Suggestions on improvements?

PaulCon

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Hi guys,

I'm getting back into hifi, basically I got a Rotel RA-971, DCD-635, B&W DM601, speaker stands and QED cable for £160 off eBay (good deal I thought), all in great condition, currently I've got my Apple Airport express connected to the Rotel with 3.5" to phono lead so I can stream music from my 2011 mac mini & 2009 macbook pro to play music (from iTunes) to my hifi, although I do listen to CD's from time to time.

I've got about £300 to improve this setup but wondered what everyone would suggest? I was thinking amp and speaker cable at first as currently the speakers aren't even bi-wired, but I also wondered if there is any better quality way of streaming the music from my mac's to the amp?

I listen to all kinds of music from Tubular Bells, Jamiroquai, Foo Fighters, Beach Boys, Zero 7, Hip Hop, etc (you catch my drift).

Thanks in advance

Paul
 
A

Anonymous

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PaulCon said:
Hi guys,

I'm getting back into hifi, basically I got a Rotel RA-971, DCD-635, B&W DM601, speaker stands and QED cable for £160 off eBay (good deal I thought), all in great condition, currently I've got my Apple Airport express connected to the Rotel with 3.5" to phono lead so I can stream music from my 2011 mac mini & 2009 macbook pro to play music (from iTunes) to my hifi, although I do listen to CD's from time to time.

I've got about £300 to improve this setup but wondered what everyone would suggest? I was thinking amp and speaker cable at first as currently the speakers aren't even bi-wired, but I also wondered if there is any better quality way of streaming the music from my mac's to the amp?

I listen to all kinds of music from Tubular Bells, Jamiroquai, Foo Fighters, Beach Boys, Zero 7, Hip Hop, etc (you catch my drift).

Thanks in advance

Paul

What do you feel that the systems missing; any obvious gaps etc...?

IMO dont bother biwiring the 601's; theyre better being single wired but remove the speaker cable jumper bars and use a length of speaker cable to connect them instead

The speakers can be improved on fairly easily though these days; do you feel that they could be the weak link (i.e. not enough / too much bass; trble a bit harsh or the overall soundstage a bit dull/lacking etc...)?

Your amps is an ok amp but again that can be improved on quite easily (2nd hand again would be best as you'll get more bang for your buck etc...)

One thing I would consider would be a DAC; it's something I'm seriously looking in to for my office system (iMAC i5 to my NAD C320BEE amp - sound is very good now IMO but I know this can be improved on with a dedicated DAC)
 

PaulCon

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Thanks for the reply, I think the sound is a little flat, I used to have some 601's back in the day with a Denon PMA-250SE and they sounded amazing where now they lack punch, energy and dynamics, I've tried various CD's and it's the same so it's not as though I can blame the quality of the MP3 (I import in Apple lossless).

I was looking into some stuff off eBay regards the amp, something like a Rega Brio or alike, I just don't wanna get something that's laid back as I like an amp which has a nice lively warm sound (but not brash).

Hope this makes sense
 

noogle

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If CDs sound better than the Mac Mini, maybe get a DAC to improve iTunes replay? The Airport Express' internal DAC isn't famous for its quality.
 

PaulCon

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I've got the audiophile bug again big time now, what things should I look for in a DAC (never bought one before), I'll need a USB as it's running from my mac but what other features should I look for? are there any makes/models you'd recommend? Richer Sounds sell a lot of Cambridge Audio stuff or would you stay away and get something off eBay?
 

AlmaataKZ

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fatman

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I believe your mac has also got a digital optical output (the headphone socket) - on most DAC's the optical input is better than the USB.....
 

simon3102000

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Yes, get a dac! and yes use the optical out on your mac as usb isnt very good! Actually why would you need to use the usb or optical out on the mac as the airport express is wireless.... Your just need a good quality optical cable to go from the airport express to the dac and then some descent interconnects(rca) to go from dac to amp, chord are a good choice for cables.

I use the cambridge audio dac magic wirelessy and this sounds fantastic when feeding it apple lossles files.
 

shafesk

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PaulCon said:
I've got the audiophile bug again big time now, what things should I look for in a DAC (never bought one before), I'll need a USB as it's running from my mac but what other features should I look for? are there any makes/models you'd recommend? Richer Sounds sell a lot of Cambridge Audio stuff or would you stay away and get something off eBay?

Actually you wouldn't need a dac with usb, the macbook has a spdif output which you can use to connect to a dac via the dac's optical output. Would suggest you try the dac-magic.....I think the music streamer 2 is decent as well but with the dac-magic you could connect both your airport express and your macbook.
 

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