Well, you know my answer - I'd say get those diffusers in, work on getting the room better...then your other system issues (and changes) will be way more apparent. The room wrecks our sound far more than we realize.

It also helps to have audiophile friends that can listen in and evaluate your system - maybe even flat out swap gear with you for experimentation.

To me, those two things will make the biggest impact and help you out of ruts. The learning experience alone has made me more confident in my decisions on gear. I find I no longer waffle or regret purchases. And that is a pretty big improvement on my listening - LOL.

Fireblade,

When I review your equipment list nothing jumps out at me being "out of line" with the other components.  They are all logical choices with high price-to-performance ratios.  I would pursue the room diffusion, but I would also pursue optimization of your playback software, audition interconnects/speaker cables through the Cable Company, and perhaps do some tube rolling.  Lastly, if you don't have any aftermarket power cords you are selling your system short.  All these things are cheaper than replacing whole components.  

My two cents,
Rob

Ha Ha! I may become the Correspondent/Representative of the CDApS 'Foreign Chapter' ...  :D

Seriously now, I agree with everything mentioned here. I already did some tube rolling and that department is pretty stable now. I achieved a nice balanced setup I'm happy with.

The Difussors are a go, I just need some logistics barriers out of my way. I agree these will put my system in real potential perspective, but I want to go the next step, beyond that.

No critical listeners in my area, never mind audiophiles ..  Don't know anyone as of yet. My few friends are not into this sort of hobby. Actually, I'm kind of the weird hobby guy, as most people go for the BOOM! - BOOM! in audio  >:(  

I can't imagine even selling or buying these kinds of equipment down here (no second market, that is why I cannot make acquisition mistakes), although there used to be a McIntosh Rep for a while ...  Haven't heard of them for some time now. The guy used to complain about people here not the least interested in this audiophile thing ... and when I told him I preferred small flea amps, that Rep never replied back!  ;)

Anyway, the USB implementation in my current DAC is significantly better of what I had before, so, I'm happy with it. I think USB is the way to go for its practicity and it has been developed so much, it's going to continue getting better on each new device out in the market.

The barrier is the Mini Torii not accepting balanced, in which case I could go for the  Audio Gd NFB 7 Balanced option down the road, my current DAC's major sibling, Audio Gd's Sabre chip flagship (I like Sabre, but have not heard the alternative chip from UK).

Power cords ... well, Jellyfish is great, and I have a new Connektion cord for my DAC. Neither expensive, but with high reputations in the real world (not in the audiophile one!). My Isolation Transformer is behaving great. The power company may have finally settled down and adjusted to the higher demand and may stay again stable for a while. That rules the PS Audio P3 out, as I think I can get more from that investment than following that road.

I also don't appreciate DAC or Power cord or Interconnect suggestions, I'm done with them until the last, ultimate polishing revision, which would probably happen after I'm dead ... ha ha! I think there are more substantial improvements in other areas (caps/resistors tweaking for speakers, bees wax caps for amps, more absolute power, maybe, or an absolute SET sound? I DUNNO, that is why I ask around.

Please keep those suggestions coming, Thanks!

We welcome all.  We even allow members from Wisconsin.

Ahhh... Illinois.  A sad state of affairs.

Quote:


That is assuming they bring down some New Glarus.  

I have found though that the better my active components become, the more I can hear and appreciate differences in cables.

Correct and agreed.

I'm currently evaluating my upgrading path, no easy task, mind you, as there are even philosophical conceptions involved, like more SET-like sound or more tube power? Better DAC for 2.8 times what I paid for the fine-sounding DAC I have? Worth it given my gear?

Room conditioning is a must to evaluate cables as well as components. Only problem is, I essentially cannot try and return, so any component upgrade choice has to be guided by a kind Master like Steve, with whom I'm assessing my situation for his final advise on an upgrade path.

Yeah, the Yggdrasil is tempting, but way too expensive for such a fast evolving segment. I would rather invest the price difference in better amplification.

For a ballpark USD 1,000.00 less, I prefer this:

http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/NFB732/NFB7.32EN.htm

Now, if I had a ZMA and HR-1 speakers, the Schiit Yggdrasil would be ideal, worth that much money difference, I'm sure.

I'm happy with my current smaller sibling Audio Gd NFB 3 (2014), and the NFB 7 tromps it even with RCA outputs, as referred to by several users' testimonials which upgraded from a NFB 28 or NFB 3 like mine, or other similar level Audio Gd alternatives.

The NFB 7 is Audio Gd's Sabre chip flagship, which according to designer Kingwa cannot be improved any further by him, regardless of cost, as his design applied all the chip's capabilities to their limit.

Of course, the other nice sounding Audio Gd flagship is based on the UK PCM1704UK chip, which is more analog (real)-sounding but less resolving and it's even more expensive due to the UK's chip not being produced anymore.

One would need to have had the experience with Audio Gd units to really appreciate their value, which does not correlate with current market prices. Just my view.

Good call Acetone.  We swapped some Triode Wire Labs in for some Blue Jeans in a buddy's system and it was embarrassing for Blue Jeans.  Same thing happened when swapping Grover interconnects for Blue Jeans.

Fireblade,  The cable comparison/evaluation Triodes vs blue jean is good to know. Thank you for that input. Everytime I upgrade I have a voice in my head saying "I don't know if it can sound better than it does now" but, after the upgrade it does..noticeably (most notably with ZP3 upgrade - ortofon 2m black upgrade, and acoustic treatments). So far so good with my tweaking.

Oops excuse me ...Thanks much to Progg. I need to slow down a bit.

hey Progg,  absolutely love the 2m black.
I spoke to Steve D before buying the ZP3 and of the carts I was looking at he recommended the black. very detailed and revealing, and less sibilence than my other choices. Example: listening to Traffic "low spark" the other night I could hear a vocal that was out of sorts during the first few verses and chorus of the song...it finally dawned on me that the track was recorded on tape that had not been properly erased so there was a vocal bleed that became part of the new recording...Now that's too much detail, but pretty cool.

I hear you Krow...some days are better than others when listening. I think a lot has to do with our state of mind. I find best sessions are when I am able to sit, relax and the music clears my mind of the daily clutter. UPDATE: the new mapleshade 'double helix plus' cables have 15 hrs burn in on them and they are undoubtedly keepers.  First 3-4 hours were a bit thin and harsh...but they are getting sweeter and sweeter.  Soundstage width, depth and details are all easily detected improvements.  :) nice!

Thanks Lon,  your past posts got me started on checking out the mapleshades. These forums really, really do help in steering me in good ways!