Improving an ageing set up

[Kung fu dog]

Hi , I m a newbie here so sorry to start with a question.i m looking to improve my current hi fi set up I currently have a rotel ra-810a amp, arcam alpha 7se cd feeding some mission 761 speakers. I also have a 2tb nas drive which I m attempting to shift my cd's to and a sony portable hi res player , which I have connected up using a 3.5 to stereo lead. I've been told by the wife that I got the green light to slash some cash on some improvements . Trouble is I don't really know where to start. I m not overly computer savvy so can currently only play the music off the nas via pluging an ipad into the amp via the 3.5 lead. Any advice would be really appreciated. Budget is about £500-£750 . I m primarily looking for improvement in sound quality then ease of use.

 

[cheeseboy]

just out of interest, what nas do you have? Just asking as the synology allows you to connect up a dac to it, so it can be an excellent way of doing it.

 

[Kung fu dog]

I have a seagate central. I ve actually found it a real pain to use . Cuts in and out on playback and is not easy to navigate the menus or transfer stuff to.

 

[cheeseboy]

ahh ok, it was a bit of a long shot. If you are wanting to go the digital route proper, it would probably eat up a good chunk of that budget (getting a nas and some form of playback device), so if it's just sound quality you want to improve, hopefully somebody more knowledgable than I will pop along shortly to give some better advice.

Is there any particular type of sound you are after, or any areas that don't do it for you with the current system? Just that it might give people a better idea for recommendations.

 

[rjbell]

There are wifi streamers available with usb imputs do use the onboard dac. You would need to see if the sony player is compatible but this would be a nice edition to your setup.

 

[Kung fu dog]

Thanks for the replies. What I suppose I m looking for is to see if there is any improvement to be gained be upgrading individual components. The detail that I get from the little hi res player and some b&w p5 headphones far surpasses what's coming out of my hi fi. I also wonder if still playing cd through an amp is the best way to listen or is there something that will give me the same or better quality but would give more ease of use.

 

[Thompsonuxb]

Thanks for the replies. What I suppose I m looking for is to see if there is any improvement to be gained be upgrading individual components. The detail that I get from the little hi res player and some b&w p5 headphones far surpasses what's coming out of my hi fi. I also wonder if still playing cd through an amp is the best way to listen or is there something that will give me the same or better quality but would give more ease of use.

That's the big question doing the rounds on this forum right now.

Some claim to have found the answer to that particular question. Hopefully they'll comment and advise you.

Patients.....

 

[ID.]

Patients.....

Yep, definitely a lot of patients roaming loose in this asylum...