Getting started on a tight budget

Now that the new awards have been released, I'm getting ready to buy a new set for listening music. My old one was a very average non-hifi stereo set from the local market and it's cd reader got broken, so believe me, any upgrade will be noticed. Budget should be student-friendly with a cap of 1 k€, and sadly, in Finland most of the prices are noticably higher than in what hifi -reviews. I'll play most of the music from Tidal or CD's, so there is no need for turntable.

I was looking for a following set, are they in line with prices, or should I cut a bit for example from the cd transport / streamer and budget more to amplifier or speakers?

Onkyo C-N7050

Onkyo A-9010

Monitor Audio Bronze 2

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Actually, even this set exceeds my budget a tiny bit. Is there any cd transport with half the price of onkyo c-n7050? If I'm using amplifier for dac, I don't think I need a very budget cd player, right? I think I can fare with wired output from my pc, and skip the streaming. Is the optical spdif output in my pc already converted with pc's inferior dac or is it analog and good for outputting signal to amplifier?
 

insider9

Well-known member
Joona Jalava said:
Now that the new awards have been released, I'm getting ready to buy a new set for listening music. My old one was a very average non-hifi stereo set from the local market and it's cd reader got broken, so believe me, any upgrade will be noticed. Budget should be student-friendly with a cap of 1 k€, and sadly, in Finland most of the prices are noticably higher than in what hifi -reviews. I'll play most of the music from Tidal or CD's, so there is no need for turntable.

I was looking for a following set, are they in line with prices, or should I cut a bit for example from the cd transport / streamer and budget more to amplifier or speakers?

Onkyo C-N7050

Onkyo A-9010

Monitor Audio Bronze 2

Thanks in advance!

Edit: Actually, even this set exceeds my budget a tiny bit. Is there any cd transport with half the price of onkyo c-n7050? If I'm using amplifier for dac, I don't think I need a very budget cd player, right? I think I can fare with wired output from my pc, and skip the streaming. Is the optical spdif output in my pc already converted with pc's inferior dac or is it analog and good for outputting signal to amplifier?
Hi and welcome to forum. If you're set on the Onkyo gear there's a middle of the road solution in CRN-765 or an older CRN-755. It's a network streamer, dac, amp, cd, Tuner, usb player all in one. It'll have enough power to drive MAs.

I had both the A9010 and CRN-755 and A9010 is gone and the little CRN-755 is used on my second system. Sonic differences were tiny if any. By the way it also won Whathifi award. I've not heard the new CRN-765 but it's much improved on paper.

Regarding your other question using an optical out on your pc bypasses pc's dac so no processing is done in your computer.
 

muljao

Well-known member
Jul 18, 2016
334
91
10,970
Visit site
Did you look at the yamaha rn602 or the Onkyo TX-8150 as an amp and streaming unit in one. If you added even a well regarded budget cd player you could be looking good with a nice pair of speakers

Also you can use any amp with a dac to plug you optical out from your pc.

A few people were talking on the forms here about a set of Yamaha nx-n500, they seem to do everything if you dont need a traditional amp/ speaker set up
 
Thanks for all the tips. Yamaha nx-n500 looks very cool, but I'd rather have separate units, so that once I'll upgrade my gear, I can always choose to upgrade it little by little.

I had totally overlooked cd player - amplifier -combos, having thought them to be too inferior compared to separate units. I found already recommended Onkyo CR-N765 at 450€ and Marantz M-CR610 caught my eye at 600€, still barely fitting in my budget. They have fairly similar functions, do you think that Marantz's sound quality is worth the extra money?
 

insider9

Well-known member
Joona Jalava said:
I found already recommended Onkyo CR-N765 at 450€ and Marantz M-CR610 caught my eye at 600€, still barely fitting in my budget. They have fairly similar functions, do you think that Marantz's sound quality is worth the extra money?
Unfortunately I haven't heard either of these. If CRN765 is an improvement on 755 as specs suggest it may be worth it just for dac alone. Onkyo literally improved everything I wanted them to in my 755 namely (gapless flac playback, Spotify connect and added other services, much better dac). You'd have to spend so much more to replace it with individual items, not to mention space.

Considering Marantz is an older model with not as good specs (except power) I'd hazard a guess it isn't worth the extra outlay.

If you get a chance demo both and decide. Remember Onkyo is only rated 22W per channel at 4 ohm so won't be good for a big room. But by the speakers you shortlisted I guess the room will not be too big. Marantz would be much better with more demanding speakers or a larger room.
 

rainsoothe

Well-known member
Hi. If you wanna get the Onkyo A9010 with DAC (the EU version), any budget quality bluray player with digital out would do (think Sony). You will lose the streaming on the C-N7050 though. I mean yes, blu-ray players can also stream, but you need to have your TV open for that, and budget ones don't do gapless playback, so...
 

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts