I benefited quite a lot of the information in this forum and Amir's reviews to perform what I consider the ultimate upgrade to my system. Now I want to share my findings hoping that they will be helpful for anybody interested in any of the products I chose.
Please be aware that I have a small dedicated listening room of about 20 square meter that is far from perfect, hence I use Dirac Live with Audirvana with great results. My biggest issue is a strong emphasis on the left channel that, for instance, MathAudio cannot correct but Dirac Live can. If you do not have a similar problem the former is a great option. If you do not have issues with the bass, not applying any correction is obviously the best option.
I consider myself a long standing audiophile; in my roughly 35 years of experience I owned and listened to a large amount of systems and came to believe many things that I now understand where not what they seemed to be (e.g. the role of cables). My last significant upgrade was 13 years ago. Thanks to what I learned on this site I decided to try a Topping D90SE instead of my trusted Weiss DAC202. The D90SE is a stunning DAC and the new overall setup requires much less bass correction by Dirac Live.
After the D90SE I bought a Pre90 and I was incredibly happy to realise that it did not impact the sound in any way. I therefore gained the convenience (for my specific setup) of more inputs (I also have the extender) and a true volume dial instead of the digital attenuation.
After that I added a Pro-Ject Streambox Ultra and now I can stream my music without the need to use an USB cable, very convenient. The Streambox works really well and there is no difference that I can ear between streaming and USB.
Until now I only switched the Weiss and added some pieces of equipment, hence the choices were quite easy. I have fairly large speakers and therefore I was quite concerned about switching AMPs but, since I was so happy with the results from the D90SE and the Pre90, I took the risk and bought two LA90 Discrete. The AMPs are now hooked in MONO to my Burmester B50. I am REALLY happy to report that they can drive such speakers without any issues.
The end result of this upgrade is that I have an extraordinarily revealing sound, an incredible precision in the basses and all the power I need. Especially the basses are critical in symphonic music and with my old setup they were not comparable. Needless to say music like Random Access Memories by Daft Punk is perfect too.
Please be aware that I have a small dedicated listening room of about 20 square meter that is far from perfect, hence I use Dirac Live with Audirvana with great results. My biggest issue is a strong emphasis on the left channel that, for instance, MathAudio cannot correct but Dirac Live can. If you do not have a similar problem the former is a great option. If you do not have issues with the bass, not applying any correction is obviously the best option.
I consider myself a long standing audiophile; in my roughly 35 years of experience I owned and listened to a large amount of systems and came to believe many things that I now understand where not what they seemed to be (e.g. the role of cables). My last significant upgrade was 13 years ago. Thanks to what I learned on this site I decided to try a Topping D90SE instead of my trusted Weiss DAC202. The D90SE is a stunning DAC and the new overall setup requires much less bass correction by Dirac Live.
After the D90SE I bought a Pre90 and I was incredibly happy to realise that it did not impact the sound in any way. I therefore gained the convenience (for my specific setup) of more inputs (I also have the extender) and a true volume dial instead of the digital attenuation.
After that I added a Pro-Ject Streambox Ultra and now I can stream my music without the need to use an USB cable, very convenient. The Streambox works really well and there is no difference that I can ear between streaming and USB.
Until now I only switched the Weiss and added some pieces of equipment, hence the choices were quite easy. I have fairly large speakers and therefore I was quite concerned about switching AMPs but, since I was so happy with the results from the D90SE and the Pre90, I took the risk and bought two LA90 Discrete. The AMPs are now hooked in MONO to my Burmester B50. I am REALLY happy to report that they can drive such speakers without any issues.
The end result of this upgrade is that I have an extraordinarily revealing sound, an incredible precision in the basses and all the power I need. Especially the basses are critical in symphonic music and with my old setup they were not comparable. Needless to say music like Random Access Memories by Daft Punk is perfect too.
