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 3 responses by kennyc

kennyc
1,779 posts
 

@davekuyt11

Are you targeting an integrated (preamp+amp and sometimes a DAC) or are you targeting separates?

Integrated offers the best bang/buck saving on caseworks and cables, but separates perform better and allow for future incremental upgrades.

 

If an integrated with a DAC, I suggest a Hegel H390 w a DAC as a safe bet. Plenty of positive reviews including the DAC . The H590 is only marginally better, maybe not worth the increased price.

kennyc
1,779 posts
 

@jjss49

Good catch, I incorrectly assumed that the speaker were either bookshelf or floorstanders.

@davekuyt11
Speaker placement, a trial and error exercise, is extremely important in high end audio and necessary to get the great 3D soundstage. Room treatments usually happen after placement of speakers to tame unwanted reflections and bass energy. In high end audio, everything in the audio chain matters. The lack of ability for optimal speaker placement is a glaring weak chain link.

Are you assembling an analog and/or a digital system?

kennyc
1,779 posts
 

Streamer: Innuos Zen and Zenith very popular/safe option.

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