2. digital
  3. 178616-169339

Where to go from here?

I have a treated dedicated room with pmc ci140 speakers. So my room and speakers are done. Now i need to get the front end up to par. The pmc speakers are being fed by a denon 3700h to monolith amplifier.  I rather not get hung up on which brand is best but what makes a bigger positive improvement? I can purchade a reference dac with volume like a weiss 501 or tambaqui, or i could buy a quality integrated like a mcintosh ma9500 or hegel 590. If i get the weiss or tambuqui it will be awhile until my wallet cools off, so i would keep the monolith amp for a few years. If i get a quality integrated it would be a few yrs until i got a reference seperate dac. Sooooo......what the heck makes sense and which would make the biggest improvement?  Thanks

davekuyt11

Showing 1 response by fastfreight

fastfreight
927 posts
 

+1ghdprentice!

I used to have what I thought was a killer 5 channel surround system with also great 2 channel stereo.  Fortunately my processor broke and led me to exploring 2 channel only.  So much better AND it images so well it is (for me) perfect for the video we watch.

Also totally agree the pre amp adds a lot to a two channel set up.  I am not a Macintosh fan and find them warm and dull sounding compared to my Audionet stuff and much other stuff as well.  The Tambaqui I do have and it is amazing, but do not use its volume control as it strips bits and you lose resolution.  I have tried several nice DACs without a Preamp and always found it  better with a Preamp.

 

For me, if you want an integrated, get one without a DAC so you can find your way independently.  Integrated + Streamer +DAC  or Streamer  + DAC + Preamp + amp(s).

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