As a small MSP I'd expect a lot of us pay for most things with credit cards rather than P.O.s and wire transfers or ACH. Do you have a credit card you really like? I'm thinking of one that has the best rewards, or the best features for this type of business. So many business cards are geared toward travel perks and travel rewards. But I spend more money on things like hardware and software. What do you like?
I'm a small MSP. In this year of our lord 2026 how should I go about getting licensing at best price with low minimums? I see from earlier posts that Solutions Granted was recommended...but I don't see how to check this out since their absorption into Sonic Wall.
I’ve been buying and selling gear to slowly work my way up the ladder of audio bliss. This past week I won an estate auction lot that included an Oppo 4k blue ray player, an old NEC CD player and an old b&k preamp. I’ve got a Sony DVP-s9000es that I’ve had for many years that was considered a great sounding CD player, but thought I should take this opportunity to do an informal listening experiment. I got my daughter to participate since she has teenage ears that can probably hear more critically than my middle-age ears.
So the contestants were chronologically:
NEC CD-730 that was released in 1989
My Sony ES player that was released in 2000
Oppo UD-203 released in 2016
The fourth was using the Oppo as a transport and using the DA2 DAC in my McIntosh preamp.
We just listened to a couple of songs off of Jeff Buckley Grace album so that we could try to really pay attention to the difference in presentation. His cover of Lilac Wine was a great tune to hear the differences.
The results were surprising to us. The worst (not bad, just worst of some great options) was the newest player! The Oppo using its DAC had the flattest soundstage and the least airy/open sound. I wouldn’t be sad to have it, but it is obviously a Blu-ray first player.
The best CD sound from all of these was the oldest! That NEC may be the best sounding CD player I’ve ever heard. The imaging was great. The space between instruments and sounds was so engaging. Things like more decay and reverb in Jeff’s guitar sounds were magical.
The CD player actually has two DACs which I’m sure is a big part of the excellent instrument separation. I didn’t know this, but the internets say that it has dual Phillips TDA1541a chips that lots of people consider quite special.
The Sony and the McIntosh DAC were maybe a tie for second place. Maybe the McIntosh DA2 slightly ahead. But they both sound really good.
It was a fun night and happy my daughter was willing to play along. It helps that she loves that album.