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So this is my first post here and I'm afraid I'm going to hit the ground running with a plea for help with buying a new system. Not the politest thing to do so I'll apologise for the lack of etiquette but, in my usual bull in a china shop way, dive straight into it.
Currently I have a system that is a bit of a mixed bag of odds and sods I've picked up over the years and comprises a Myryad Mi, which I use for DAB and CD, feeding a Pioneer N50A, for DAC and streaming duties, whilst amplification is a Myryad Z240 integrated and speakers are Monitor Audio Silver 2 on Partington Super Dreadnought stands. It works surprisingly well but is still a budget system and its time for a serious upgrade...in fact with a budget of up-to £10k I'm inclined to replace it entirely.
My starting point has been to consider how I listen most commonly these days and that's via Tidal. I do have about a thousand CD's, many already ripped to FLAC, but without a NAS at the moment they don't get listened to as much as perhaps they should. Anyway with that in mind and after far too many hours browsing the internet it seems to me that my primary source should be a NUC running Roon streaming from Tidal and NAS to make use of my existing collection. Not wanting a NUC in my listening room I plan on using a SOTM or MicroRendu as an endpoint.
Main source sorted the question is what comes after the Roon endpoint. Truth be told I'm a bit of a sucker for flavour of the month and so the Mytek Brooklyn appeals immensely; that it has a mm/mc in for a future turntable and analogue volume control are also appealing features.
Forgive me whilst I jump over amplification to the speakers.
The first choice for me is passive or active. The ATC SCM19As have great reviews and are currently on my audition list. That I could run balanced cables straight from the Brooklyn to them is attractive. Yes they are pricey but not so bad when one considers the amplification in them.
Passives give me a wider choice and so far I have auditioned two prime contenders being the PMC Twenty5.23 and Quad Z3s.
The PMCs were demoed hooked up to a Naim Nac 272 and NAP 250. Listening to Gorecki's 3rd with Dawn Upshaw they were magical and the first movement was deeply engaging and musical. However fed on pop and rock they sounded far too polite for my tastes.
The Quad Z3s were demoed on a Musical Fidelity M6si fed by a Project DacBox. The Gorecki was still engaging but without the depth of sound-stage the PMC's had conjured. This time however moving on to to other music I found myself unable to do other than keep queuing up track after track. From Grimes to Eva Cassidy, from the Coco Mamas to Pentagram they delivered - toes tapping and heart jumping. Listening to the sharp zing of the harp strings on the Barr Brothers Deacon's Son revealed not a hint of brittleness in the Z3's ribbon tweeter as the notes cut through the background swirl of guitar like a cheese wire. Hyperbole meets bad writing. Suffice it to say I really rather liked them.
Amplification? Well if the ATC's best the Z3s then that's an easy one. If not I'm considering the Nord One but wonder how that might handle the ribbon tweeter of the Z3s. In an ideal world I'd find a dealer who could demo them together but at as things stand I'm beginning to think I'm just going to have to try and arrange simultaneous home demos when I've got what I hope will be a final system drawn up in my mind.
Where I need help, or a good slap to bring me to my senses, is in determining what else to audition, barring the ATCs, as I try to draw up that system for a home demo.
I suspect I've truly lost you by now in my ramblings so to try and cut through the verbiage:
NUC - ROON (Tidal / NAS) -> SOTM / MicroRendu -> Mytek Brooklyn -> Nord One -> Quad Z3
NUC - ROON (Tidal / NAS) -> SOTM / MicroRendu -> Mytek Brooklyn -> ATC SCM19A
Mad? Bad? What would you do?
Currently I have a system that is a bit of a mixed bag of odds and sods I've picked up over the years and comprises a Myryad Mi, which I use for DAB and CD, feeding a Pioneer N50A, for DAC and streaming duties, whilst amplification is a Myryad Z240 integrated and speakers are Monitor Audio Silver 2 on Partington Super Dreadnought stands. It works surprisingly well but is still a budget system and its time for a serious upgrade...in fact with a budget of up-to £10k I'm inclined to replace it entirely.
My starting point has been to consider how I listen most commonly these days and that's via Tidal. I do have about a thousand CD's, many already ripped to FLAC, but without a NAS at the moment they don't get listened to as much as perhaps they should. Anyway with that in mind and after far too many hours browsing the internet it seems to me that my primary source should be a NUC running Roon streaming from Tidal and NAS to make use of my existing collection. Not wanting a NUC in my listening room I plan on using a SOTM or MicroRendu as an endpoint.
Main source sorted the question is what comes after the Roon endpoint. Truth be told I'm a bit of a sucker for flavour of the month and so the Mytek Brooklyn appeals immensely; that it has a mm/mc in for a future turntable and analogue volume control are also appealing features.
Forgive me whilst I jump over amplification to the speakers.
The first choice for me is passive or active. The ATC SCM19As have great reviews and are currently on my audition list. That I could run balanced cables straight from the Brooklyn to them is attractive. Yes they are pricey but not so bad when one considers the amplification in them.
Passives give me a wider choice and so far I have auditioned two prime contenders being the PMC Twenty5.23 and Quad Z3s.
The PMCs were demoed hooked up to a Naim Nac 272 and NAP 250. Listening to Gorecki's 3rd with Dawn Upshaw they were magical and the first movement was deeply engaging and musical. However fed on pop and rock they sounded far too polite for my tastes.
The Quad Z3s were demoed on a Musical Fidelity M6si fed by a Project DacBox. The Gorecki was still engaging but without the depth of sound-stage the PMC's had conjured. This time however moving on to to other music I found myself unable to do other than keep queuing up track after track. From Grimes to Eva Cassidy, from the Coco Mamas to Pentagram they delivered - toes tapping and heart jumping. Listening to the sharp zing of the harp strings on the Barr Brothers Deacon's Son revealed not a hint of brittleness in the Z3's ribbon tweeter as the notes cut through the background swirl of guitar like a cheese wire. Hyperbole meets bad writing. Suffice it to say I really rather liked them.
Amplification? Well if the ATC's best the Z3s then that's an easy one. If not I'm considering the Nord One but wonder how that might handle the ribbon tweeter of the Z3s. In an ideal world I'd find a dealer who could demo them together but at as things stand I'm beginning to think I'm just going to have to try and arrange simultaneous home demos when I've got what I hope will be a final system drawn up in my mind.
Where I need help, or a good slap to bring me to my senses, is in determining what else to audition, barring the ATCs, as I try to draw up that system for a home demo.
I suspect I've truly lost you by now in my ramblings so to try and cut through the verbiage:
NUC - ROON (Tidal / NAS) -> SOTM / MicroRendu -> Mytek Brooklyn -> Nord One -> Quad Z3
NUC - ROON (Tidal / NAS) -> SOTM / MicroRendu -> Mytek Brooklyn -> ATC SCM19A
Mad? Bad? What would you do?
