What's my best upgrade options


Hello Audiogon forum,

I have an opportunity to upgrade something, but I'm unsure what the best option would be.  I just got a pair of Magico A5s, and they were a huge upgrade to my system.  I think what I'm looking for is more clarity, more crystal clear detail, maybe lower noise floor, if that makes sense.  I have an ARC Ref 150, PS audio BHK pre and stellar phono pre.  My sources are a Rega P3 with an older Ortofon MC 30 and a Cary audio CD500 cd player.  My cables are a mix of whatever I got from a dealer buying complete systems a long time ago, and some i've bought since.  I also have a surge protector I run everything thru, except the amp, I run it directly into the wall.

My options are a PS audio power conditioner, a rega P6 with newer ortofon MC cartridge, maybe a PS audio CD player or jay's audio CD player.  I could also get better speaker cable, and / or XLRs.

Thanks y'all.  1st post!

dothebluecolts

Showing 1 response by audio_rd_uk

Mainly in line with @goheelz if you have a lot of vinyl already then TT and perhaps phono stage, I have Origin Live (OL) decks and arms in ranges from £3k to over £25k and recently obtained (with a view to it being a starter for a friend) a Rega 3 with a (£500) Ania cartridge on it that they normally put on as the ’higher level’ choice over the Exact on the P6. Whilst it was ’ok’ put through a Whest Titan Pro II and Vitus Amplification. It could not anywhere near compete with either my putting a cheaper 2M blue on the cheapest of the OL decks and when I put the Ania cartridge on that it was better than the 2M blue and similar to a 2M black LVB. The Ania on that OL deck got more of the subtle detail that my MC Diamond pulls on the best deck.

So if Vinyl is your thing, I would move from Rega if you can audition an OL with a similar level of cartridge you have, especially it you could try it through a Whest Phono Stage it could give you an interesting comparison. Michael Fremer has periodically reviewed Origin Live from 2004 and the deck he reviewed then in Stereophile is still made now in a Mk5 version with cascaded learning as when OL launch a new flagship they cascade the learning to a new iteration of the ’old’ flagship keeping these competitive with some decks of 2-4 times the price.

Also a look at the testimonials on the Whest page may also encourage an audition of one of these even if you cannot try with OL. And I will note that with a Taiko Extreme Server and a dCS Vivaldi four box CD/SACD system. I go to the Vinyl almost exclusively and I re-built my vinyl collection after a 10 year break after I heard the Origin Live with a Whest Phono-stage. An OL Sovereign-S with a Conqueror or above arm and a Whest 40SE or above would be a very worthy Vinyl front end for your downstream system. For me the re-building has been worth it.  I also hear good things from those I trust of the Alphoson HR200-S Arm, but will likely not hear it until the Ascot UK show in a weeks time. 

But if you are not already heavily vested in Vinyl then I’d agree whether you go Qobuz/Tidal for less than 1 vinyl album a month you have ’the world’ of music. I have an Aurender W20 (not SE) and a Taiko Extreme, the latter is overall better the former is excellent as are several models in the range at their price point. dual aes/ebu Aurender’s like the W20 work very well with dCS Vivaldi DACS as they did design work together.
MSB may well be a preferable choice with a Taiko. But when I want them ’ in the room’ I still go with Vinyl, especially when there is a well mastered 45rpm version.