2. speakers
  3. 176877-166623

everything sounded great until the upgrade

In short: I loved the sound of my modest system, until I upgraded my amp. Now it  sounds pretty horrible. It went from a warm sweet embracing easy-to-listen sound to knives and forks trying to escape from a bathtub.

So...

1. I can just unplug this new amp (used) and sell it

Any other options? I could upgrade my speakers but I have no budget for that.

2. I could sell the speakers and use money to buy used ones that go with the amp. 

3. Lastly I could change the source, but was it the culprit - to begin with?

btw - the sound of the "new" amp is decent with my turntable, and terrible with my CD player.

(If I wrote brands and models it would throw the discussion into "A sucks, B is great")

grislybutter
grislybutter OP
3,627 posts
 

I don't have a DAC. My wife will kill me.

grislybutter OP
3,627 posts
 

@danager 

yes I have TOSlink out. So that's for the DAC? Sorry for my ignorace

rocray's avatar
rocray
1,448 posts
 

I agree with others that have suggested playing it for a couple of weeks to let everything settle in.( Both the amp,and your ears). There is always the possibility that it just isn’t a great match for you.   Sometimes we buy things that don’t work right for our tastes,and that’s when our pride or ego step in,and we demand that it works, Maybe if I replace speakers,cables,source,things will sound better. Music and good sound reproduction is a great pastime. Enjoy it,and don’t stress out about it. Worse case,flip it and try something else.  

Post removed 
riccitone
229 posts
 

Agreeing with what has generally been stated here before, definitely give it more time. May also have been stated before (or you’re already way past this already), but simply pointing speakers past your listening spot or even straight out. Then slowly inching/ incrementally turning them back toward you. Heck, I’ve even noticed speakers actually sounding warmer when pulling them closer together - some how rounding the tone while bringing the image into better focus.

As for a separate dac, so many excellent dacs under 1k. So many under $500 for that matter (especially used). And -of course - they lend their own sound signatures as well. Thinking SMSL on some of their more lush sounding options if you didn’t want to spend too much. But if you could swing a Denafrips Ares II at some point? 👌🏼

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