Hi all,
I am very ignorant when it comes to audio, and usually I even struggle to hear the difference between two different amplifiers. However, my ears do appreciate good natural sound a lot. When being advised by a local hifi retailer, I could only hear a marginal difference between a NAD c338 and C368, but I would be lying if I said I heard the difference between the NAD C368 and C388.
Old situation:
Recently I had a NAD T748 v2 + two Dali Zensor 5's set up in stereo for music, plus added Dali Zensor Vokal for movies. However, I could not get around to the fact that I was literally annoyed with the lack of user friendly-ness of the T748 and sometimes it even felt underpowered for the speakers. I often tend to stream music via e.g. my chromecast, but I always had to configure the right channel back and forth when listening to music and watching a movie. I also have zero intention of adding more wired speakers, thus I decided to sell it. On the basis of that preference I also sold my center.
That brings me to the desired to-be new situation.
Desired situation:
In the desired situation, I would like to connect an amplifier to my existing Dali zensor 5's, and potentially expand to multi-room audio in the future whereby I can stream music whenever I want and the setup should seamlessly switch to my TV once I decide to turn that on.
On the basis of my research, I came to the conclusion that the bluesound streaming speaker family must be the top of the line - within the limits of my budget. Hence, my first conclusion was to connect an NAD C388 to the speakers so that I could always expand to either 'surround-ish' or multi-room. However, I felt like I would be paying too much, and I got a bad feeling based on the reviews and user-experiences I read here and there. Then, the Powernode 2i crossed my path, but I have doubts that it will be able to sufficiently drive the Zensor 5's. So, to top it off, on this wonderful forum I came across a DAC that received some nice comments and an AMP that apparently rocks.
To list my options:
1. NAD C388 - 1250 euro's new. Add 500 for BluOs module for multi-room, ending up at 1750.
2. Bluesound Powernode - 900 euro's new, ready to go.
3. SMSL M300 MKII + Audiophonics MPA-S250NC - 750 euro's new. Add 550 for a Node 2i, ending up at 1300 ready to go.
My gut feeling tells me going for option 3 will hit me a home-run, whereby I might even never have to consider multi-room as the power will be sufficient to fill my entire appartment with music. However, I cannot shake off the feeling that option 2 buys me a one-stop solution, whereas option 1 does this with better performance, albeit for double the price.
I am happy to be educated on this topic, so please do share your views and opinion.
Thanks !
I am very ignorant when it comes to audio, and usually I even struggle to hear the difference between two different amplifiers. However, my ears do appreciate good natural sound a lot. When being advised by a local hifi retailer, I could only hear a marginal difference between a NAD c338 and C368, but I would be lying if I said I heard the difference between the NAD C368 and C388.
Old situation:
Recently I had a NAD T748 v2 + two Dali Zensor 5's set up in stereo for music, plus added Dali Zensor Vokal for movies. However, I could not get around to the fact that I was literally annoyed with the lack of user friendly-ness of the T748 and sometimes it even felt underpowered for the speakers. I often tend to stream music via e.g. my chromecast, but I always had to configure the right channel back and forth when listening to music and watching a movie. I also have zero intention of adding more wired speakers, thus I decided to sell it. On the basis of that preference I also sold my center.
That brings me to the desired to-be new situation.
Desired situation:
In the desired situation, I would like to connect an amplifier to my existing Dali zensor 5's, and potentially expand to multi-room audio in the future whereby I can stream music whenever I want and the setup should seamlessly switch to my TV once I decide to turn that on.
On the basis of my research, I came to the conclusion that the bluesound streaming speaker family must be the top of the line - within the limits of my budget. Hence, my first conclusion was to connect an NAD C388 to the speakers so that I could always expand to either 'surround-ish' or multi-room. However, I felt like I would be paying too much, and I got a bad feeling based on the reviews and user-experiences I read here and there. Then, the Powernode 2i crossed my path, but I have doubts that it will be able to sufficiently drive the Zensor 5's. So, to top it off, on this wonderful forum I came across a DAC that received some nice comments and an AMP that apparently rocks.
To list my options:
1. NAD C388 - 1250 euro's new. Add 500 for BluOs module for multi-room, ending up at 1750.
2. Bluesound Powernode - 900 euro's new, ready to go.
3. SMSL M300 MKII + Audiophonics MPA-S250NC - 750 euro's new. Add 550 for a Node 2i, ending up at 1300 ready to go.
My gut feeling tells me going for option 3 will hit me a home-run, whereby I might even never have to consider multi-room as the power will be sufficient to fill my entire appartment with music. However, I cannot shake off the feeling that option 2 buys me a one-stop solution, whereas option 1 does this with better performance, albeit for double the price.
I am happy to be educated on this topic, so please do share your views and opinion.
Thanks !
