Which direction to improve musical playback quality? Opinions gratefully received.

[admin_exported]

My main living room system in terms of musical playback currently consists of:

Appleloss Files to Airport Express to Yamaha RXV1800 by digital optical cable to Kef 3005SE speakers.

I've been wondering how I might improve my system in terms of musical playback as at times I feel it should sound better. Options considered:

(1) Get a new optical cable between airport express and the Yamaha. I don't want to get into a cable debate but the one I'm currently using is about 10 years old and was v. cheap. For around £35-£50 seems like it would be worth a punt.

(2) Add a new external DAC. I'm wondering if this would likely be any better than the DAC in my Yamaha though. The Yamaha has Burr Brown soemthings in that department which seemed to be well thought of at the time. Would this extract anything further from the KEFs in terms of music.

(3) Add a stero amplifier instead to the pre-outs of the Yamaha. Would that be worth it, or just overkill for my speaker package?

I should say that changing the speaker package to something other than a style type package is not really an option due to space constraints and some ill positioned patio doors. Basically I can fit bigger speakers in, but if I did there would be no space to fit the TV in between them so no use for films etc.

My system is also great for movies and I'm very happy with that side of things, would just like to improve the music side of things.

All views and any other ideas appreciated thanks

Mark

 

[a91gti]

I`m quite likely sparking a "debate" here but I`d say you`d hear some improvement if you ditched the optical connection in favour of a coax.

When I had some Cambridge Audio boxes I found coax to be superior.

 

[fatboyslimfast]

No debate, Andrew. The AE only has optical!

 

[a91gti]

Figures.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm - maybe wasn't the most snappy set of questions on reflection.

Anyways I spent a couple of hours finally going through the AV manual and have made a few tweaks here and there. The net result being that I've improved the sound a fair bit. I'm still going to get a new optical cable but wondering:

Anyone tried adding a dedicated seperate DAC to an AV setup with the Kef 3005 speakers in it?

Anyone tried adding a 2 channel amp to an AV setup with the Kef 3005 speakers in it?

Thanks