Best upgrade: amp or pre-amp?

Agree Sopra's are weakest link. Heard them about 6 times now and find them not overly smooth and no energy in midrange. Not my cup of coffee

@papyneau I think you will notice a ’change’ regardless of your decision to go to components or an integrated because you will be acquiring ’newer’ gear. McIntosh doesn’t make it anymore and they have (and will) continue to evolve their products.

Also I’m not suggesting ’change is good or bad’ - it is just different.

Manufacturers will have different sounds - McIntosh, Pass Labs, Hegel, Luxman and so on.

The difference is personal taste - I have a friend who has Magnapan speakers and I have Sonus fabers - very different sounding. And I enjoy listening to music and having a beverage with him in either place. He played Phantom of the Opera - I never heard it before and it’s presentation was so good.

There’s a few things to note about some manufacturers products.

• McIntosh makes very full featured integrated amps (DAC, phono stage) versus Pass Labs
• Pre-amp is a source item in my experience. Brand matching isn’t a requirement. During my upgrade journey I’ve upgraded preamp twice with the amp following a few months later. (once using a NAD integrated as the amp and another time using McIntosh MC302 as the amp) and experienced an improvement in the sound from the preamp alone.
• Finally, I am wondering personally how much our experience in audio impacts our tastes and desires when upgrading - it’s why I am encourage you to listen to the units you are interested as well as some things you aren’t interested or just curious about. Why I say this - when I bought my NAD system is was a drastic improvement for me. I upgraded to McIntosh buying demo gear in the beginning of 2020 and the sound was awesome and wonderful. 

Lastly, when I was looking to upgrade based on wanting more power - I listened to a lot of manufacturers - ARC, Boulder, Linn, Luxman, Moon, McIntosh, Rega and Rogue.  It wasn't that I was thinking about buying them all - it was about learning about different philosophies in reproduction.  For me, it was a 3 manufacturer race for me ARC, McIntosh and Moon. And in reality, I love the sound of ARC but I'm not sure I want the hassle of tube maintenance or the space required for a separate phono stage.  Again these are my experiences with biases and personal constraints.

Enjoy the journey and let us know what you decided and how it turns out.

Sopra series are  such good speakers, in my opinion.

If you played something you recorded, you might change your mind by the 2nd bar.

@ieales 

         You think Sopra is bad, so the next question is

        focal utopia series,let's say the starting model Utopia scala. 

         How about scala? Is that good or bad in your opinion?

Can't comment. Manufacturers often have a 'house flavor'. 🤷‍♂️