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Modest Midwest Audiophile

Hello! My name is Damien and I’m an audiophile in the middle of Illinois. Join me as I share my story of how from humble beginnings I discovered my passion in life and how audio gave me purpose. I’ll share what I’ve learned as a newcomer in the high end audio industry and how budget audio upgrades could change your perspective and enjoyment of music.

System Tour - Merry Christmas

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- December 25, 2021

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Angela-Gilbert Yeung - C312 Preamplifier & SP CP36 Cap Pack Review

- April 26, 2024

Angela-Gilbert Yeung C312 Preamplifier For a great majority of high end audio systems the preamplifier is at the heart of it all, a critical component that helps set the overall system tone and provides the connection to make all of your inputs, outputs. Regardless of the caliber or performance of your power amp it only performs as well as the integrity of the rest of the signal chain, and since the preamp contains most of the controls it contains a lot that can be done wrong, or right. Besides the obvious duty of a preamp, there also comes the matter of personal preference and finding the sound that makes you happy. Isn’t that the main goal in this subjective hobby? Despite this not many manufacturers offer any sort of control or adjustment outside of digital or DSP based applications. Tone controls and equalizers have been mostly phased out with the exception of pro audio and without modification, contouring of the sound typically isn’t possible for the end consumer ...

LSA Voyager GaN 350 Review

- September 21, 2023

Today I am doing more testing of the LSA Voyager GaN 350 after having set with it for about a week in my system. I mentioned after the first couple of listening sessions that this was one of the best, if not the best amplifier pairing that I’ve made yet, and those aren’t words I take lightly, so more testing had to be done so I’m not shoving my foot in my mouth. I set up to do a serious review on the GaN and not just a blanket statement, my plan being to make head to head comparisons over a weeks time to 2 other amplifiers whose sonics signature I am very familiar with, the NAD 218, and the LSA Warp - 1. Reference speakers as always are my QLS 1 towers, preamp is Carver C-1 with upgraded op amps, DAC is my old and trusty Keces DA-151 USB. With the first set of testing, I always start with the amplifiers only on the top end of the QLS. The top is a rather stable load and resolving enough to easily differentiate minute details, and without low bass this makes it all the more easy to...

My Sister’s First Stereo - Redesigning a Bose AV321

- January 20, 2023

As brothers and sisters typically do, my little sister shares quite a few similarities and interests as I do. Being someone who loves to share the love of music and what high end audio has to offer, I would be a bad brother to not at least introduce her to the experience of better sound. It was September, and I had recently been given a Bose AV321 stereo system without the center control box. Like most audiophiles, I tend to shy from Bose since products from this era were mostly marketing instead of providing good respectable full range sound. This system was no exception with the bass cabinet cutting off above what decent bookshelf speakers can accomplish (46Hz), and having an entire band of musical information missing in the mid-bass section (203-279Hz) as measured here . That being said, there were still some positives to the the design and could be a great jumping off point for a first stereo. The satellites were heavy and well damped, with some foam feet added there wa...