After that spirited Vinyl vs Digital debate I will just say this.........sadly the average ear does not perceive all that science. Blind testing has proven that many many a time. I know the limits of my own hearing and therefore snake oil is not for me. 😃

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sadly the average ear does not perceive all that science

Why is that sad? I actually think it is very liberating and also a credit to modern tech. I fully appreciate the value of vinyl as something that offers visible precision engineering to be appreciated, that can also be actively handled every time it is used, the LP covers with all the notes, and the ritual of playing the album, even though all of this no longer floats my boat. As something that offers better sound than digital, it never did. Perhaps because I don't have too many old CDs that were inadequately mastered in the early days of digital.

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So many great choices these days

And to bring the OP back into his thread:-); the quoted is an excellent point. But not a surprise, because the passive speakers that can be driven by a Connect Amp are a sunset product, evolved and improved over many decades now. There is little left to extract from these and the many options available are just different flavours of essentially the same ice cream now, within a subset of styles - like stand mounted speakers. To get audibly different/better sound, many price points have to be jumped, where the additional money isn't for just fancier looking cabinetry and veneers.



Which creates a problem for marketers on how to convince people to trash perfectly good existing kit and buy the latest iteration; which is done by their ad funded tools - the media. Some of what is written about the latest greatest version of passive speakers and how it represents a leap from last year's models is ludicrous.



I would have suggested active speakers starting from play 1 onwards; but the OP has been gifted a Connect Amp, so passive speakers are needed if that is to be used. With the caveat that spending more than the price of a 1 pair on passive speakers for it, is a questionable decision if made just because the Connect Amp is free.



One alternative is to sell the Connect Amp, get a 1 pair for USD 300 or so, and add to the money obtained from selling the Connect Amp by saving for a while if necessary to add a Sonos Sub to the 1 pair for an audiophile class state of the art set up, albeit not so accepted by audiophiles. All it would lack, if that is needed, is a line in jack. That would my way forward.

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I just set up my new CONNECT:AMP to a new pair of Klipsch RP-160M speakers, I'm one very happy guy right now!

This set up sounds fantastic.

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