An upgrade a long time overdue


I am thinking its time for some upgrades - like the whole system.  But its been so many years, and Boards like this have become so helpful and accessible, I am turning to the Pros as it were to seek some varied and hopefully passionate advice.  

Disclaimer - I tend to buy used as I have tastes that appreciate the A/B-class but have a D-class budget, so something that used to be $8,000 new that can be gotten for say $2200 now is right on the mark.  Of course it must still be relevant and likely remain so for the next couple of years.  But age doesnt matter otherwise....

I am currently running a bryston 2B (which itself was an upgrade from a Myryad T40), with a Cal Audio dac and dynaudio countour 1.8 floor-standing speakers.  this is the guts - i use a sony blue-ray player for the occasional movie, but mostly listening to music (which is all over the place, jazz, rock, opera, classical, etc, and more recently, the dreaded Pandora channeled through the phone and a input jack)

What research I have been able to do leads me to consider opening up the sound stage with something more mixed, like a conrad johnson pv14L as pre- and the ayre v5xe, and coming forward in the age of digital, considering something like the oppo 105 but i was also thinking the nad m50 / m52 combo instead of the oppo..........and lastly all this heard through (I'm thinking) vienna accoustics beethoven baby grands

so maybe the whole thing comes in at 8k - 10k?  can I achieve 80% - 90% of this for 5k? or less even?  Is my mixology fraught with disaster?  am I missing something obvious?  

i dont know what I dont know here so please weigh in 

thanks for your consideration and insights
jammer66

Showing 4 responses by lowrider57

I agree with the above comments to stop buying components. Start by finding a good match between amp and speakers.
Agree with bob. It seems like you're still putting a system together on paper.
First, audition speakers and once you find a pair, then choose an amp that mates perfectly with it. This will be the foundation for your system.

Preamp will come next, and that will take time to find one with the timbre and soundstaging you are looking for. I auditioned 3 preamps in my system until I found the right one.

Agree that a good DAC is the first step, but before you commit to it, tell us if you are interested in streaming or computer audio. There are some fine streamer/DAC units available that can access Tidal and there are also music servers.
Oppo now offers a DAC & Network Streamer.
I should listen to my cd collection more - but they are mostly representative of the older sampling methods so somewhat obsolete/incomplete. 

This is the area where you can benefit most from an upgrade. Modern digital technology has improved the old Redbook format by leaps and bounds. A high quality DAC mated with a transport, such as Cambridge or PS Audio, now reveals detail in CD's never before possible. There are so many threads now stating how members are enjoying the sonics coming from those silver disks.

If you have a large CD collection, then maybe you should head in this direction.
Multibit DACs are able to process 16/44 Redbook in its native form and the result is a more natural, realistic sound from digital.
DSD capabile DACs can process SACD and hires files resulting in excellent SQ.