Class D, "Control (Variable Gain)," Amplifier versus Class A/B Separates?

@decooney @mashif There is something to be said about getting what you pay for in a way, though. PS Audio is a jiffy to get a hold of during their hours, the conversation was quite pleasant, and they even offered me to trade in my GCC-100 for a half off discount on a new, Stellar integrated amplifier ($1,750). If I weren’t already so happy with my current sound, I’d very seriously consider it!

-Ed

@tweak1 what kind of internal upgrades did you have done? My remote is quite worn, so I could really use a replacement remote. Or perhaps I could just get a universal programmable remote. Hmm…

-Ed

@soix Under $2K for sure. Preferably closer to $1K for this little experiment. Who knows if anything can be achieved at all?

-Ed

@soix @ghdprentice You know, to be honest, I'm not sure. I think at this point my system is 98% there, perhaps slightly bring forward the vocals, but that might mostly be it. I think I've gotten my system almost as far as I can go without doing room treatments. With 4 and 6 year old boys, it's hard to justify room treatments right now, since it may not be too far down the road that my home will evolve as my sons grow, and I may change up the layout of the family room (where the system is now) or possibly even move the entire system to a different room in the house all together, like the formal living room (where my system originally resided when I first moved in).

@tweak1 Thanks, I've sent them an email to see what they've to offer/recommend.

@ellajeanelle @jallan @snapsc Thanks for your input regarding Schiit. I was intrigued by the Kara specifically due to a combination of reasonable price, balanced XLR in/outputs, and excellent measurements in instrumented testing found elsewhere online. It's true, I haven't had a chance to actually listen to any of Schiit's stuff, so that does make it a bit of an unknown quantity--the same applies to the Outlaw monoblocks, where I simply selected them based on price and instrumented measurements found online, and of course higher output and XLR connections.

-Ed

@soix yes, I’m currently using the GCC-100 in integrated amplifier fashion. The subwoofer is attached to the Aux outs on it as well.

-Ed

@benanders @soix @mashif @tweak1 @ghdprentice So at the end, I went a different route and accidentally got what I wanted.

I was using some inexpensive, 28" stands with glass bases and platforms from Amazon, and I upgraded to the KEF S2 bolt-on, color-matched stands for my LS50 Metas, filled them with sand, and discovered that the change in stands resulted in a more full-bodied sound, bringing vocals more forward, which is exactly what I wanted (even though that was not specifically done looking for that result, I just wanted something less likely to get broken or knocked over by my 4- and 6-year old sons!). Since it sounds the way I want now, I went ahead and ordered a new/upgraded remote control from PS Audio too, since my original one that came with the GCC-100 is quite worn out.

Cheers to all and enjoy the music!

-Ed

@tweak1 Yes, thanks! I am running upgraded power cords for all three components (the Ares II DAC, the GCC-100, and the SVS SB-3000), a passive filtering power strip, and two iFi AC iPurifiers on the strip, one at the end where the cord comes in and a second one between the digital and analog device connections. Speaker cables are SKW, as are the RCA interconnects to the subwoofer. iFi Mercury 3.0 USB cable with iFi iPurifier3 at the DAC end and an iFi iSilencer on the source end.

-Ed