Want to improve my setup

[admin_exported]

Hi all

Im a newbie here. I used to be quite happy to listen to my mp3 collection via my amp and speakers. I have an old NAD stereo amp, model 3020a, and a pair of Aural Envelope ex300 speakers. It is clearly a budget setup, having cost about £90 so far. I'm happy with the power of the amp and speakers, now I'm just worried about how Im getting the mp3 signal to the amp. At the moment im using a 3.5mm audio cable from the onboard souncard which splits into left and right RCA plugs which then go into the Amp. But after hearing a guy the other day going on about DACs and his Apple TV or something, I'm starting to think maybe I should think about sorting out my link from PC to amp. Can anyone reccommend anything? I,m never going to be a full on audiophile because I dont think I could afford it. I was considering a soundcard with optical outs, and then connect that to a digital to analogue converter?Or pick a receiver/amp with optical inputs?

 

[AL13N]

No need for a new soundcard or receiver/amp. Purchase the Musical Fidelity V-DAC online for less than £150. Then connect your PC via the USB input. Sorted.

If you don't hear an improvement then return it. If you do notice an improvement... enjoy the music.

 

[mcjwalters]

As you seam to be using mp3 IMO any money spent trying to get good sound from this massively compressed file storage is a waste. Your amp is a classic and very nice in it's day, the speakers are not known to me so the type of file you record and listen to is the very weak link.
If you are happy then just enjoy what you have and plan upgrades one at a time as and when you can afford it.
I would look at using a lossless copy programme like WAV or Flac as the first upgrade. This will cost you nothing to get and gives a perfect copy of the original source. The many quality free programes have been discussed on this forum for you to dip your toes into. Next would be upgrading speakers and cables before lastly looking at a DAC.
Have fun.

 

[the record spot]

1 - you don't need to be an audiophile, you just want to enjoy your music
2 - you don't need to be rich
3 - you can get class leading sound for peanuts.

Seek out an M-Audio Transit DAC which is about £60 if funds are tight, it's tiny, will fit in your pocket, apparently sounds excellent and should do the job. See Beresford's TC-7520 DAC, or the Musical Fidelity V-DAC which are both around £150 for a bit of a step-up.

 

[Anonymous]

any thoughts on the Cambridge Audio DACmagic? I know I seem to have moved my goalposts a bit but hearing good things about it.... Once Ive got the sound thru the DACmagic is my 'classic amp' sufficient to transport sound to speakers? Its for a room so I dont need blasting power, I just want clean sound that I can hear the sounds separately on, at the moment what I hear seems like one dirty solid sound.

Also my speakers seem to have two red and two black options for attaching the speaker wires too, is this for 4 channels, what does it mean?

 

[Craig M.]

the 4 speaker posts are for bi-wiring. if you're not bi-wiring your speakers, there should be some plates or short wires connecting the 2 reds to each other, and likewise with the blacks.

 

[Anonymous]

thank you

yes, there are some connecting plates. What does bi-wiring do?

 

[Dan Turner]

rentose69:
thank you

yes, there are some connecting plates. What does bi-wiring do?

You remove those connecting plates and run separate cables from the amp to the top pair of terminals (for the treble) and another set to the bottom terminals (for the bass). With some amps and speakers it can improve the sound. It's a highly debated subject though, both in terms of if it works and how. I wouldn't worry about it personally. If you have some spare speaker cable though it might be worth replacing those links (which are usually cheap and nasty) with short bits of speaker cable.

I also agree that a DAC which can be connected via USB is going to give you an instant upgrade and I think that you will definitely notice the difference even with compressed MP3s. I used to have a CA dacmagic and can recommend it highly. However for a free (other than the time it will take to re-rip the CDs) upgrade, re-rip any CDs you have to lossless (Apple lossless or FLAC) or uncompressed (AIFF or WAV) format, which should sound appreciably better than Mp3 played back through your hi-fi. Beware the extra storage space that those files will require though, especially if syncing to an ipod or similar. Itunes has an option to automatically convert bigger files to a lower bit-rate for syncing to an ipod, other tools may have something similar.