System upgrade, need advice, source or speakers?


Hi,

I've had my system for a few years and have been thinking about tweaking it. Right now it consists of:

Speakers: Zu Definition MKII
Amp: Tom Evans Linear A
DAC/Pre: PS Audio Perfectwave DAC

All of my music is digital (flac) and the only input I use is USB hooked up to a mac mini.

For the longest time I've been thinking about swapping out my PS Audio DAC for something else. 1) I only need the USB input so I don't need the bridge etc that the Perfectwave offers. 2) I've always had the sneaking suspicion (for no particular reason) that the DAC was the limiting factor in my system.

I started looking into higher end DACs like the Lampizator Level 5 and the Calyx Femto.

But now I'm wondering, would I be better off keeping the Perfectwave (or swapping it for something like the NAD M51 or Berkeley Audio DAC) and upgrading my Def MKIIs to MKIIIs.). The price for either option is roughly the same.

Any advice would be appreciated.
danyal711

Showing 2 responses by danyal711

The DSPeaker Dual Core looks really interesting. The Zu Def MKIIs have 4 subs on the back of them and on each speaker you can adjust Volume, Low-pass Filter, PEQ Gain, PEQ Frequency, Phase. I'm wondering if I can achieve the same effect with these controls without the DSPeaker.

Yes I am looking for USB only but I've found pretty big differences between different USB solutions even in the ~$2000 price range. Most recently I've compared the Calyx 24/192 to the PS Audio DAC. Both are great units but the sound from the PS Audio DAC was far more smooth, transparent and less digital sounding. The problem is there are so many different USB DACs these days with a wide price range, it's hard to narrow down what makes sense.

Ultimately I think I want to improve the transparency and digital sound of my system. It's not bad by any means but I know it can be better. When I listen to live recordings I want get as close to the cliche of making the speakers disappear.