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DAC upgrade or Amplifier

Which has more influence over the soundstage - the DAC or the amp? My sound stage is high and wide, but recordings sound 3 dimensional only rarely. My equipment is at best mid fi - Adcom 5500 amp and Cambridge audio DAC magic. Listening primarily to Tidal at their highest level available.  The rest of the system if Adcom Preamp 750 (the Nelson Pass design), Tyler Acoustic speakers, tributary cables throughout. Any advice or suggestions for upgrades for improving the "depth" of the soundstage is appreciated (let's say that an upgrade for less than $1500 is in the budget, and I'm comfortable buying used from reputable sources). Thanks!

philtangerine
auxinput
2,920 posts
 

With all things being equal, the dac/preamp will generally have more of an effect on the sonic signature than an amplifier will.  However, they are not equal in your situation.

The Cambridge Audio stuff is generally know to be very detailed/transparent.  You could upgrade to a newer/different DAC, but if you want to keep working with your DAC magic, I would get an external linear power supply.  Go to ebay and search for "teradak dacmagic".  It comes with a cord that plugs directly into your DACMagic.  You can get one for about $180 shipped.  This will definitely improve the overall sound quality and soundstage of your DAC.

Your GFP-750 preamp is a nice choice.  There are ways to improve it:

http://bigskyaudiomt.com/ADCOM_GFP750.php

https://hoppesbrain.com/2017/03/11/adcom-gfp-750-upgrade/

If you have it upgraded, see if they can replace all the electrolytic capacitors as well.  With the age on this, the caps will have dried out.

Probably your weakest link is the Adcom amp.  My experience with the older Adcom amps is that they are warm sounding, but in a mushy/messy way.  They end up smearing the sound somewhat and I actually think they introduce distortion.  Definitely not a good option if you want a deep/wide 3D soundstage.  I would try selling it on ebay.  You can get a really nice high-resolution amplifier that would be superior, such as the following choices:

Parasound A23

Emotiva XPA-1L monoblocks (with fuse upgrades)

Rotel?

others... depending on your budget

erik_squires
16,046 posts
 
The room.
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
A Tube amp!  Adcom is pretty benign gear, they add very little coloration to the music.  I would start with amp (s) then look at devices.  I use to own a Adcom 750 GFP pre-amp along with the GFA 555 amps.  The soundstage was very wide but it missed the depth and instrument separation. 
2psyop's avatar
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2psyop
1,558 posts
 
Does the DAC Magic have the ability to unfold MQA files from Tidal? I have found that my Bluesound Node 2 is able to give me the best hi-res sound via MQA albums, not ALL MQA albums, just ones well recorded.
Another thing, I have tried bypassing my preamp and connecting my DAC/steamer directly to the amp. I would research this to see if your DAC Magic is capable of being used this way. I was very surprised that my preamp was not allowing the clarity and soundstage to come through the DAC to the amp.

kalali's avatar
kalali
1,977 posts
 
I have a DACmagic Plus and I know it does not support MQA. So in the OP's case, regardless of the streaming source, the output is not MQA'd (new verb).  I also did get an upgraded PS but a different brand from the one mentioned above. It did improve the SQ. In as far as soundstage depth is concerned, all things being equal, I've found the depth is directly proportional to the distance of the speakers from the back wall and how open is the area between them.
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