New Streamer, DAC or Let it Be

The BlueSound Node is the Honda Accord of streamers. Affordable, works and sounds better than most give it credit for, and about as reliable as any piece of hardware gets.

I won’t trash your Marantz because most of the criticisms are either speculative, or simply irrelevant (What difference does 10 dB improvement in dynamic range or noise from 80 to 90 dB make when the noise floor in your room limits dynamic range to maybe 60 dB? I live in a very quiet house, and the noise floor is 42dBA. My System is capable of peak output of about 110 dB, but my usual listening level is around 90. So, 90-42 = 48dB typical, 68 db maximum dynamic range). Your Marantz is a great piece of equipment and while Marantz and Denon are sister brands and do share a lot of parts, a high-end Marantz is a totally different and much more carefully engineered component than their mid-fi offerings. That just doesn’t fit the ego-fi narrative.

Yes, room correction does happen in the digital domain, and most find it a worthwhile option. But even the best room correction, speaker placement, components and cables can only effect the input of the system into your room. It is the output of the room predominates what your hear, and improvements made in that function are almost universally the biggest value to be had in upgrades. Consider some acoustic treatments - sidewalls first, then bass traps, and ceiling. Profound improvements can be made in most listening spaces for under $1000 with packages from companies like Acoustimac. Their options for color and finish also enable a high degree of SAF. Acoustics is applied physics, and applied physics is math, so use their, or other online calculators, to determine your actual requirements. 

@panzrwagn, thanks so much for your comments and not bashing my Marantz and Node  😉.  I was looking at the Acoustimac website and the array is intriguing.  Cheers,

Robert

I also have a shared HT/2CH room utilizing the 8805. While the Marantz is exceptional with the HT side of things, it was the weak link on the 2CH side. My initial solution was an Anthem preamp with HT bypass, which pairs well with the 8805 because it accepts 2 sub channels. Understanding your lack of space for a preamp, another solution (which others have mentioned) would be to go with an all-in-one DAC with a built in preamp. I later sold the Anthem and did just that. Current setup is a Lumin X1 fed directly into a pair of mono blocks. An XLR switch determines which source (8805/X1) to use.

I totally agree that there's no point in looking at anything else until you get the primary/core gear optimized.  Clearly the weak link is the AV Preamp - those are just not optimized for 2 channel and they just can't be.  

So, I totally agree that you want to look at a preamp that has HT bypass - it's very simple...takes the front right and left preamplified output from your AVP and passes it through to the amplifier, so that you can still use it as home theater, while preempting the AVP signal for 2 channel listening and driving your amp directly. 

The Parasound is a pretty good product.  Your speakers are excellent. Only when you have a preamp to "match" will you have any chance to assess the digital source aspect of your system.  

Then you have to decide what you are lacking and what your objective is.  

BTW, my sympathies on having your listening room double as your wife's office.  I'd be like "are you done working yet?" at all hours of the day.  I hope you have a good headphones setup somewhere else!