New DAC for Arcam 7SE

Hi, this may not be related to your question. You may discern an appreciable difference with the V-DAC or you may not. I have owned the Arcam Alpha 8 CD player which should have quite a similar sound to the 7SE. It's a good player at its price point. I feel that you will gain a more significant sound improvement with an amp upgrade. As good as the Alpha 10 integrated can get(this was my first audiophile amp), I find it something like a cold fish ie. little flat sounding across the music spectrum. If more macro-dynamics, transient attack and better layering and separation in music are required, I suspect a better amp would give you more than the CDP. Food for thought. Cheers.

Thank you for your response, the only one I received from the group. After doing some research I had come to a similar conclusion. One of the issues with my system is that the small Castle speakers I use, while perfectly matched to the amplifier, and very precise, perfect for piano music for example, don't have much bottom end and so I have never felt that I was getting the most out of the Alpha 10 anyway. I appreciate your taking the time to write. I am new to the area of high-quality digital music, still play a lot of records. What do you think would be a reasonable priced upgrade to the Alpha 10?
Regards,

I am not familiar with Castle hence not too sure which amp will match the speakers well. However, a few integrateds that are worth considering include the YBA Integre DT, Plinius 9200, Krell KAV-400XI/S300i and Musical Fidelity A308. Even the cheaper Rega Mira3 will be more involving compared to the Alpha 10. Musicality and refinement will most likely be attained with all the amps mentioned above with the Krell having a slight edge over the rest in the bass department. However most bookshelves can't do deep bass so there is a limit as to how low the speakers can go even with an amp that is able to provide good solid bass.