Here's my current setup. I have this itch to upgrade something but wasn't sure what. My room is pretty small (10X12 feet), so I really like the small form factor of the speakers. Not to mention, I love the Dali sound.
Given that, what are some quick wins / pocket-friendly upgrades to improve SQ? And what will be some medium to long term upgrades? Basically, where would you go from here? Based on your suggestion, I am going to try to audition and see what I like. Thanks folks!
Once you have all the basic stuff, which you do, and are reasonably happy with it, which you are, then the next logical step for long term satisfaction is to start tweaking the most out of it.
For years my first recommendation was always BDR Cones under everything. That still stands but the competition is a little tighter these days. In terms of inexpensive, easy, and impressive they are still quite hard to beat. You would need 12 to do everything but can buy them 3 at a time no problem. I would order one set of MkIII, one MkIV and you will be able to use both just fine but having each to compare will guide you to knowing which to order when you get more. Which you will. They are quite effective. Under everything. And they last forever.
Next get a set of Synergistic Research ECT. These will improve dynamics, detail and imaging, and reduce grain and glare. They are easy to move around and another item you can keep and use forever.
Next I would get Synergistic HFT Speaker kit. You can use 1/2 kit per speaker to start if you want. That's what I did, to experiment and be sure they are effective. They are really effective! Also they come in different versions and the speaker kit includes most of them. So you can try them on the walls. They all come with 30 day guarantee so no worries but they are so easy to move around it makes sense to experiment a lot.
Then there's the wild card, acoustic panels. Wild card because you said nothing about your room, home, apartment. Many hardware stores carry Owens Corning fiberglass acoustic panels. OC703 is a standard used in many expensive professional acoustic panels. In raw panel form its cheap and easy to experiment with. If you can buy just one panel to play with that's totally the way to go.
It would have been easy and obvious to recommend Synergistic Research cables to replace your fancy lamp cord. But these are even better. They will improve your system right now, so that when you do get around to upgrading the wire it will be so much easier to hear and appreciate the improvement. Unlike everything else you can do these are all forever upgrades. You will never outgrow them.
After you've read all the shilling for synergistic research garbage a medium upgrade would be a better integrated amp with a DAC as the DAC in the Node2i isn't very good.
"After you've read all the shilling for synergistic research garbage.."
I wish I'd said that.
A better amp ( more features and power) is one obvious answer.
Another would be a speaker upgrade. Nowadays there are quite a few high quality bookshelf (or even narrow footprint floorstanding) loudspeakers out there.
If you want to stick with mini-monitors then your Oberon 1s will be hard to beat. So congrats on making a good buying decision there.
Since there's really little point in making incremental upgrades so you might as well wait until you can move on to some known high quality designs from the likes of Harbeth, Spendor, Rega or even pro audio designs from Neumann, Genelec, Yamaha etc. I'm sure there must be many others too.
When it comes to loudspeakers, there really is a bewildering choice out there. Like yourself I'm kind of stuck for upgrades too.
I guess once you get to the likes of Tannoy DCs the next serious step up is likely to be a very difficult and very costly one!
Here's what the legendary Dr Floyd Toole has at home.
First off, thanks everyone for taking the time to respond. I really appreciate it.
Djones51, I have thought about getting an external DAC but everyone's says I need to spend more than $1,500 to beat the Node 2i. Any particular recommendations that will share a good synergy with the rest of my setup?
cd318, As for the amplifier, I was considering the Rega Brio and Marantz PM 6006. I got this system just 6 months ago. My wife will kill me if I went for another expensive equipment anytime soon. So I am about 6 months away from upgrading the amp and dac. But I'd love to get recommendations on Amps and Dacs I should keep in my consideration set.
In the meanwhile, any other ideas? Are my cables decent or should I consider upgrading? Desktop stands like these? Right now I have them on my TV cabinet with the stock bumpers that were supplied with the speakers.
To be honest, I don't even know what I want changed. Just feels like something's missing or could be better. lol
Djones51, oh wow, that’s good to know. I guess I’m gonna order them off amazon and try them out for myself. Thanks a lot for the recommendations. Not crazy expensive either.
Douglas and Jl35, Which Dali speakers and what electronics do you use with them? Just so you know, I first tried the opticon 2, ended up being too big for my room. Oberon 1 was reviewed well and was cheaper, so went for it. Perhaps the opticon 1 ? Don’t think there’s a rubicon 1 in the line up. Yes, I think I’ve become a fan of the Dali sound.
phras, I have not owned Dahli, but have heard them several times at shows, and been close a couple of times to requesting a review. Your response regarding the slightly� larger bookshelf makes me think that you may enjoy moving into a nice headphone setup as an alternative. When you feel that a more diminutive bookshelf is already overloading your room, then headphones would be a well-considered option.
In terms of electronics, the sky is the limit. No one can tell you which of the plethora of options would be better. Only� direct comparison ma�y help, and personal opinion and preferences come into play even at that. A demo with return option is a good way to go.
Nice setup for that size room, and I see that your NAD has built in phono eq, so perhaps it's time to begin your move to Vinyl. Start, see if you get hooked, then upgrade as you go.
this direct drive is a great start, and it includes a record cleaning kit, which will give you success buying used lps, I wish I had bought it years ago instead of a few months ago.
I used that TT
for years, quite happy with it.
(changed cartridge after a while) I upgraded recently, primarily for features,
btw, it has it's own switchable phono eq. It's always worth listening to, just to 'know'. I preferred it to my Solid State McIntosh C28's preamp's phono. Changed to McIntosh Tube preamp, mx110z, prefer tube preamp's phono eq.
As your cable is already 12 awg high purity oxygen free I cannot recommend any cable at any price that I believe would make any beneficial difference.
Ditto for the Rega Brio or a Marantz PM 6006 both which I don't believe would offer much over your Nad 316 BEE v2. I've heard the predecessor (Nad 316 BEE v1) driving some vintage JBL L100s and there was little to criticise. Maybe the volume dial could have been better ganged as most of the power came in before 12 o'clock.
You've already got a well set up and balanced system so there's no obvious need to risk the wrath of your wife! I'm sure she'd want you to spend the household money wisely.
However if you're feeling you need a distraction, (an all too familiar feeling among us audiophiles) maybe you could convince her of a venture into the world of vinyl. I kind of feel that every audiophile should try out vinyl at least once.
In addition to the great suggestions above you might akso want to look at offerings from the Canadian firm Fluance who seem to offer fabulous value for money.
Hey guys, thanks for all the inputs. After a lot of research, I have a strong feeling that the inboard dac on the node 2i might be the weakest link. I have ordered the RME ADI 2 Dac on amazon. It has really good reviews so I am going to try it out and get back to you all. I’m very excited and hope it will live up to the hype. Again, Node 2 is a perfectly decent DAC but I think I could do better. Considered the chord cutest but it’s significantly more expensive than the RME. Anyway, I will share my impressions in a week or so. Cheers!
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