Best upgrade: amp or pre-amp?

@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'. 🤷‍♂️

@soix, @erik_squires,  @webking185 - I must apologize for my noob mistake. I confused one Retro-look Japanese brand with another... The Accuphase are deemed to be "clean/analytical", not the Luxman! (but again, not first-hand knowledge)

@overthemoon - I agree with you, building experience by listening to different make and models is certainly an enjoyable journey toward better and more conscious choices. At the same time, I'm afraid that along the way, I'm digging deeper into the rabbit hole and becoming an audiophile!! 😱 . About this: I'll soon start another thread to share such an experience: I was able to have a Naim SUPERNAIT 3 last weekend to compare to my current gear in my own room - a very educating experience!

@rsf507, ​@ieales, @ditusa  - While auditioning for my speakers, I listen to BW 805 D4, the Totem Element Fire V2, and the Dynaudio Heritage Special. When I listened to the Sopra, it was love at first sight. But I must admit they sound very different from the others and completely understand if they're not someone's cup of tea. This is why it is sooo hard to forge an opinion based on others' comments as not everyone likes the same thing!

That being said, the Luxman's are now very high on my list and there are two for sale second hand in my region: L-509X and L-507uX by lurking this forum a lot, I would be interested to hear @erik_squires opinion on which one is better value for the money (6,5k and 9k CAD respectively) ;-)