What would you upgrade?

I would replace your dac (definitely one of the most limiting items in your stack) with the Berkeley Dac on sale here for just under $2,000. That leaves you $3k and, even though I like the rainmakers in a small, nearfield system, spend $3k on the larger totems and see where you are. Five grand can do alot, or a little... but, dont do this to listen to 320kps material. Better ff blowing the five grand on a girl or vacation. (vinyl and sacd are not dead formats - they blow away anything you have been listening to).

Hi Mesch.

Thanks for the reply.

You touch on point worthy of discussion. How we listen.

The way I listen is primarily the 'background music' way, with my stereo in the background while I'm doing something else. No dedicated listening room with one chair in the middle. Nothing wrong with that at all, just nothing right about it for me.

Most of the time I'm not listening super critically. Just looking for a fuller range of sound then what I currently have speaker wise, as well as higher quality components then the ones that I'm having some trouble with at the moment. I'm planning on going to demo a pair of 1027be tomorrow if possible as I'm not ruling out the Focal sound all together. They might get 75% of the way there if all goes well.

Regarding formats, perhaps "on life support" is a better way to put it, Cerrot.

That's not to say their sound quality is not more enjoyable, as I know vinyl to sometimes be. Which is why I've considered adding a turntable in the first place.

Still, 25-40% of the budget would be overkill for an item that would be used less then 25% of the time, in my opinion. I'd sooner take that money and invest more in a DAC to max my return on digital playback.

Thanks, Paul.

I'm noticing a trend here. Everyone is very emphatic about the source. Perhaps I will give HDtracks another go. Maybe my system with turn into something completely different then I've been used to. Only drawback is there is significantly less content available at this point.

I do like the "buy the best you can afford" idea instead do spreading thin, though. Maybe 1 major upgrade every 3-5 years.

I would fix the music while you look at the components. Mp3s dont sound good in any system.