Good luck!Upgrading with your kind of budget is opening a can of worms. Be prepared to spend a lot of time and effort if you you want performance that matches your budget. You are faced with some very questionable reviews in the HiFi press (when did you last read a really critical review?), some real nonsense on forums (including this thread) and that’s before compatibility and set up is considered. I’ve not listened to the Dagnostino amps but I think that your scepticism is well placed. Years ago I much preferred the sound of the Advantage (Bladelius) S-250 to the Krell ksa250 And subsequently upgraded it to Grendel and then the stunning Ymer. I recently upgraded my speakers to MA pl500 ii’s. They sounded rubbish in so many ways but had glimpses of great potential. I was open minded and while even purchased some other speakers at 3 times the price to try I still came back to the MA’s. I ended up having to replace every single component to get them working properly: PS audio direct stream to dcS Rossini, Audience au24 cables to SX version,
pre amp from BAT vk31se to rex2, added shunyata Denali and Gaia feet - superb sound. Now to the power amp question. I am currently demoing a pair of BAT vk655se monos. My expectations were low: the ymer is stunning (look at the specs, how could it be bettered ?) But I was simply stunned. Previously I’ve listened to various Magico’s and YG’s and been impressed by their HiFi sound but left cold, not engaged, but now I was hearing something completely different: Previously every high end system and component had a character that could be described - this was different: no overall HiFi character. Listen to any singer, they have their own character. Listen to a cymbal, it has the character of a cymbal. Every instrument was sounding so distinct and individual that it was hard to believe that they were all coming from the same transducer. Trust me - magic was happening! I would go to huge lengths to listen to these mono blocks. Read this
https://www.soundstageaustralia.com/index.php/reviews/349-balanced-audio-technology-vk655se-power-am...Bear in mind that he is only reviewing a single stereo one. For me, a single one wasn’t capable of properly controlling my speakers (unlike The Ymer) but the mono blocks were simply awesome. They aren’t audio jewellery but if you’re after the music I think you’ll find They offer far better value than D’Agostino can give. I’ll look forward to hearing how you get on.
