DAC + HA + Poweramp setup

[vco1]

Before actually buying new devices and spending considerable money I'd like to be sure that everything will work as I expect it to. And preferably without (too many) sacrifices in sound quality. Currently I'm thinking of getting a D90se DAC, A90 HA and 2 Audiophonics MPA-M400ET poweramps (PA) which has both RCA ans XLR inputs. The poweramps will be next to the speakers (Sp), at approximately 1.5m and 4.5m away from the DAC and HA. Like this.

Sp -<1m- PA ---1.5m--- DAC / HA ----------4.5m---------- PA -<1m- Sp

The DAC would be used as a preamp, since the A90 is lacking a remote control which is a must have for me.

What would be the best way to connect the D90se DAC to both the HA and PA?
1. XLR to the PA and RCA to the A90
2. RCA to the PA and XLR to the A90
3. Something else...

Would adding a (Pre90) preamp have any additional benefit in this setup?

Any other considerations I might have missed? Thanks! It's a nice, but sometimes confusing, puzzle to me. ;-)

 

[Bear123]

It would appear that sound quality is your goal. If that's the case, what are you using for bass management, eq, and subs? Sound quality will be taking a huge hit if that isn't covered. Have you measured response and placed subs properly?.

 

[vco1]

Sound quality is not my ultimate goal. Although I want the best (which is up for debate) I can get for the money I'm willing to spend. And enjoy the music.

My room is not perfect, nor will it ever be. To start with, I don't have a dedicated listening room. It's my living room. And I don't want to put all kinds of absorbers, bass traps and what have you in that room. Mainly because I think they're not very attractive. Aesthetics do matter to me.
My hearing (probably) isn't perfect either. I'm not 20 anymore and there's tinnitus too, although that's something I hardly notice most of the time. I do think that I can differentiate between good and bad sounding setups though.
And finally, I'm living near a quite busy road. So there's also the sounds from the outside. Luckily it's not that bad in the evenings, although there definitely is the occasional car passing by.

So my setup is a tradeoff between al of this. And I'm aware of that. And accepting it. I'm not perfect either. ;-) But that doesn't mean I don't want to strive for the optimum, ceteris paribus.

Answering your questions, I haven't measured response. I don't have subs. But I might some day. Not the sub probably, but room measurement and using something like DIRAC room correction (adding a minidsp). For the very near future that's not in the planning though.

For now I'm just looking for advice of how to best connect all the (new) dots in my planned system.

 

[Bear123]

My system is in a living room as well. I guess the best input I can give you is that bass management, subs, and eq will have orders of magnitude larger impact on sound quality than which DAC, amp, and cables you use. Speakers too of course.
So if you haven’t bought your electronics yet, maybe focus on ensuring your equipment had this capability, otherwise sound quality will be drastically compromised.
I’d go so far as to say that bm, subs, and eq are even more important in a normal room where ridiculous placement options aren’t feasible to attempt a reasonably high fidelity response. Being able to place subs properly and correct in room response are crucial.

 

[jae]

I agree with @Bear123. A measurement mic is only $79. It's understandable if you don't want to pull the trigger on dirac yet but that $79 and learning to do manual correction in an evening or two will increase your enjoyment of the sound much more than the (fantastic) topping products themselves. The mic will be infinitely useful any time you make changes to your system, room (moving around furniture?), or used with dirac or other sytems later on. Maybe you can use it to help out a family or friend's system as well? Spending $500-800 on even just one solid subwoofer and going cheaper on your DAC/AMP if the budget is a concern (maybe a topping EX5?) will give you objectively better sound quality than just buying the top of the line products.

 

[vco1]

Thanks both for your advice. It's appreciated. And valuable.

The reason for buying new equipment is actually not to get something better sounding or better measuring. I quite happy with the way it sounds. It's because my current integrated amplifier is humming like crazy. For many years. And audible from quite a distance. [I've posted about this in another thread] After trying a lot to tame the hum, all to no effect or only temporarily, I've finally decided to look for something new. Something without huge toroidal transformers. Since my current amp is an integrated one - with a headphone output - this also means I have to look for a HA. And a new DAC since my current D50s is hard to integrate in this setup too, having only one set of single-ended outputs (i.e. no easy way to connect it to both a poweramp and headphone amp).

So it's not that I don't want to buy a measurement mic and see what's wrong with my room (and there is most likely a lot wrong and thus a lot of room for improvement). Or don't see the value of it. But that's not my top priority at the moment. First and foremost because measuring my room and/or room treatment definitely won't fix that annoying hum. ;-)

On the positive side, in the planned setup adding something like a Minidsp will likely be easier. Once I've figured out what's the best way to connect the DAC, HA and PA (which was basically my initial question...).