almarg
Hi Al! long time no see. lol
Pay attention to almarg
posts. Especially his words on matching system impedances.
audioman58
+1. correct. Source is the primary key to any good, great or fantastic system
Wow. There’s an immense amount of great info and texture here, despite the philosophies. I like the Oppo sug, but would opt for the 203 and a DAC vs the 205 alone. If 4K video interested me at all. With a good DAC it is a capable disc spinner.
OP…
I did not hear you actually had $10K burning a hole in your pocket. If so, I apologize. On the premise that you actually do have a wad ready to pitch in them my exp says this:
Crap in and crap out. Though, do preceed prudently.
Outstanding speakers will never make up for crap signal integrity, or so so signal (system) construction. Lack of adequate power, poor room acoustics, etc.
Top notch front ends affixed to capable speakers will always perform better than lower end, or entry level front ends attached to superb speakers. Great front ends however are made up of more than just the source.
Though, I’d not rec you drop it all, speculatively or in fact on merely a DAC.
Here is why….
$10K DACs don’t sound twice as good as $5K DACs, or five times better than $2K DACs. But, each will sound different. I guarantee it.
if you’re front end isn’t up to the task of providing revealatory, engaging experience, to the speakers, then what? Speakers ain’t magical critters. They appear to become magical, when the signal and room deliverd to them is unblemished.
I’ve heard more than substantial systems. Rigs with $40K speakers plus a pair of subs running in total $56K. applying different $10K DAC solutions to such rigs has shown me first hand you’re gonna get different results. From various DACs. Different ain’t always better but it sure is different.
Always.
It was in these sorts of $70K to $100K rigs however, one could easily hear the diffs between DACs which cost $5K, $10K, and $20K.
Unless, there is more room in the wallet for updating the balance of the system, or very very soon, there definitely will be, I’d refrain from dropping every dime of the 10K into a DAC right now.
What to do: is all about your own goals, and how deep you want to wade into the audio waters. Also, just how soon you will strive to achieve them. Pre-owned gear aids the system building effort tremendously.
The issue is not that in a year or two your ??? new DAC will sound worse, it is that other DACs for less than what you spent will sound as good or better and maybe have more functionality in time.
The wheels of progress seem to be slowing down on the Digital vehicles hitting the market these days. Yet they do continue to turn and the associated peripherals attached to the “DAC du jour” can make one sound superb, or keep it from an outstanding level of performance.
in one system I wrote a review on these pages about a couple years back, a $5K DAC IMHO, sounded better than a $10K DAC. BC DAC vs Mitner. Although, the BC DAC was configured better with a $2K SPDIF IC from a Gordon Rankin USB converter, and the BC had a Nordost Valhalla PC on it. Don't recall the DAC to preamp cable exactly.
check the review for more info
A variety of DAC sellers/makers are catching up to the top tier DAC performers and as such provide a far, far greater cost to performance ratio than ever before.
Merely keeping a close eye on impedance matching throughout the system will yield outstanding results. Thanks again for that info, Al.
I’d actually spread the funds around, IF, 10K was the end of the cash pile.
Maybe think about Selling some or all of your current outfit, or slip it into a another room or try to add it to a deal to lower your costs. Gifting comes to mind. Really, I’d keep it myself and later get better speakers as was said.
Go with pre-owned recent gear and I’d pitch $2K or so into a very capable DAC, $3K or so into a nice Integrated amp, and the rest into cabling, a PL cond., rack and speakers. Then as is the normal case for most of us, treat the room to suit.
The outcome will then be a rig worth in the area of $15k to $20K, and ‘should’ be far more fun and revelatory than is the present one, so better gear as it comes along, can be better appraised.
You might only wind up with $3K for speakers, but that’s about a $5K to $7K MSRP pair of squeakers with any luck. Ensure too the speakers love your power amp.
$5K to $7K speakers routinely are not slouches.
All or part of that then rig will either keep your knee bobing and a grin on your face, or it will slowly trickle down in part or whole to another room or office aIF you remain on the terrible audio treadmill.
BTW audio treadmill of ‘dragon slaying system’ chasing does not always land in paradise. It just keeps spinning along until you come to your senses, or to the end of all available financial resources and maybe even an eventual treatment center. Lol
Good luck. Enjoy!