My Best Audio Bargains - What's Yours?

Not an audiophile but I love my music and appreciate good sound. Who doesn’t? Lend me your ears (eyeballs, technically) and let me share with you here my audio journey and best buys over the years.

I started with basic tastes and in my twenties was satisfied with cheap wired earbuds even. I kind of appreciated the crappy sound as an extra layer of character to whatever I was listening to. As I started to make more money, things slowly got fancier. Early 2010s and I bought my first Bluetooth speaker, a Marley Get Together, for my small shop.

Marley Get Together Bluetooth Speaker (gen 1)
Sound: 7/10
Ease of use: 8.5/10
Features: 6.5/10 (just a bluetooth speaker and Aux, has a decent built-in battery)
Looks: 8/10 (modern bamboo and recycled gray fabric appearance)
Build Quality: 8.5/10 (sturdy, still working)
Value: 8/10, around $200

For a small enclosed room, it was perfect. The sound filled the shop, was clear, balanced, and could get quite loud. As I was just streaming music from my PC, its features were adequate for my needs.

A short while later, we moved into an apartment and could really do with a radio when cooking, cleaning and stuff. So for my first DAB+ radio, I bought a Bush Heritage from JB Hifi.

Bush Heritage (gen 1)
Sound: 7.5/10
Ease of use: 8.5/10
Features: 7.5/10 (DAB+, Bluetooth, Aux)
Looks: 8/10 (retro stylishness with a walnut wooden veneer finish)
Build Quality: 6/10
Value: 7.5/10, around $250

I loved the modern tech in retro wooden casing. The sound was ample and warm and I was very happy with it. Many good nights listening to doubleJ, RTRfm, ABC Jazz, and sometimes even Chemist Warehouse and Coles Radio when I felt like some pop. The bluetooth worked at first but after a couple of years my newer devices sadly stopped communicating with it so I resorted to an AUX cable. The function buttons also started to get their wires crossed so pressing sleep timer would sometimes get you set alarm etc. The rubberised grip on the dials became sticky after a few years too, so overall build quality for this unit hasn’t been great. But the sound is sweet and it’s full of character.

So my business moved locations to a bigger premises and I felt it was time to upgrade from our Marley. I bought a Bose Soundtouch 20 hoping it could fill up the larger room with awesome sound. I wasn’t disappointed.

Bose Soundtouch 20 (series III)
Sound: 8.5/10
Ease of use: 8/10
Features: 7.5/10 (Bluetooth, Internet Radio, Aux)
Looks: 7.5/10 (matt white plastic, modern minimalist)
Build Quality: 8/10
Value: 8/10, around $350

Up to this point in my life, I’d never owned a speaker as good as this Bose, so I was blown away by what such a compact package could deliver. Clear, bold sounds that you could pump up the jam with. Everything sounded good on it: pop, rock, jazz, classical. It was a little fiddly to set up the internet stations which required an ethernet cable at first. Then the stations would drop out over time, and I couldn’t be bothered updating them, so it was mostly used as a Bluetooth speaker. Truly, I thought this was going to be the last speaker I’d ever buy, but this was not the case.

Early last year, I’d been looking at a replacement for my aging Bush Heritage Radio and the British made Ruark compact music systems caught my eye. They seemed to tick all the boxes for me: premium sound, good design and craftsmanship, plus all the features I was after. The price for these however was truly raising the ceiling on money spent on speakers, with the compact R1 DAB radio and bluetooth speaker being around $500 and the R3 (which has two speakers and also CD playback) roughly $1200. Not willing to spend so much but being super curious about the brand, I saw a second hand Ruark R2 on ebay for $200 that I thought I’d buy to give it a go.

Ruark R2 (second-hand, ipod touch gen)
Sound: 8/10
Ease of use: 8/10
Features: 7.5/10 (DAB+, iPod dock, Aux)
Looks: 7/10 (a modern, glossy piano white casing)
Build Quality: 6/10 (came with one non-working speaker)
Value: 8/10, ($200 second-hand, less if purchased new)

When the R2 came, I was super excited and quickly plugged it in to test. The radio stations took a little while to fully scan but after this was completed, I set it to the same channel as my Bush in the other room and ran between the two to compare the sound. As mentioned, I’m not an audiophile, so I lack the technical vocabulary to describe the difference well, but I can easily tell the Ruark was that little bit better – a clearer, brighter sound more enjoyable to listen to, and this was with one of its two speakers being busted! It was a disappointing realisation when I noticed the left speaker wasn’t working properly but considering I got it for $200 when a new one would have costed $800 or so, and it still worked otherwise, I wasn’t too upset. It was fun to play with and I got to experience the unique Ruark rotary dial layout. Maybe one day I will try to fix the left speaker. Hopefully it’s just a loose connection that needs resoldering or something. It currently sits in our kitchen which we turn on most mornings and evenings when cooking.

During last year’s Black Friday sale, I stumbled across the greatest deal I’d ever come across for a pair of Polk Legend Series L100 bookshelf speakers. Normally retailing for around $2000, I managed to nab these new for $1020 from Custom Home Theatre via eBay. I never dreamed I’d spend so much money on a pair of speakers but I justified it as a birthday present to myself. I also know I’m only just at the entry level end of things for true audiophiles, but $1000 seems like a lot of money for speakers to me. Was this going to give me the transcendental experience I would expect from such a price tag?

Polk Legend L100 paired with Marantz X MCR612 Amp/Receiver
Sound: 10/10
Ease of use: 8.5/10
Features: 9.5 (DAB+, CD, Bluetooth, Optical Input, Internet Radio, Aux)
Looks: 7.5/10 (typical bookshelf speakers, black woodgrain finish)
Build Quality: 9.5/10
Value: 9/10, $1850 total

After some research, I bought a Marantz X MCR612 Amp/Receiver to pair it with. The Marantz X is a combined amplifier and receiver that has DAB+, CD, Bluetooth and optical input to pair the speakers with your TV. All I can say is, I’ve finally entered true hifi territory with these speakers. One review said it’s like you’re there at the concert with the Polk Legends and I’d agree. To my unprofessional ears, I would go so far as to say the sound is flawless. Putting on Jeff Buckley’s album Grace, the L100 relayed every nuance in Buckley’s amazing voice. The treble is amazingly crisp and clear, the audio equivalent to 20/20 vision. The bass is clean and in perfect balance, no need for a subwoofer in my opinion. This hi-fi system now resides in my family’s living room connected to our TV, meaning even my 3 year old’s Bluey sessions sound amazing.

Surely this will be the last audio device I ever buy. It costed me more than I imagined I would ever spend, I’m completely happy with it, right? What more could I want? Well it appears I needed one more music player for my bedroom, you know, to help me fall asleep and to wake up to. I had the Bush Heritage in my bedroom but the buggy buttons and non-working bluetooth was getting to me. What I really would have liked was a compact music system like the Ruark R3, but $1200 seemed too much to spend in this scenario. After much research, I found that Amazon sold a German brand DAB+ radio/CD Player, TechniSat. At a little over $200, the TechniSat Digitradio 371 seemed a little too cheap for everything it was offering, how could it possibly be any good? But the 1000+ reviews were overwhelmingly positive and I was curious to try. Perhaps German efficiency and superior engineering was able to offer an unbelievable deal that others couldn’t. It was this or the Yamaha TSX-B237 on sale for $560. Yamaha probably would have been a safe bet but I wanted to roll the dice on the TechniSat, so I did.

TechniSat Digitradio 371
Sound: 6.5/10
Ease of use: 8.5/10
Features: 9/10 (DAB+, Bluetooth, CD, USB, Aux)
Looks: 8/10 (matt white plastic, modern minimalist)
Build Quality: 7/10
Value: 9/10, around $200

For the price paid, you get a lot of features for your money. DAB radio scans all Australian stations automatically upon plugging in and is easy to navigate with both the dial and remote. The colour display is adequate in size, and I like that it shows you a scrolling list of 7 stations as you're tuning, not just individually as with my previous DAB radios’ displays. Aux and Bluetooth both work seamlessly as expected. CD also loads and plays promptly but the tray is quite flimsy so you'll need to be careful when using this. Everything about the machine is quite zippy which is nice. Thoughtfully designed and easy to navigate menus. Without reading the manual, I managed to change the default German to English. The remote allows you to set 2 alarms and a sleep timer. Aesthetically, I find it quite subtle and pleasing to the eyes. I will say that the casing is quite plasticky and doesn't shout premium or anything, but from afar you wouldn't be able to tell. As far as the sound goes, I will say that it's okay, but I do wish it was a little better. Voices are clear enough, but it lacks richness and reach. Acceptable for a bedroom radio and considering its low price, I think it'll be unreasonable to expect more. If you are after an all-in-one device at a great price point, I would heartily recommend this.

If you got through my essay, thanks. Now it’s your turn to share your best audio buys – would love to hear other people’s experiences.