Amp/dac for floor standing speaker

[Tornth]

Hello everyone,

I just got a pair of big floor standing speakers (Elipson Horus 5, French brand), they can go up to 150 Watts with an 8 Ohm impedance. However, I have use for it in a relatively small room and do not need that much power. I intend to use a NAS as file source, and I wanted your help for choosing an amp and if a DAC is needed. I am not looking for high range equipment, but something I can use for a couple of years and upgrade later on.

I have the Topping D30/A30 with a DT990 which I'm very fond of that I use for my desktop.

Thank you, Tornth

 

[andreasmaaan]

What's your budget?

 

[Tornth]

I would like to stay under 500$ if possible

 

[andreasmaaan]

Not sure if you're in the Europe, but this is an exceptional 2ch amp for the price. Measures about as well as anything on the market and has about as much power as you'll need.

 

[Tornth]

I'll check it out, thanks. I suppose I have to get a dac too. Can a desktop like dac do, e.g. topping etc ?

 

[JJB70]

At the $500 dollar price point there are plenty of good amps, many with on-board DACs. Especially if you shop around for discounts and B stock bargains you should be able to get an excellent amp which will do you for years. Companies like Marantz, Onkyo, TEAC, Denon etc all make some nice, well made amps which will be within your budget.

 

[andreasmaaan]

I'll check it out, thanks. I suppose I have to get a dac too. Can a desktop like dac do, e.g. topping etc ?

The Topping D30 is an excellent DAC. It's extremely unlikely any DAC upgrade could produce an audible difference over the D30.

EDIT: an audible advantage. You could pay a lot more and get an audible difference

 

[bobhol]

From what I could find those speakers are fairly efficient. That opens up the options by a large factor. There are plenty of vintage amp/integrated amps and receivers that you may be able to find on Craigslist. But vintage can end up being large and ugly and not always reliable. From what I saw in a review 150W in a small room would be way more than you need. The sound source and the DAC (if you're playing digital) are much more important than the power amp.