

[argho]

Hi.

My personal view - at this budget, you may get better performance from a pair of powered speakers - eg Q Acoustics M20HD or Elac Debut Connex.

Add a Wiim mini, and you would be all set to go.

 

[arj]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lurking on HiFiVision for a while now and finally decided to introduce myself - and hopefully get some input from fellow audio enthusiasts.

My audiophile journey started in the most unexpected way - on a chaotic Mumbai local train. I was listening to a live version of Jumper by Third Eye Blind on a pair of what I later realized were likely knockoff Bose earphones. But in that moment, the sound was so real, so present, I turned around thinking someone had spoken behind me. That was my first brush with soundstage and imaging, though I didn’t have the words for it back then.

Since then, I’ve explored various gear - Monoprice IEMs, Shure SE215 (which I still admire for their punch), original Bose SoundSport earphones (loved them to death - literally, a zipper accident!), and eventually got into DACs and balanced cables via Headphone Zone. That led me to the Shanling UA5, which I still use today, and later the Audio-Technica ATH-R70x, my first open-back headphone experience - incredibly detailed and analytical.

But what’s been missing from my life is daily, room-filling, soul-soothing music - not in my head, but in the room.


What I’d Love Input On:

• Are my expectations from the Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 realistic? I'm aiming for good imaging, wide soundstage, and low fatigue - something that contrasts the ATH-R70x’s sound signature.
• Between the Fosi V3 (48V), Fosi ZA3 (48V), and Aiyima A07 (36V) - which would suit the Wharfedale 12.1 and my taste in immersive, emotional music better?
• Any other amp or speaker recommendations I should consider in this price range?
• General feedback on the setup and if I’m missing anything obvious.
• Placement and cabling tips - especially for aligning it with desk use (I will be approx. 3 feet from where the speakers would go, I can adjust the distance to 5 feet if needed), with possible seasonal shift to the living room (room sizes will vary as I move around rented apartments, at present it is around 8 feet).
• Trying to keep the setup around ₹50,000, including cables and stands/pads.

Looking forward to becoming part of this amazing community and learning more from all of you.

Warm regards,
Shishir

Loved your introduction and you are the right place

Each of us would have started with the same thought but would have taken different directions and learnt/unlearnt etc during that journey so remember you are on a journey where you will learn a lot but resist the temptation to change/upgrade too much too fast before trying to optimize what you already have. Also keep your headphone setup as a reference so you know what the baseline of sound is to compare.

In my view
1. Start with the Room. how big is it , what all do you have there and what are your constraints with TV, Space for equipment/stands etc etc needs to be factored in.

2. Choose the speaker for the room keeping in mind the music you listen to. Just like headphones present different music differently. Room + Speaker together do the same, hence same speaker in different room will sound different.
From your choice Fyne, QAcoustic and Wharfedale may perhaps give you the better sound than others based on the room size

3. Place the speaker right. Ideally speakers need a space behind and on the sides at least 3-4 ft behind from front baffle and 1 feet on sides for best sound, so factor for that.you will need a solid stand or foundation as well but keep it for next step there are cheap options available. if there is a boom in the bass need to keep moving speakers front/ back to reduce it to minimum by ear.

4. Amplification: you need the right amp to drive the speaker in that room and its specs are often misleading hence this is not easy to get right I would concur with @argho on getting an active which he has recommended. you will save yourself a lot of bother on matching ( more frustrating than amp matching on HPs). both these have volume control on remotes .

5. Source: perhaps the Most critical on getting sound right. Get the best you can afford and dont skimp on this. I am old school here but have heard good stuff on WiiM but there may be so many others. you can definitely do better than the shanling

6. Cables. please do waste more than 3-5K on this. just get Basic Mogami ICs from any place and with active speakers you dont need speaker cables.

Welcome to the hobby !

 

[AirborneMonk]

Thanks for the input folks.

I have been thinking a lot on the active vs passive speakers, and in the end, the possibility of exploration and modularity with passives won over the get it and forget it simplicity of the actives.

To start with, I've ordered:
Wharfedale Diamond 12.1
DAC SPK14 AWG cables
Nakamichi Banana Plugs.

To help narrow down the amp, I have been experimenting with Equalizer APO + Peace on my headphones to simulate what possible sound signature I could be getting with different amps. Right now, it's between Fosi ZA3 and Aiyima A70 (Fosi ZA3 is leading with a score of you can adjust sharp highs using EQ but you can't adjust imaging in A70).

When I bought the headphones, many of the online reviews along with the seller suggested I should go with a desktop DAC + Amp to get the most out of the headphones. But I started with the Shanling UA5 first, and to my surprise, it's giving me at least 7.83/10 of the performance I heard on much costlier gear during auditions. That said, the UA5 has a tougher test coming up; first to see it's capabilities with a BlueRigger 3.5 mm to RCA cable from it's unbalanced port, and later with a iFi audio 4.4mm to XLR cable through the balanced port.

If the configuration doesn't deliver what I'm hoping for, even after tweaking with placements and basic room treatments, (I'm looking at the weakling UA5) I may have to explore OpAmp swaps, Desktop DAC, Wiim Mini/Amp, or something else down this line.

A lot of this is based on conjecture and hypothesis; but I guess that's the beauty and the bitch of this hobby for me.

 

[Nikhil]

If the configuration doesn't deliver what I'm hoping for, even after tweaking with placements and basic room treatments, (I'm looking at the weakling UA5) I may have to explore OpAmp swaps, Desktop DAC, Wiim Mini/Amp, or something else down this line.

The Wiim gear has been getting a lot of attention. I think you would get a lot of bang for you buck with Wiim gear.


.

 

[AirborneMonk]

Hey guys,

I'm writing this with a big smile on my face.

The components were delivered over the week; got it setup today. Just a temporary setup for now.

First impressions, I believe I got the quality I was looking for. Good imaging and soundstage, the highs don't seem fatiguing, and just enough warmth to bring it all together, both male and female vocals are very centered and full as well. Bass is surprisingly good as well, on the tighter side.

The Shanling UA5 worked, presently using it's 3.5 mm output to RCA; relieved that I don't have to go for a DAC just now. Playing using Tidal and FLAC files through laptop and phone.
Even the headphone jack output from my laptop isn't sounding half bad to be honest.

So the total cost came to 53k:
Speakers - Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 : 34k
Amp - Fosi ZA3 with 48V PSU: 13k
Cables and Connectors: 6k
So, near around the budget I started with.

I guess it will only get better once I get the balanced cable, dial in the placement, and the components get burned in.

Music does make my life happier

 

[rwnano]

Lovely to hear that. Enjoy the sound of music

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

Hey guys,

I'm writing this with a big smile on my face.

The components were delivered over the week; got it setup today. Just a temporary setup for now.

First impressions, I believe I got the quality I was looking for. Good imaging and soundstage, the highs don't seem fatiguing, and just enough warmth to bring it all together, both male and female vocals are very centered and full as well. Bass is surprisingly good as well, on the tighter side.

The Shanling UA5 worked, presently using it's 3.5 mm output to RCA; relieved that I don't have to go for a DAC just now. Playing using Tidal and FLAC files through laptop and phone.
Even the headphone jack output from my laptop isn't sounding half bad to be honest.

So the total cost came to 53k:
Speakers - Wharfedale Diamond 12.1 : 34k
Amp - Fosi ZA3 with 48V PSU: 13k
Cables and Connectors: 6k
So, near around the budget I started with.

I guess it will only get better once I get the balanced cable, dial in the placement, and the components get burned in.

Music does make my life happier

Congratulations and welcome to our lovely forum. I have been using wharfedal diamond speakers with marantz. I think if you pair your speakers with a better amp like marantz then the speakers will surely reveal their true potential.
Regards

 

[sand87ch]

Congratulations and welcome to our lovely forum. I have been using wharfedal diamond speakers with marantz. I think if you pair your speakers with a better amp like marantz then the speakers will surely reveal their true potential.
Regards

A query out of curiosity.Does the Marantz sound too warm with the wharfdales?

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

A query out of curiosity.Does the Marantz sound too warm with the wharfdales?

I think the sound is warm. I like it.