2. amps-preamps
  3. 168918-116061

One box do it all

Enough of separates. Too many boxes, too many cables, don't care for those anymore.

I am willing to get a simple box that will do for me:
- AMP driving Dynaudio special forty, at least 100W
- Pre Amp for digital and analog
- Needs to have phono input as I still do some 20% listening on those, possibly MC but can live with MM
- Streaming, has to be Roon Ready as most of the time I do Roon or Roon on top of Qobuz
- Budget 2500, can't really stretch it much more than that

Seems like Cambridge EVO 150 and Arcam SA30 fit the bill but I will not get a chance to listen to those comparatively and the reviews (the "honest" ones that I could find) are kind of OKish but several complaints on Arcam stability and not so convincing on Cambridge SQ. NAD C388 also come to mind but doesn't seem to have much of a reputation

Anyone here has had personal experience with those ?

Any alternative that I should consider ?

Thanks a lot for reading so far,

Mark.
marklings

Showing 2 responses by towertone

towertone's avatar
towertone
82 posts
 
NAD T778.
Does more than you want but can be pared down to stereo or 2.1
Also a tad over budget but the pickins are slim...

If you COULD go separates (slightly) check out the NAD c658 and a decent power amp or integrated with preamp input. 


towertone's avatar
towertone
82 posts
 
"This alternative provides an even smaller footprint than the BS Node, no power cord, and a display. Plus, the iOS device is fully portable. And you may find the SQ superior (though I’ve never compared it to the latest version of the Node)"

One advantage to this is if you use Apple Music you can play in Hi-res as long as it is connected directly to the DAC. You can control it with any other iOS device and also stream to other systems hooked up the same way or with airplay built in.  

HOWEVER you can't currently do this from a Mac or Windows computer nor Android device as iOS is the only platform that matches output to the Apple Music bit rate (thanks Apple!!)

The other issue is streaming from that device will be limited to 16/44 or 16/48 by Airplay. Most of their music is CD quality so this shouldn't be too big of a fail (like their MacOS and Windows poor switching software). But if you're using Roon...
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