Should I upgrade DAC, speaker cables, ICs, or PCs?

LOL, it's classic reading your system notes, I now understand more your motivation with such postings. You really don't mean any of it, you are just trying to offend.
It's not offensive, it's really funny, you are like the Andy Kaufman of Audiogon.

LOL, classic, excellent job.

So I went back for some reading on the proposed units. A lot more reading still pending.

I decided to ditch the Zardoz and Mojo units. They are probably very good, but there is so little talk about these that is leading me to pass, as I'm overseas and auditioning or buying and selling is not a breeze.

Macdad: I decided to set the Havana aside based on your comments that it might become too much of a good thing with the rest of my system.

Seems like I'm down to: Bel Canto DAC3, Benchamark DAC1 USB, Bryston BDA-1, PS Audio PWD, Wyred4Sound DAC2, and Weiss DAC2 or Minerva.
I know, I know: several of these are beyond the $1500 I posted, even used...this frickn' addiction of mine!!! Maybe just get a Benchmark and good power cable and be done for a good while.

Quick question: my source will be my Rotel CD player over coaxial. Would any of these be a bad match?

Thank you!

as belated as this may well be...

aS Macdadtexas AND I HAVE BOTH SAID… IT’S A MIX. Try as many as you can. The more popular ones will be easier to both get and get rid of if necessary.. usually. Sometimes popular works against you in the Audiogon buy & Try shuffle.

I say again, the BC DAC III is a fine enough place to start..lavry is another. Both camps are engineered by top people and innovators in the digital to analog conversion racket.

I’d also disagree with some statements on how upsampled DACs sound. Normally, the higher the sampling rate the easier the top end will be on the ears and the better the ambient retrieval. Resolution and details are a part of the design and materials.

Not the result of oversampling per se.

BTW…. There’s a lot of artificial sounds when the original band isn’t right therein
the room.

My 2ch audio system isn’t what I’d call a warmly romantic affair. I would put it a tick or two onto the warmish side, but more than that I felt it needed two things done better… Bottom end resolution and greater resolution and detail overall, which lends itself to better imaging and gets you closer to reality, or at least the illusion of it.

Wether I use it with SS front to back, or a mix of tubes and SS, (either way T+SS or SS+T), the BC DAC III is NOT anything close to bright sounding. It’s about as neutral a device as I think you can get for the money that they are selling for lately around here.

Remember too… ‘bright’ is in the ear of the beholder, and can be accounted for by many factors. Jitter. Mismatching. Ground loops. Power line artifacts. Poor isolation and/or racks. The recording. The room. Your ears… And so on …

The BC D3 allows for a lot of value and flexibility for the $$$. I agree with Macdadtexas it ought to be a nice fit in your system as it is now. If there is resultant glare, hardness, stridency, etc., it’s not going to be the fault of the BC dac. Look elsewhere about your system.

I listen to all sorts of music. All sorts. I need speed, impact, depth, articulate bass, definition, spot on imaging, and balance in the bandwidth to accommodate all these various genres.

If I were to listen ONLY to Ella and Frank, maybe some other DAC would still be here. I’d not wish to hamstring my system though.

Upgrading the system is not a matter of it being a balancing act so much as it should be a step closer to the music itself, while keeping everything on a listenable and musical tilt. Involving. Enjoyable.

That’s where balancing comes into play. Not by compensating for errors or shortdcomings elsewhere.

I’ve played your amp or one like it in my home . … it’s not a bright amp.

The BC D3 might even become a step up over your current preamp as it has remote volume control too.. Add a highface 24 192 if going all PC all the time and you’ve got a real upgrade on your hands. Add a Oyaide T510 cable, or an XV 2 Ultra for abut $200 +/- and you’re in like Flint.

You’ll love you CDP all over again too Good luck..

Lewinskih01, first of all, what do you feel is missing in your system sonically?

In terms of upgrade logic and order of importance, I place speakers first. After that, its a wash. I used to think the source was next but after farting around with Dale Pitcher's latest PC offering with its proprietary filtering technology, I am less sure. I have had several friends with midlevel CDPs who had their system transformed by that cord. If source is where you want to fiddle, there is a myriad of ways to go. I own the Zardoz which is very nice. I have heard the Mojo Audio DAC and it also has a nice "analog" presentation. Another friend of my has been bewitched by a relatively inexpensive NOS DAC from VALABS ($200) recently. Whether to go NOS or with an upsampler is a whole other matter. It comes down to sonic preference. Another friend owns the Weiss Minerva and is in love with it. I will be doing a shootout with my Z and the Berkley DAC in July and that should be interesting. Anyway, your system is a living entity if you will and all the parts work together. There is no one right answer.

Blindjim: Thanks for the thoughtful post. I'm adding the Lavry DA10 to the list. Looking at your system I see you also have a tubed pre and amp.

After going through several threads I'm wondering about jitter immunity. For over a year until I can get into either computer audio or upgrade my transport I will need to use my Rotel RCD1072 CD player through coax as source to the DAC. Does anyone have a point of view in terms of jitter immunity from Lavry, Benchmark, Bel Canto, Bryston, Weiss DAC2, or PS PWD?

Thank you!