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"Vintage" high end gear vs new and upgrade path?

I'm pondering a couple issues that relate to each other.  Let's start with vintage vs new part.   The system is ripped straight from the 90's but was pretty much a Stereophile "A" class setup in its day.  Here it is: 

  • Rega P3 with numerous upgrades & Exact 2 cartridge (new)
  • Threshold FET10/pc phono preamp,
  • Sonic Frontiers SFT-1 => Assemblage D2D-1 ==> SFD-2 Mk3
  • Krell KBL preamp (recapped) ==> ML No. 332 amp  (recapped)
  • Maggie MGIIIa's (recent factory rebuild)
  • Music server (repurposed HP server) w/ Asus Xonar card feeding D2D-1
Issue 1:  Have >>analog<< electronics really improved much in the last 25 years?  My sense is that the lower and midrange gear is better, but does that translate to the high end?  This stuff sounds pretty damn good and I'm skeptical that I'd be able to make much improvement without spending vast sums of $$.  What would the weak link be here?

Issue 2:  Despite improvements in digital I'm also skeptical about how much real sonic improvement there has been in high end DACs, especially when it gets beyond 24b/96khz source material (system above is good up to 24/96).  I'm also skeptical about the claimed improvements from DSD over PCM, so I'm ignoring that for the time being.   Obviously connectivity, music servers, the digital audio chain and computer anything has improved greatly and is vastly cheaper than in 1995.  But how far does that actually extend to the sonics?  My sense is not so much.

At the end of the day I'm interested in any upgrade(s) that would create a real, hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck improvement without spending $10k.  But I've convinced myself that so much of what I read about would be only yield an incremental sonic improvement, and maybe even a downgrade.  I need a strategy - which might just be "leave it alone and just enjoy."  Any comments welcome, thanks.
raueda1

Showing 1 response by dhl93449

dhl93449
455 posts
 
My opinions on vintage vs modern circuit design;

Vintage equipment is most likely using discrete class A circuit designs which IMHO are better sounding than anything modern built with op-amps. A good example is my Spectral DMC 10 phono stage. All discrete transistors and sounds wonderful. Since many discrete transistors are no longer being made (or are very expensive), most modern designers have been forced to go to operational amplifiers. Op amps have improved tremendously since the 80's, but may not sound as good as discrete designs, even today.

Coupling caps, if used, will need to be replaced with modern equivalents. Film caps not so much (unless you are talking Mundorf or similar). These have been improved in modern versions a great deal. In older equipment high capacitance polypropylene were almost non-existent, but today can be obtained for reasonable prices (and will fit size wise). In older designs teflon caps were very rare, but can be obtained today.

In digital the newer products have the edge, due obviously to higher IC computing power and VLSI circuitry.
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