Does an upgrade make sense?


I may be coming down with the upgrade bug, and I’m open to suggestions. I’m quite happy with what I have—excellent imaging, musicality, dynamics. Maybe I could use a little more depth (left right is fine and speakers truly disappear), and maybe a touch more dynamics.

Almost everything I listen to is Qobuz streaming or hi res and flac files from a NAS (hard drive). My system:

Cambridge 851 Streamer/DAC

Bel Canto Pre5

Bel Canto Ref 500 monoblocks

Dali Mentor 6 floorstanders

Everything sits on maple plinths, Gaia iiis, or pucks.

Cabling is mid range Morrows. I previously had Kimber KS1116s but sold them as the Morrows sounded just as good, on the current set up.

What do I need to get more of everything? Speakers? DAC, Streamer? Amp?

tomaswv

Showing 3 responses by ghdprentice

Yes. I would go DAC first. That is going to have a bigger impact on the tonal balance. The streamer on level of detail and noise level. Of course they are interrelated. But DAC definitely.

In general, it looks like your system is fairly well balanced. But the streamer / DAC seems likely to be holding the rest of your equipment back a bit. @soix brings up one good possibility.

One of the great things about high end audio, is there is no limit to improvement. Typically I get to a level I am happy with and enjoy until the bug strikes, and then I slowly upgrade to the next level. Sounds like you may be there.

Typically the sequence is speakers, preamp, amp, sources. If you do this… do lots of auditioning before purchase. Invest no less than 2x.

But if I were you, I think you can get lots more out of what you have by upgrading your streamer and DAC to the next level first. This could bring you a good boost and enjoyment before rolling up your sleeves and upgrading the rest. You would enjoy more dynamics, detail, impact. I would recommend looking for a separate streamer and DAC.

To get a feel for what to invest, I would look at the cost of your amps and preamp and plan to spend about 2x what the average cost of those functions. So, if they were around $2K, then look to invest $4K in a DAC… then $4K in a streamer.

This sets you up to later do the speakers… which should be done with lots of research, as changing those will likely change the sound of your system significantly. Lots of auditioning before purchase.