Poll: What's your favorite audio product of all time?

My second Linn LP12 turntable.

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg)

CNET.com Poll

What's your favorite piece of audio gear?

My first hi-fi gave me the most pleasure
MP3 player
Speakers
It's a stupid question

View results

Audiophiles have been known to develop unnaturally strong bonds with their gear, but civilians also have their faves. It might be a type--a speaker, an MP3 player, a car audio system--or a specific product. For me it was my first Linn LP 12 turntable I bought in 1979. I told my wife I wanted to be buried with it. That 'table rocked my world.

Or are you just hung up on 8-track players, or maybe it was a radio your father gave you? In other words, I want to know if it's a type of gear, or a specific product you've owned. Please tell us about your favorite piece of audio equipment in the comments below, and also be sure to vote in the poll.

[cvaldes1831]

The coolest hands down was my first Sony Walkman, the original TPS-L2. My dad bought a couple for the me and my brother during one of his business trips to Japan: the first widely distributed commercial personal stereo. Even then, it would take years for the device to catch on because it was a paradigm shift (carrying your music with you).

[cvaldes1831]

Oh, I'll follow up by stating that in terms of price-performance, the best purchase I ever made was a pair of Grado headphones. The best dollars I've ever spent on audio gear (about $80 at the purchase time ten years ago).

Still, the Walkman changed the face of music, untethered it from the home stereo.

[nessjoel]

When I was a kid my dad gave me his old Sherwood integrated amp and I was instantly converted to a hifi way of life.

[feverboy777]

Don't have to think it over .... my QUAD 57 Loudspeakers.

[paskunyak]

I loved my first stereo, even though it wasn't very good. Just the freedom to listen
to my own music when I wanted was what made it special. But the first really
good product I bought was some Burhoe speakers. I had read a review and
article about the designer leaving a big firm (KLH? AR?) to start his own company,
and when I got some decent money together I was shopping and listening to a lot
of different products when I saw a demo pair of Burhoes on sale and was really
taken by how good they sounded with different types of music. When I moved, I sold
them to a friend, who did the same when he moved, and they gave all of their owners a
lot of pleasure for many years.

[rjplummer]

My Dahlquist DQ-10s. I was burglarized and replaced them.

At a party somebody cranked the Jesus & Mary Chain's first LP and melted the crossover capacitors. I called Dahlquist and explained what happened. They sent me replacement crossovers no-charge and said another component was likely damaged and sent me a pair of those as well.

I had to get rid of them when we moved to a place where my listening room couldn't handle their width.

[rjplummer]

My Dahlquist DQ-10s. I was burglarized and replaced them.

At a party somebody cranked the Jesus & Mary Chain's first LP and melted the crossover capacitors. I called Dahlquist and explained what happened. They sent me replacement crossovers no-charge and said another component was likely damaged and sent me a pair of those as well.

I had to get rid of them when we moved to a place where my listening room couldn't handle their width.

[rjplummer]

My Dahlquist DQ-10s. I was burglarized and replaced them.

At a party somebody cranked the Jesus & Mary Chain's first LP and melted the crossover capacitors. I called Dahlquist and explained what happened. They sent me replacement crossovers no-charge and said another component was likely damaged and sent me a pair of those as well.

I had to get rid of them when we moved to a place where my listening room couldn't handle their width.

[Mac User Too]

My 1970's era Bang & Olufsen stereo. It consisted of a one-inch high receiver with heat-sensitive controls, trimmed in aluminum and rosewood, rosewood-encased speakers standing on trumpet-shaped aluminum stands and a turntable with rosewood trim and an impossibly small and light tone arm. It functioned as my only stereo (although I added a Nakamichi deck later,) until about four years ago when my house burned down. Now I am all digital - no CDs, tapes or vinyl. I use an iPod classic and a B&W Zepplin.

[theonlymvb]

When voting it's "MP3 player" but when viewing the results its "iPods"?

[Mergatroid Mania]

I agree, how did MP3 player get turned into iPod? That's a brand, not a category. Someone getting paid by Apple?

[albertsoler]

I have the same suspicions. I demand that CNET change the results page to accurately reflect the choice given in the poll. Either that, or admit to the payola CNET is getting from Apple. Isn't there a new FCC rule on this?

THUMBS WAY DOWN CNET!!!

[aaldag]

My linn tukans and then 8 years later my first turntable. They are the reaon I started to invest in my system.

[TXinD76121]

My Bob Latino "replica" Stereo 70 amp (VTA 70). I love it.

http://www.tubes4hifi.com/bob.htm

Second, my first Marantz receiver, 15 wpc! I was 15 years old. Alas, you can't go home again.

Blue Mikey

[4dthinker]

My first surround sound amp. I think it was a Radio-Shack Optimus something or other, and at best handled Dolby Pro-Logic off VHS tapes. With it came my first subwoofer. I've been a home movie/home theater addict every since.

[1812dave]

I'm pretty partial to my Mark Levinson ML-9 amp. I've also got a Linn Sondek/Koetsu but it sits unused. Mostly I use the amp for when we watch movies on the big screen. For music I tend to use my iPods more than my stereo.

[danlevy]

My first good receiver was a Yamaha CR-800. It sounded and looked great, and its switches and knobs had a satisfying and luxurious feel. I too had a pair of blessed Dahlquist DQ-10s. I adore my Naim CDX/XPS CD player. But for sheer longevity and adaptability to everything its powered and served in the past 25 years, I give first place to my stil-in-service New York Audio Labs Moscode 600 amplifier. Long life Harvey Rosenberg!

[EricShook]

For iPod to keep leading in these polls, makes one think that a lot of non-audiophiles are reading this blog.

[TheAudiophiliac]

That's good, maybe they'll become audiophiles. That's what this blog is all about.

[Mergatroid Mania]

Actually, iPod is not leading this poll. The option we were offered was MP3 player, not iPod. They pulled a move reminiscent of a "bate and switch".

[albertsoler]

Take a close look and you'll see that the poll question lists MP3 as an option. But, then displays the result as iPod. I thought the FCC just implemented a new rule requiring all blogs to reveal payola. I actually own an iPod Touch and am quite fond of it -- though it was not my choice (hi-fi). However, I am not at all happy with these shenanigans. We should all demand that CNET either admit to payola or change the results page to accurately reflect the choices given on the poll question. They also need to publicly admit to any error if they are to maintain any semblance of integrity.

[Ch_dog]

Compact Discs are easily the greatest audio invention. Admittedly not all are created equal but then again neither are or were vinyl records all created equal!

CD's can be played on the go, have a tremendously high durability compared to vinyl and inherently have a better potential range of recording capability. If you don't believe this well, I am sorry you are thirty years out of date on your technology.

My first CD player in 1984 was a revelation. I listened to two CD's (both of which I still have) including Mahlers 9th as performed by the CSO conducted by Solti and Joe Jackson's Night and Day and headed back to the store for more CDs. Admittedly they were running through a Macintosh pure class A amp into JBL 4000 series studio reference speakers with a custom subwoofer with a few other toys including the room being acoustically 'shaped' with all the appropriate EQ and analyzer tools available.
Beat the Thorens turntable and moving coil cartridges hands down in comparative listening test after test.

That first Yamaha quad oversampling player was still going strong just a few years back when I last pulled it out of its box just to 'be sure'. It was fine. The 25 year old CD's all still play. I've newer manufactured products that are acoustically suspect or failed. Not many, but some. I do find myself looking farther and farther afield these days to find good new material.

A close second for innovative and performance design is the OhmWalsh speakers. In the proper setup these are some of the best sounding units available. They are not the greatest apartment speakers and your neighbors may complain if they don't like your choice of music. Otherwise crank up those Concertos or let the Led Zep rip.

Happy listening one and all. And remember, it is just a recording!!

[soundman45]

I agree that probably the single most amazing piece of audio equipment I ever owned was my first compact disc player. It was a Technics sl-p8. The fact that made it special was not so much that it was the greatest sounding piece I ever owned, but that it was state of the art and the the beginning of digital playback technology for consumer audio. The player was one of the first sliding drawer type models, second generation unlike the first generation players which had front loading, manual, vertical loading mechanism's like old style cassette decks. I still remember the sound of hearing recordings for the first time with such dynamic range, without record surface noise or pops and clicks. It sent chills up my spine.

[Mergatroid Mania]

I think the greatest audio invention ever was the amplifier. It came way before CDs were ever around, and allowed people to listen to music, news and any other type of audio in any location whatsoever. And we're still using it to this day, although it's now made from transistors and ICs rather than tubes, but the principle is exactly the same. Without the amplifier your CDs would not work.

Of course, the question was not "what is the greatest audio invention ever" but what was your favorite.

[ryuunorite]

Planar speakers by Apogee.

[Devhux]

I've never owned audiophile equipment, but I still enjoy good sound when I hear it.

My favorite audio gear would be my first stereo system (it was a basic Venturer bookshelf stereo, but I loved it. Sound was OK for my needs at the time, but as one previous poster mentioned, the freedom to listen to my own music was the key.

A close runner up would probably be my old Archos 6000 Jukebox Recorder. 6GB was massive at the time, and it was more rugged-looking than the Creative Nomad Jukebox (with its rubber bumpers on all corners). I loved the sound quality out of that little player too. I was really sad when the device started flaking out after its warranty expired (kept spontaneously rebooting itself at random times).

To this day, I've never owned another MP3 player that impressed me as much as that unit did (hey, it was a technological marvel at a time when 128MB flash players were all the rage).

[forkboy]

Oh that first stereo of mine. How I worked so hard all summer long and saved every penny I made busting my hump in the hot Florida sun so that I could buy a real stereo, and not one of those gawd-awful all-in-one things with the speakers that had a 2-ounce magnet.

Three months and $500+ later I acquired a Yamaha set up composed of the CR-240 Natural Sound Stereo Receiver, NS-4 bookshelf speakers and the YPB2 belt-drive turntable. I was the only 16 year old I knew who had anything like it.

Clearly I'm still in love with it because I remember precisely what I had these 28 years later.

[MickBurke]

OK, I'll just say it: I LOVED my Bose 901's! They were great for listening to stereo music.

[soundman45]

Now that's bravery.

[Demolition]

Back in my high school days (the early '80s), my best friend's Dad bought a pair of 901s. I went over to look at them and my friend points at the cone-shaped vents on the rear of the cabinets and says "You know why they sound so good? Because they're jet-powered!"

I'll remember that goofy comment for the rest of my life! :-)