System advice

@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?