Greetings Dylanfan!
The reason your system isn't "Doing it" for your is most likely due to the fact that $495 CD players won't "Do it" for me either.
You have vacuum tube amplification and Dynaudio speakers which are just fine but a $495 Digital front end will still sound like a $495 CD player even with a $20,000 pair of monoblocks and a pair $15,000 speakers.
I have a friend that has a pair of $15,000 speakers and it becomes BORING to listen to very quickly due to the fact that he will not put any serious money into his source.(he has an $495 Oppo, which is great for $495, but not for spending any more than 20 minutes of serious listening to)
I will put a $1000 pair of mini monitors with a 3-5K Digital front end and 2k of amplification any day before I will go with mass market or mid-fi digital front ends. Substitute an Ayre QB-9 DSD in for around $3000 msrp and you will experience a new world. (not to mention putting an end to having to replace worn out digital transports)I'm not saying the Marantz you have is a bad component, It just can't do things like make every song on an album have meaning and purpose like a true high-end source component can. I actually have a $3500 DAC and a $7500 Turntable and only a $1200 pair of Maggies with $650 worth of crossover upgrade and it is ALWAYS exciting to listen to. Really, having anything less than the Ayre DSD and I would not know why I would be spending this kind of money on vacuum tube amplification and high-end speakers. Please fell free to email me with any questions, i'm not a dealer.
BTW, nice choice on the primaluna stuff.
David.
The reason your system isn't "Doing it" for your is most likely due to the fact that $495 CD players won't "Do it" for me either.
You have vacuum tube amplification and Dynaudio speakers which are just fine but a $495 Digital front end will still sound like a $495 CD player even with a $20,000 pair of monoblocks and a pair $15,000 speakers.
I have a friend that has a pair of $15,000 speakers and it becomes BORING to listen to very quickly due to the fact that he will not put any serious money into his source.(he has an $495 Oppo, which is great for $495, but not for spending any more than 20 minutes of serious listening to)
I will put a $1000 pair of mini monitors with a 3-5K Digital front end and 2k of amplification any day before I will go with mass market or mid-fi digital front ends. Substitute an Ayre QB-9 DSD in for around $3000 msrp and you will experience a new world. (not to mention putting an end to having to replace worn out digital transports)I'm not saying the Marantz you have is a bad component, It just can't do things like make every song on an album have meaning and purpose like a true high-end source component can. I actually have a $3500 DAC and a $7500 Turntable and only a $1200 pair of Maggies with $650 worth of crossover upgrade and it is ALWAYS exciting to listen to. Really, having anything less than the Ayre DSD and I would not know why I would be spending this kind of money on vacuum tube amplification and high-end speakers. Please fell free to email me with any questions, i'm not a dealer.
BTW, nice choice on the primaluna stuff.
David.