Room size is 13'w by 23' l by 9'3" high. I have wood floors and an area rug covering 11 x 19 of the room.
Possible Amp (or integrated) upgrade from Creek Evolution 100A
I’m looking for some opinions here. It’s so difficult to start a search by auditioning alone....so here goes.
I’m using a Creek Evolution 100A (Sequel Phono board and Ruby DAC) driving PSB Imagine T2 loudspeakers. I primarily listen to vinyl, but the remaining 30% is through a Bluesound Node 2 streamer using Tidal.
My turntable sounds fantastic to me. It’s a Roksan Radius MKII with a Ortofon 2M Black cartridge. When I put it up against Tidal hifi streaming, 44.1khz, files, it wins hands down. And, the Bluesound to the Creek DAC is no slouch. I think Stereophile’s review noted that the Creek Ruby DAC was super great for $600.
So all this leads me to think that I’d benefit most by putting more juice and watt stability during transient stuff to the PSBs Imagine T2s. I’m pretty happy with my current sound; I’d like to get more engaging listening at low levels. If I push the Creek, things sound more engaging and fun.
My thoughts were:
1. Buy a power amp and use the Creek as a preamplifier for now, saving me from having to immediately get a pre and potentially a phono pre.
2. Buy another integrated amplifier and sell the Creek. I really do like the functionality, size, and most everything about the unit. I’ve upgraded it by popping in the DAC and phono board so I’d probably lose a bit of dough on it.
Under option 1, I was thinking of (a) NAD Masters Series M22, Musical Fidelity, Parasound Halo, Red Dragon Audio, or something else.
Under option 2, a Hegel H360 immediately came to mind.
Note: I also have a Creek 5350SE in restored condition that has a passive preamp. I could use that as well under option 1 above. And, the Bluesound does have a nice internal DAC that NAD uses in its nicer stuff, from what I recall.
Curious as to your thoughts! Thanks much!
I’m using a Creek Evolution 100A (Sequel Phono board and Ruby DAC) driving PSB Imagine T2 loudspeakers. I primarily listen to vinyl, but the remaining 30% is through a Bluesound Node 2 streamer using Tidal.
My turntable sounds fantastic to me. It’s a Roksan Radius MKII with a Ortofon 2M Black cartridge. When I put it up against Tidal hifi streaming, 44.1khz, files, it wins hands down. And, the Bluesound to the Creek DAC is no slouch. I think Stereophile’s review noted that the Creek Ruby DAC was super great for $600.
So all this leads me to think that I’d benefit most by putting more juice and watt stability during transient stuff to the PSBs Imagine T2s. I’m pretty happy with my current sound; I’d like to get more engaging listening at low levels. If I push the Creek, things sound more engaging and fun.
My thoughts were:
1. Buy a power amp and use the Creek as a preamplifier for now, saving me from having to immediately get a pre and potentially a phono pre.
2. Buy another integrated amplifier and sell the Creek. I really do like the functionality, size, and most everything about the unit. I’ve upgraded it by popping in the DAC and phono board so I’d probably lose a bit of dough on it.
Under option 1, I was thinking of (a) NAD Masters Series M22, Musical Fidelity, Parasound Halo, Red Dragon Audio, or something else.
Under option 2, a Hegel H360 immediately came to mind.
Note: I also have a Creek 5350SE in restored condition that has a passive preamp. I could use that as well under option 1 above. And, the Bluesound does have a nice internal DAC that NAD uses in its nicer stuff, from what I recall.
Curious as to your thoughts! Thanks much!
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