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Weakest Link in my system... Power Supply, DAC, or...

Hello fantastic Audiogon Community,

 

I am wondering what you all think is the next highest impact upgrade to my system. I have spent the past 8 months upgrading my entire main system to the following:

 

  • SPEAKERS: Pure Audio Project Duet 15 Horn (Mundorf Silver Gold Oil Cap upgrade and high pass filter, Duelund 16 internal wiring and speaker cables to amp)
  • AMP: PrimaLuna Dialogue Premium HP Integrated (Gold Lion KT77 power tubes, Briar and Mullard NOS gain tubes)
  • DAC: HoloAudio Spring 2 Level 3 Kitsune edition
  • PHONO: Music Hall MMF-9 and McIntosh MP 100 Preamp (but I’m focusing on the digital for this thread)
  • INTERCONNECTS: Duelund 16 (Perfection interconnect)
  • STREAMER: Nagra Streamer (Nordost Blue Haven Coax)

 

I listen to Roon / Qubuz when streaming.

 

I was wondering what you all think would be my next upgrade with the biggest impact. Some thoughts:

  1. DAC: The Holo Audio is from 2019. I enjoy the sound, but haven’t compared with any other modern DAC’s in my system. I imagine DAC progress has been significant since the 2019 release of this DAC?
  2. POWER SUPPLY: I hear over and over that the power supply for the amp, DAC, and Streamer may matter quite a bit. I am curious about this…. Would this be the biggest gain of performance for my system? All power is stock presently.
  3. PRIMA LUNA UPGRADES: I hear a lot about capacitor and resistor upgrades to my amp.... 
  4. ROOM TREATMENT: Since my main system is in my living room, I am a little constrained on room treatment. It is about 12’ x 16’ with an 8’ ceiling, hardwood floors and rugs and sofas about. I could build book shelves for the corners of the room where speakers reside, but that is about the only thing I could add to this particular room at this time. (Bass traps are likely out of the question due to aesthetics)

 

Looking forward to your advice on my last big moves before I surrender my wallet to the joy of music.

 

Till next,

r.

whyrichard

Showing 1 response by joeycastillo

joeycastillo
53 posts
 

Hello OP

 

As others have posted, you listening room may be your constraint. My audiophile nephew told me in the past that he has gained the most impact by improving room acoustics. At first, I did not really dig that, until no matter what I do, the changes are just incremental. One day, I contacted ATS acoustics and spoke with their support. I told them my room and my gear. they suggest the panels and I just got everything they told me (see my profile) 

Once all installed and after a few days, I notice that I can bring up the volume and I can hear more into the music. I am a bit deft, but I am sensitive to tone, timbre and spatial differences. 

Since you have the PAP speakers, which i have heard, you are good to go. BUT!!! That speaker needs to integrate with the room; it is so ROOM dependent. The better the room acoustics, The better that sounds. IMHO, you will be best served with Room Acoustic treatments. 

Lastly you mentioned about Prima Luna upgrades (Caps and resistors). To me that is another topic all together. I am very familiar with this as my 845 Audio Note clone power amp was built with all premium parts such as Mundorf, Audio note and Dale resistors and Japan Irons. It was assembled that way. When we did a shootout between an Audio Research and VTL amp, my clone easily equaled the VTL and surpassed the AR.

Hope you find which path you want to take

Again, this was in IMHO only. 

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