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One box do it all

Enough of separates. Too many boxes, too many cables, don't care for those anymore.

I am willing to get a simple box that will do for me:
- AMP driving Dynaudio special forty, at least 100W
- Pre Amp for digital and analog
- Needs to have phono input as I still do some 20% listening on those, possibly MC but can live with MM
- Streaming, has to be Roon Ready as most of the time I do Roon or Roon on top of Qobuz
- Budget 2500, can't really stretch it much more than that

Seems like Cambridge EVO 150 and Arcam SA30 fit the bill but I will not get a chance to listen to those comparatively and the reviews (the "honest" ones that I could find) are kind of OKish but several complaints on Arcam stability and not so convincing on Cambridge SQ. NAD C388 also come to mind but doesn't seem to have much of a reputation

Anyone here has had personal experience with those ?

Any alternative that I should consider ?

Thanks a lot for reading so far,

Mark.
marklings
tk21
237 posts
 
Peachtree Nova 150 or 300 bundled with a Bluesound NODE would get you there with an MM phonostage


Another way to go would be to plug an iOS device directly into the Nova, using a lightning-to-USB cable. Peachtree designed the Nova 2.0 series for direct input from lightning devices. In this set-up, you can configure the iOS device to be a Roon endpoint. Or play directly from the iPad/iPhone/iPod_Touch.

This alternative provides an even smaller footprint than the BS Node, no power cord, and a display. Plus, the iOS device is fully portable. And you may find the SQ superior (though I’ve never compared it to the latest version of the Node).
ronboco
746 posts
 
@ozzy62 would you include the higher end integrateds in your evaluation as well? Boulder 866, Gryphon Diablo 300, Simaudio 700vi2? 
towertone's avatar
towertone
82 posts
 
"This alternative provides an even smaller footprint than the BS Node, no power cord, and a display. Plus, the iOS device is fully portable. And you may find the SQ superior (though I’ve never compared it to the latest version of the Node)"

One advantage to this is if you use Apple Music you can play in Hi-res as long as it is connected directly to the DAC. You can control it with any other iOS device and also stream to other systems hooked up the same way or with airplay built in.  

HOWEVER you can't currently do this from a Mac or Windows computer nor Android device as iOS is the only platform that matches output to the Apple Music bit rate (thanks Apple!!)

The other issue is streaming from that device will be limited to 16/44 or 16/48 by Airplay. Most of their music is CD quality so this shouldn't be too big of a fail (like their MacOS and Windows poor switching software). But if you're using Roon...
ozzy62's avatar
ozzy62
2,845 posts
 
@ozzy62 would you include the higher end integrateds in your evaluation as well? Boulder 866, Gryphon Diablo 300, Simaudio 700vi2?

No. The OP was pretty specific with his budget and his requirements. There have been several suggestions that don't meet them all, needing to add either a phono stage or a streamer. My contention is that a one box solution at 2500.00 will have to compromise something, and that something is more than likely sound quality. All of the ones you mention are way above his budget, and most of them don't have everything he wants.

I use what I consider to be a high end integrated by Allnic, but it's just that, only an integrated. None of the other fluff.......

Oz




itsjustme
681 posts
 
at that price, i wonder if your 100W minimum reuriement is limiting your selection needlessly. I wont get into it but a) ratings are often somewhat misleading, 2) 100W is actually only a marginal increase in volume from 40/50W and it takes a lot of units out of contention.
I'd also look for Roon ready but NOT a Roon streamer (stream from your PC). OF course you could also stuff a raspberry pi with roon bridge in front of it.
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