System Building

[Philhorn]

Hi Guys,

I've recently purchased some Senn HD700's and a Audiolab M-DAC. The combo is sounding better and better everyday so I'm pretty delighted with it. The next piece of the puzzle is the new Cambridge Audio CXC transport to hook-up to the DAC and release my CD collection on it. My tastes are Classical (Mahler/Bruckner/Brahms orchestral), Peter Gabrial to Chaka Khan. The mid-range of the headphones are perfect for this but where next to go after getting the CXC?

That's my question so to narrow it down a little I'm thinking that next up would be a power amp and speakers. I'm after the best neutral sound possible and spending around £1,500 in total. If you have a better suggestion on either transport or the route to go I'd welcome that too.

Thanks

 

[nopiano]

I think you might find a good integrated amp more versatile than linking a power amp to your very good DAC. You could do a lot worse than Cambridge, Rega or Arcam

As you use headphones a lot, I suggest some careful auditions of speakers. My starting suggestion would be KEF LS50 as they are very clean sounding, and will act as a useful reference. It is vital that if you go for a power amp you test it at home, as volume matching will be critical.

 

[rainsoothe]

hi

unless you really want to be swapping CD-s for the feeling of it, I would suggest skipping the cd transport, and rip cd's on your laptop or NAS if you have one - that way, you can even use your smartphone as a remote.

That being said, I would defenately consider an Arcam A19 + Focal Aria 906, it's a great combo and I think it would partner the M-Dac very well, since the Arcam + Focal combo is slightly on the warm side, with smooth but detailed treble and the Audiolab is sharper. Use Audioquest Type 4 or Atlas Hyper 2 speaker cable, or whatever copper cable you can afford.

 

[Andrewjvt]

Id also skip the transport and rip all your cds to your laptop and then play through the mdac as the transport wont upgrade the sound at all and you then can use the money on better amp/speakers

 

[lpv]

this one's easy.. connect straight to your m-dac pair of Genelec's M040.

 

[ID.]

this one's easy.. connect straight to your m-dac pair of Genelec's M040.

Yep, I'd use the M-DAC as a preamp straight into some active monitors.

Choose your flavour.

Considering you budget I'd aim higher with Genelecs. Maybe a pair of 8040 BPM.

I'd also consider Focal CMS65, Adam S1X (or A7X if you can't stretch to the S1X), etc.