- Joined
- Sep 10, 2019
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Greetings all,
I should really post an introduction post before an asking-for-help post... but I guess I'll do this out of order today! First - a quick thanks to everyone for the spirited and well informed discussion that takes place on these boards. It's a joy to read and challenge some long-held beliefs and enjoy some heresies shared here.
I'm looking to consolidate my stereo to accommodate the reality of how listening to music actually works for me now, with a spouse, kiddo, and dog in the house. Long gone are the days of loud stereo in the living room --> stereo in the bedroom, music all the time from breakfast until bed I'm therefore looking to set up a good moderate-volume living room setup for casual listening at moderate-low volumes + headphones.
I've been using an old Arcam AVR-100 HT receiver as the brains and brawn. Unfortunately, the digital board went out on it a few years ago and it's not worth the repair. My sources are a Pro-Ject turntable with Pro-Ject phono amp, and a raspberry pi for digital. Headphones were Grado 325e's that I'm disappointed with and am working to replace (options right now include Beyerdynamics 880/1990? and Hifiman Sundara.. suggestions welcome but that's another thread), and speakers are Era Design 5's (now marketed by Peachtree). I've got two Outlaw monoblocks sitting idle that could be used, but I might sell them and get something more compact.
I'd like to have a relatively compact setup (especially compared to a big AV Receiver box) that blends into the living room better. My ideal box would be a Headphone Amp-DAC-Preamp with integrated phono stage, and a compact amplifier to drive a pair of Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers (now marketed by Peachtree). Based on most of the browsing I've done so far, the ideal box I'd like doesn't exist, or is impractically expensive. So, I expect I'll be looking for a subset of separate boxes to do the work.
I've dreamt up a few scenarios that fit better to worse with the above goals:
1) External DAC to headphone amp/preamp with integrated phono stage, variable output to amplifier (a used Nuprime HPA-9 looked interesting for this option)\
2) Integrated DAC/Headphone Amp with line-in for preamped phono inputs, and variable output to amplifier
3) Option "All the boxes," / buy the ASR stack: standalone DAC (Topping), JDS Atom Headphone Amp (used as preamp?), standalone phono stage as secondary input to headphone amp, separate amp
4) Nostalgia Option: Bring my beautiful vintage Marantz 2215 into the living room, use it as the phono preamp and amplifier, use an external DAC, and hope the headphone output works well enough
If you were in my shoes, what direction would you go? Clarifying questions welcomed.
Thanks!
Eric
I should really post an introduction post before an asking-for-help post... but I guess I'll do this out of order today! First - a quick thanks to everyone for the spirited and well informed discussion that takes place on these boards. It's a joy to read and challenge some long-held beliefs and enjoy some heresies shared here.
I'm looking to consolidate my stereo to accommodate the reality of how listening to music actually works for me now, with a spouse, kiddo, and dog in the house. Long gone are the days of loud stereo in the living room --> stereo in the bedroom, music all the time from breakfast until bed I'm therefore looking to set up a good moderate-volume living room setup for casual listening at moderate-low volumes + headphones.
I've been using an old Arcam AVR-100 HT receiver as the brains and brawn. Unfortunately, the digital board went out on it a few years ago and it's not worth the repair. My sources are a Pro-Ject turntable with Pro-Ject phono amp, and a raspberry pi for digital. Headphones were Grado 325e's that I'm disappointed with and am working to replace (options right now include Beyerdynamics 880/1990? and Hifiman Sundara.. suggestions welcome but that's another thread), and speakers are Era Design 5's (now marketed by Peachtree). I've got two Outlaw monoblocks sitting idle that could be used, but I might sell them and get something more compact.
I'd like to have a relatively compact setup (especially compared to a big AV Receiver box) that blends into the living room better. My ideal box would be a Headphone Amp-DAC-Preamp with integrated phono stage, and a compact amplifier to drive a pair of Era Design 5 bookshelf speakers (now marketed by Peachtree). Based on most of the browsing I've done so far, the ideal box I'd like doesn't exist, or is impractically expensive. So, I expect I'll be looking for a subset of separate boxes to do the work.
I've dreamt up a few scenarios that fit better to worse with the above goals:
1) External DAC to headphone amp/preamp with integrated phono stage, variable output to amplifier (a used Nuprime HPA-9 looked interesting for this option)\
2) Integrated DAC/Headphone Amp with line-in for preamped phono inputs, and variable output to amplifier
3) Option "All the boxes," / buy the ASR stack: standalone DAC (Topping), JDS Atom Headphone Amp (used as preamp?), standalone phono stage as secondary input to headphone amp, separate amp
4) Nostalgia Option: Bring my beautiful vintage Marantz 2215 into the living room, use it as the phono preamp and amplifier, use an external DAC, and hope the headphone output works well enough
If you were in my shoes, what direction would you go? Clarifying questions welcomed.
Thanks!
Eric