well, I will start off by saying that I am partial to Yamahas. I personally own a 1977 vintage CA-2010 integrated which is 30W/ch in pure class-A & 120W/ch in class-AB. Beautiful sounding amp & IMO lives up to its name "Natural Sound Amplifier CA-2010" which is printed on the face-plate. I has those vertical knobs just like your amp & volume control is on the extreme right, just like your integrated amp.
I was reading the specs of your integrated - it certainly reads like a very capable amp. 85W/ch at 8 ohms with a max power of 105W/ch & a dynamic power rating of 130W/ch into 8 ohms. I calculated that the 130W/ch dynamic power is a 3.7dB headroom, which is a respectable number for an amp that costs in the $500 range. There were a photo of the inside showing dual heatsinks & what looks like 2 bipolar output devices for push & 2 bipolars for pull per channel. I also noted that it has a "direct" signal path selection i.e. this direct path bypasses all tone controls - this is a feature that I like very much (I can do the same direct signal path in my CA-2010 by defeating all the tone controls as it does not have an explicit knob that says "direct").
IMO, you'd be hard-pressed to find another amp with all these features & the dynamic headroom of your Yamaha integrated.
If you don't like the Yamaha tone control sonics, play your music "direct".
your Yamaha is also iPod & iPhone ready so you could add your favorite iPod dock which has a built-in DAC like the Pure i20 iPod dock (I have this myself) & you'd be up & running in no time.
Yeah, you can also add your favorite external DAC & connect to one of many amp inputs & you'd be able to connect this DAC to the digital output of your iPod dock & you get very good SQ.
There are many good quality external DACs today - troll these Audiogon forums for numerous suggestions. I've not looked for a DAC in a long time hence i won't recommend any.
Sure you can buy a NAD or a Peachtree - make sure you like the sonics of their DAC long-term because you will be "stuck" with that internal DAC from NAD or Peachtree.
If you buy an external DAC, you can switch it out anytime if you don't like its sonics while keeping the rest of your system as-is. Your out-of-pocket expense would be the least - if you don't like the NAD or Peachtree you'll have to sell & your whole system will be down. If you have an external DAC & you don't like it, your iPod playback chain will be down & you can still play CDs & if you have a Bluetooth receiver connected into your Yamaha, you can still stream from your mobile devices. More flexibility with an external DAC, IMO.
Hope this helps. FWIW. IMO. YMMV.
I was reading the specs of your integrated - it certainly reads like a very capable amp. 85W/ch at 8 ohms with a max power of 105W/ch & a dynamic power rating of 130W/ch into 8 ohms. I calculated that the 130W/ch dynamic power is a 3.7dB headroom, which is a respectable number for an amp that costs in the $500 range. There were a photo of the inside showing dual heatsinks & what looks like 2 bipolar output devices for push & 2 bipolars for pull per channel. I also noted that it has a "direct" signal path selection i.e. this direct path bypasses all tone controls - this is a feature that I like very much (I can do the same direct signal path in my CA-2010 by defeating all the tone controls as it does not have an explicit knob that says "direct").
IMO, you'd be hard-pressed to find another amp with all these features & the dynamic headroom of your Yamaha integrated.
If you don't like the Yamaha tone control sonics, play your music "direct".
your Yamaha is also iPod & iPhone ready so you could add your favorite iPod dock which has a built-in DAC like the Pure i20 iPod dock (I have this myself) & you'd be up & running in no time.
Yeah, you can also add your favorite external DAC & connect to one of many amp inputs & you'd be able to connect this DAC to the digital output of your iPod dock & you get very good SQ.
There are many good quality external DACs today - troll these Audiogon forums for numerous suggestions. I've not looked for a DAC in a long time hence i won't recommend any.
Sure you can buy a NAD or a Peachtree - make sure you like the sonics of their DAC long-term because you will be "stuck" with that internal DAC from NAD or Peachtree.
If you buy an external DAC, you can switch it out anytime if you don't like its sonics while keeping the rest of your system as-is. Your out-of-pocket expense would be the least - if you don't like the NAD or Peachtree you'll have to sell & your whole system will be down. If you have an external DAC & you don't like it, your iPod playback chain will be down & you can still play CDs & if you have a Bluetooth receiver connected into your Yamaha, you can still stream from your mobile devices. More flexibility with an external DAC, IMO.
Hope this helps. FWIW. IMO. YMMV.