System advice

Excellent play.  I have the Golden Gate 3 and have no interest in a preamp.  

Some things to consider with the Big 7 vs the GG:

1. Both use DHT tubes that will give you a big, wonderful, engaging sound.

2.  Do either of the amps have engine 11?  That is Lampizator's latest upgrade and it is worth the difference if available.  Alternatively, Lampizator will generally install the upgrade later but it isn't cheap.  However, engine 11 isn't a deal breaker, without it the DACs will sound better than most, as Gary Koch famously called.

3.  Single ended vs balanced.  I prefer single ended and you should too.  The SE amp uses 2 output tubes vs 4 for the balanced.  I think lampizator built the balanced just because there are fans of the balanced system.  I don't consider it an upgrade.  While the output tubes will likely last forever in the preamp position, having only 2 output tubes will make tube rollling much less expensive.  

4.  Many newer Lampizators have an analog input which is handy if you are using your DAC for a preap and you want to add an analog source, such as a phono (you'll need a phono pre or a SUT) or tape deck.  You can also run your HT front speaker pre-out through it for watching movies if you have an HT system overlaid on your 2 channel system.  so check if either of the DACs you are looking at have this feature.

5.  The DAC is the heart of your system so I agree with putting money into a good DAC.  You've already gotten some advice about your amp.

Jerry

How does the system sound since you put the Arcam gear back in?  What DAC are you using now?  What specific improvements are you looking for over what you’re hearing now?  All important info to make any recommendations.  That said and without knowing anything more, I’d be inclined to upgrade the amp/pre first assuming you wanna do that anyway and go from there.  I’d be concerned the Ayon amps don’t have enough power for your speakers, but the Octave could be very interesting and I bet will sound great with your speakers, but it ain’t cheap unless your looking at a used unit.  I’d definitely demo the amp that sounds best at the dealer at home before making any decisions and deal with the DAC later.  Be interested in your thoughts once you hear the amps.  

@carlsbad2 thanks! Do you really think it would be ok to start with a dac and fit a proper amplifier to it later, not the other way around? Answering to your questions:

2) none of them are upgraded to engine 11, so in both cases I’d consider an upgrade in some future, however I think it could be a deal breaker because older Lampizators use r2r ladder and from what I know engine-11 brings sigma-delta to all of them. did you have by any chance an opportunity to to compare your GG to Big7? I wonder how huge the difference is.

3) I’m looking only at SE.

4) I’d like to connect a streamer to the DAC via USB and my CD player via S/PDIF or RCA if possible.

@soix thanks for your reply! I haven’t been able to put the Arcam gear back in - an input for spades has broken and I have to take it for a repair first. I don’t have any dedicated dac, I used only Naim CD player with internal dac to play music from my cd collection. Thanks for letting me know your concern about Ayon, I’m also fretting about it a little. Do you think my speakers with efficiency 88 dB may be difficult to drive by Ayon’s 2 x 30 W?

"What specific improvements are you looking for over what you’re hearing now?" - It’s a great question. I really should play Arcam first and then have something to refer to. But the issue is that the auction with Lampi is happening now, the Arcam is broken and I penciled in a listening sessions at audio shop in a couple of days :-) Truth be told, It shouldn’t be difficult to level up from my current audio equipment as it’s from previous century (however my attempts with Naim don’t confirm that). I listened to some Ayon’s before and the sound was vivid, warm, euphoric and I liked it  but didn’t have a chance to try other genres like rock and electronic music... I also tried some Chord stuff like Hugo but it wasn’t for me - it was too sterile.

It’s good that you really appear to know what you like. If your Arcam stuff is that old I’d upgrade the pre/amp first and get that right because it may affect which direction you might wanna go with a DAC, and there will be other used Lampi DACs available in the future if that’s where you end up wanting to go so there’s no real need to rush on that important decision. And yes I’d be hesitant to drive your speakers with a 30W amp, but you can try it with your music at the dealer and see. If I’m you I’d give that Octave a serious listen and if you like it (or the Ayon) borrow it and see what it sounds like at home, but I have a feeling that might be a great match for your tastes and speakers. And again, once you have that sorted then see which direction you wanna go sonically with a DAC. Getting a DAC now would be a big shot in the dark at this point, which is why I’d wait on that. Just my $0.02 FWIW.

@soix I'm not 100% sure if I know what I like. I know what I DON'T like: cold and sterile sound. Otherwise, I prefer everything what's good - dynamics. resolution, realism, wide sound stage, good bass, great midrange and a bit of sweetness and warm that makes it more magical experience ;-) Is is that much?