the cart or the horse?
I currently own a Parasound ZAMP, Denon PRA-1500 preamp, and Omega 7's speakers. I stream through a Bluesound Node 2i. All this resides in a home office of approx 15x10.
I am not happy with the sound and do not know which component to attack first. There is a lack of presence and body and the sound is well.......boring. I listen to jazz at low volumes and would like your opinion on what to work on first.
Replace amp,preamp, or speakers? The cart or the horse? My budget is very modest but am willing to go step by step.
All my best,
Andy
I agree with @charles1dad. The Omegas are the jewel in your system. Tubes or perhaps SS class A would probably work great. I used the internal DAC on the Bluesound for a while. It was adequate,but a decent external DAC will most definitely be a large improvement. |
The Omega 7's are the hidden jewels of the Omega line. Go for a quality hybrid tube integrated ... Rogue Sphinx 3 (new @$1600) ... and you should be in business. Stereophile review - Rogue Sphinx
Rich |
I would like to agree with the excellent advice on upgrading your preamp / amp to as good a quality tube equipment as you can afford. I would invest in that first. Then, enjoy, save up and work on a good DAC… then upgrade your streamer. Then you can work on interconnects and cables.
Keep with the long game, 0ne step at a time. Luxman would be a good choice. An integrated tube preamp/amp… spend your whole budget… then save up for your next step.
Also, speaker positioning can make a huge difference if you have latitude to move stuff. |
I would suggest: a ps audio sprout 100 integrated to start with, get a pair of Revel M35 which are a smallish floorstanding speaker and get some decent cables. Use your streamer until you can afford a standalone dac/streamer like a used ps audio DS jr dac with a built in network card. I have this setup in my living and it sounds very nice. |
