I have a pretty similar setup with Olympica Nova II powered by Pass XP12 and XA30.8 and it sounds really great. I understand the XA25 should also be excellent with our Olympicas. As for the digital front-end, your system will respond to and be very revealing with every improvement you make there. After having had a Schiit Yggdrasil,I was able to get a 2nd hand dCS Bartok. Definitely no regrets and if I could stretch to a Rosinni I'd get it tomorrow. You could consider a Holo May KTE as it also works really well with Pass and Sonus faber. Denafrips don't do it for me.
How much should I spend on a new DAC
Hello Gents. What would be reasonable sum to spend on a new DAC relative to my current audio rig.
Speakers: Sonus Faber Olympica II
Integrated Amp: Pass Labs INT-25
DAC: Pro-Ject Dac Box S2+
Speaker Cables: Kimber 8VS Bi-Wire
Power cable: Kimber PK10 Base
Interconnects: Audioquest Tower
I must say I'm very happy with the music coming out of my speakers but It's obvious that the DAC is not the same league as the rest of the equipment.
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Your biggest bottleneck is probably using the computer as your source, and adding a good streamer will make a huge improvement and probably more than upgrading your DAC. That said, for around $3k you could add both this Innuos streamer and Gustard DAC and you’ll be in a whole new world of performance. Also, ditch Tidal and give Qobuz a try. Just my $0.02 FWIW, and best of luck. |
I agree that separate streamer and dac would do you a lot of good. However I would put the brakes on the r2r recommendations for a dac. I had an Ares II and then bought a delta sigma Gustard X26 PRO and ended up selling the Ares II. No doubts that the Gustard offered a much better sound in my specific system. A Bluesound Node 130 connected to the Gustard would be a great start for about $2k. Then the upgrades start... Made quite a few myself but stuck with the Node and Gustard. Enjoy the trip. |
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