Best significant upgrade? Dac? Preamp?


Hi guys!

Im hoping some of you with knowledge of my system can help me make a good decision about my next upgrade.
I would like a surprising and obvious difference not hard to spot subtle change.
From my research i think the next move should be the Dac.
I would like to explore DSD,i have some SACDs now.
my system:
Mark Levinson 320s preamp
(Would i see a difference with a ML no.52?) I am also looking at the no.52 ,would i see a big difference compared to the 320s? Worth the extra $$ ?
interconnects: Acoustic Research master series silver high definition RG6
ML 431 amp
XLR: +bo ? +ba ? Only info on them

Wilson Audio Watt Puppy 5.1 speakers (serie 7 tweeters) +transparent music wave plus cables
Arcam rdac (wifi) with Teddy Pardo power supply.
Running on mac air (usb) ,Tidal HIFI
(i currently listen most of the time to this vs rarely SACD).
Thanks!



128x128nicsaudio

Showing 1 response by bo1972

First of all the emotion is inside the music. You need to create an audio set that reveals all the emotion of the music.

Emotion is being created by diversity in the middle frequencies. And diversity in dynamics and volume.

When you use a dac with tubes you will not get more emotion out of the music.

Because a tube colours the ’real’ sound.

These days most dacs use USB. When you talk to the people who developed the dacs many will say; USB is not ideal for audio.

And you know why? You loose dynamics and you will loose diversity in the middle freq. Here you find the most important part to create emotion by us human beings.

When we audition a dac you often hear that the middle frequencies almost have the same kind of sound. Like there is almost no diversity in sound.

This is why techinacal people try to find a much better solution to create a better transport of 0/1 with a dac. But this time with more diversity in the middle frequencies.

When I explain my story about emotion to my clients and I give a shootout between a Lumin and a separate dac people directly choose for the Lumin. And it is even clear why the separate dac plays music with less emotion.

I listen for about 5-6 hours to new music each week. I buy for about 250 dollar new music each month. I buy 44.1 till 192 khz 24 bit and also DSD.

The format had influence on the recording, but still how the recording is done and with what kind of equipment is still more importan than the format.

That is why a new format like MQA wil not make music that much better. Because an average recording will sound average on any format.

Each person will always choose for the most involving and emotional sound. And that is why I would advice a networkplayer with an inbuild dac and not a separate one. Because it had a more complete and involving sound.