I need help with this please.


I currently have a Yamaha as500 integrated amp and my music collection is almost all on an external hard drive for my lap top. I also want to listen to spotify,etc. Do I add an external DAC to the Yamaha or do I sell the Yamaha and replace with A wyred 4 sound m-INT, or Hegel, etc. The yamaha seems a bit bright, but I will eventually upgrade the speakers so the real question is... for a few hundred bucks more, will I get (upgraded?) better sound? from a class d integrated with built in dac (like peachtree /W4S) or am I better off just adding an external dac. I think the convenience of an all-in-one would be nice I'd like to stay at the price point of maybe a peach tree, W4S, NAD356dac, or used Hegel. Your experiences and thoughts please? Room is about 15 x 18. Future speakers may be kef ls50 or psb imagine, etc. Thanks! (Just trying to get nice system for the $)
labguy

Showing 1 response by lewinskih01

You are overthinking this. Been there, done that!

Assuming your speaker upgrade is not in the distant future, I suggest you do nothing now and think thoroughly through the speaker plus amp combo. Spend as much as you can there, listen to as many combinations as you can. Do not assume expensive speakers plus expensive amp will sound the best. You might get best sound by getting extremely good speakers and a good but not powerful amp.
A while back The Absolute Sound listed a Wilson speaker plus a small integrated...was it Moon?...as a fantastic combo. Just as an example. I'm not saying you should spend that kind of money, but the amp wasn't something that would usually be considered a pairing to that speaker.

Digital evolves fast. Do not over spend there. This is coming from someone using digital (computer) as my only source!

If you only plan to use digital as source, think about eventually having a DAC driving an amp driving the speakers. Otherwise, a good integrated amp would probably be a good choice.

Probably a good idea would be to research the speakers people use with SET/low powered amps. You could probably drive those easily with a Peachtree, for example.

My two cents. I hope it helps.