What to consider next? After fosi za3...

[greydea]

Hello,

Have a pair of PSB Imagine T tower, and recently acquired an old pair of KEF 104/2 (in the process of refurbishing them, at least the ferrofluid for the tweeter). Also have a monoprice sw-12 sub (which was a huge improvement over no sub, this is my first sub).

Have a smsl su-1 and fosi za3 to boot strap the system, and things are ok. Friend and I had a listening party, and wondering if a better dac/amp would be noticeably better?

For me, I have a computer centric system, and want USB input for the DAC. Also, is it worth going to a balanced signal pathway (like TRS/XLR)?

What to consider after fosi za3?

Thanks for any suggestions.

edit: clarified smsl dac model, added sub details;

 

[staticV3]

Hi @greydea! Welcome to ASR.

is it worth going to a balanced signal pathway (like TRS/XLR)?

Only if your current unbalanced signal pathway results in ground loop- or EMI-induced intereference noise.
If there's none of that, then switching to XLR is pointless.

wondering if a better dac/amp would be noticeably better?

The SU-1 (I assume that's the one you meant) is a fully transparent DAC, meaning it outputs a 1:1 copy of what's stored on your audio tracks, without adding or removing anything.

Buying another DAC in search of higher conversion fidelity would be pointless.

That being said, there are DACs out there which are subtle effect boxes, e.g. R2R or NOS DACs. Unlike the SU-1, they will modify the sound of your tracks.

As for the Amp, upgrading would only make sense if:

• There's audible hiss coming from your speakers with the ZA3
• The Amp doesn't get loud enough, even with everything turned up to full volume
• The Amp starts distorting before you can reach your desired playback levels

---

If none of these are the case, then to improve sound quality you should look into room correction, room treatment, subwoofer integration and loudspeaker placement.

Buying new DACs and Amps won't help at that point, even though you may perceive an improvement due to sunk cost fallacy, confirmation bias, loudness bias etc.

 

[DVDdoug]

Speakers and room acoustics make be biggest difference, by far. Different speakers and different rooms always sound different (better or worse).

EQ can also make a BIG difference.

To measure the room and speakers together you can ger a measurement mic (about $100 USD) and REW (free) to measure the room and then use EQ/DSP and/or acoustic treatment to correct/improve the sound.

and wondering if a better dac/amp would be noticeably better?

A different DAC won't make any difference.

If your setup doesn't go loud enough enough without distortion a more powerful amp will go louder. (But you don't want more watts than the speakers can safely handle.)
Or, if you are herring noise (hum, hiss, or whine) in the background, and that noise is coming from the amplifier, a quieter amp will help.

For me, I have a computer centric system, and want USB input for the DAC. Also, is it worth going to a balanced signal pathway (like TRS/XLR)?

The advantage of balanced connections is noise rejection (radiated noise and ground loop noise). If you don't have these problems there's no problem to solve.

 

[greydea]

Hi @greydea! Welcome to ASR.


Only if your current unbalanced signal pathway results in ground loop- or EMI-induced intereference noise.
If there's none of that, then switching to XLR is pointless.


The SU-1 (I assume that's the one you meant) is a fully transparent DAC, meaning it outputs a 1:1 copy of what's stored on your audio tracks, without adding or removing anything.

Buying another DAC in search of higher conversion fidelity would be pointless.

That being said, there are DACs out there which are subtle effect boxes, e.g. R2R or NOS DACs. Unlike the SU-1, they will modify the sound of your tracks.

As for the Amp, upgrading would only make sense if:

• There's audible hiss coming from your speakers with the ZA3
• The Amp doesn't get loud enough, even with everything turned up to full volume
• The Amp starts distorting before you can reach your desired playback levels

---

If none of these are the case, then to improve sound quality you should look into room correction, room treatment, subwoofer integration and loudspeaker placement.

Buying new DACs and Amps won't help at that point, even though you may perceive an improvement due to sunk cost fallacy, confirmation bias, loudness bias etc.

signal pathway: relatively short cables (6-12 ft), no electrical interference, so sounds like unbalanced is fine;

amp: no hiss, loud enough, no distortion (that I can hear); friend was convinced a "better" amp would get the speakers to sound better;

i do have some ideas for room treatment...

guess you can spend as much as you want... i was looking at dac/preamp/amp and was thinking of going to the $1k range...

thanks for responding!

 

[Zek]

friend was convinced a "better" amp would get the speakers to sound better

If you can try any amp in your environment and compare it to the ZA3, you'll know for yourself which one suits you better.
Any other recommendation is a personal preference and may not match yours.