Is upgrading worth it?

Digepex brings up a major problem for a lot music audiophiles like. It can be very frustrating investing a ton of money in your system only to have a lot of your favorite music sound worse. There are brands however that can put some life and air into recordings that sound flat, lifeless and dull on many highend equipment. Just have to search that stuff out.

The trick I think to upgrading is understanding what you want or expect out of an upgrade sound wise. Balance is also important and can easily get lost in the shuffle if one focuses too much on any one element at the expense of the whole, example- soundstage or ultimate detail or dynamics. These can all exist in one system but takes a lot of careful thought and matching and not a small amount of $$$. Get comfortable with your system as it is and try replacing (or demoing) one piece or equipment change at a time to ensure you like the difference it makes without overly impacting the things you already liked. If you really dig the 70's Marantz sound, you may try a foray into the McIntosh world.

It would be very helpful if we were to know your system details, room parameters, and musical preferences.

I agree with the poster.50% of the cd's in my collection were not intended for audiophiles to sit between speakers and pick it apart. I bring this music along to hifi stores and get ridiculed for bringing it.It sounds like crap on a $20,000 system. Getting 2 systems is the solution that works for me. The nice thing about the first system for bad records is you do not have to spend alot of money for that system.

Digepix. I know exactly what you are talking back. Its not that you like the sound of you old amp better, it's just more forgiving on lesser recordings. Very common problem. A lot of people make that mistake: they run around with a bunch of audiophile CD's to test and set up the equipment and when they listen to what they really like, they realize a mistake was made. I can give 2 suggestions. 1. Since you still have your old system, keep it and just use it for certain problem recordings. 2. Get an eq. Run a straight cable from your CD player to the preamp and another one from the CD player to the eq. Then take another IC and go from the eq to a different input on your preamp. That way you can switch back and forth.