£200 to spend on upgrade - Amp or DAC to add dynamism?

[stanleyk]

Apologies, I know this has been covered a lot, but am keen to hear again anyones thoughts if they can put them down again.

Current setup is Marantz CD6000ose and NAD 320bee with Epos M12. I have £200 to spend on the system to potentially future proof it or just to play with the sound a bit. My initial thought it to go for DAC, use the CDP as transport only and use my itunes/Spotify etc through it as well (probably the Caiman), but I was also considering a replacement (more powerful) amp as an alternative purchase, any thoughts on what could fit in the system would be much appreciated. Listen to all sorts of music, rock to dance to folk etc. System really sings with female vocals, however I find the system a little lacking in drive with heavier music, the change to Marantz got me amazing detail, but would maybe like a bit more dynamics in the system, would either upgrade help?

Thanks in advance

 

[idc]

I would say change the amp or the speakers to add dynamics and add the DAC if you want the future proofing. But you are going to need two upgrades, not just one to achieve both.

I am assuming you have tried changing speaker placement, where you sit and a decent rack/stand for hifi and speakers first?

 

[stanleyk]

I am limited by placement and seating due to shape of room etc so realise it is may be a little in vain. A rack may well be an option, has certainly been on my list in the past, maybe I should add it on again?

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'm not familiar with the M12's, but if they're not being driven properly, you'll more than likely end up with a dull sound lacking any sort of punch. It might sound ok, but ok is all it'll sound. A system without any dynamics isn't really striving to reproduce what was originally intended, and that's a difference that is easy to demonstrate.

As the budget is limited, and assuming you have pre-outs on the 320bee (not a model I'm familiar with), I think you'd get better bang for your buck with a dedicated power amp, maybe a used Rotel like the RB981 or RB1070 for example. If you want to keep to an integrated amplifier, again, you'd be looking at the used market at something like the Rotel RA1060/RA1062. The Rotel amplifiers would be my main choice for driving speakers that really need a bit of juice behind them.

 

[stanleyk]

Can add to budget if needs be, first £200 courtesy of an airline, a failed engine and three days delay on a holiday, so can increase if required, just thought most dacs fell nicely into this price brackets

 

[Frank Harvey]

I'm not too familiar with £200 DACs as the manufacturers we deal with either don't make one, or they don't make one at £200. The new Arcam DAC will be £299, and the new Rega one will be around £499. We'll have those two on demo, but I wouldn't be able to say how they compared to those we don't keep.

 

[drummerman]

Personally, I'd seek a s/h cyrus 8vs2. Sounds very nice with your speakers which would probably have been on my list if I didn't have the ProAcs already. Punchy little amplifier.

 

[idc]

DAC wise since you want more than one connection, forum recommended and in budget are the Caiman and V-DAC.

 

[stanleyk]

Thanks for all responses, currently moving away from the DAC idea and considering the earlier suggestion of a power amp. Having a look around there really isn't much in the price bracket but for a few extra pennies there is the Audiolab 8000p, anyone have one, heard one etc? Will the Audiolab equipment match the NAD (320bee) that I would be using as pre? Being a novice to this is it easy to pre/power an integrated amp?

Thanks