A little system to play with for a week or so...

[hifilover]

So, thanks to Jerry (JANDL100) and his loan of the little Amptastic t-amp on the Wam, as well as an SMSL DAC I bought via 'SPM' on here and the little Q Acoustic 2010's I bought via eBay; I've a little system to toy about with until my brother is back from holiday later on next week...

I've got the DAC connected to my i7 Mac Mini running iTunes via BitPerfect using optical and that into the amp via a Black Rhodium Rhapsody interconnect feeding the Q's via some QED Silver Anniversary cable I had lying around in the loft...

Just blasting out all sorts, but Colter Wall is on currently and the dirty deep guitar plucks sound fantastic!

Yes; it's very much a near-field system with it being on my desk; but it's still managing to belt out some sound. The Q's aren't the last word in bass depth, but they still belt out a good, punchy sound!

I've got an MA A100 amp and some MA BX1 speakers on their way to me and they should land tomorrow; will see how they fair side by side and with a bit of speaker swapping; it'll be an interesting weekend ;-)

Some pics to show what the little system looks like:

[hughandella]

Some of these 'cheap and cheerful' components can be surprisingly good --- Amptastic is well known ( good man Jerry for sharing --- personally I'm also a fan of the Trends T amp and I urge people to give the little Mistral tube hybrid amps a go too ) and just about everything I have had from SMSL has been really good ( DACs & T amps ) ..... I had a similar system with Eclipse TD speakers and again for nearfield it was all I needed.

Right now I am trying an alternate option --- I have consciously given B&O gear a try and in my experience there are some decent bits of kit that you can pick up relatively cheaply now ( I could never justify new prices ) and I've been pretty happy with a couple of bits of recommended kit 'across the decades' -- from 1970's/80's I have a Beomaster 4000 and 80's/90's a Beomaster 5000 & MCP and from the 2000's and relative to this thread ---- right now I'm using a (great and cheap) Schiit Audio Passive pre with a pair of Beolab 4000 active speakers and it's very decent sound for £325 ! .......... anyway enjoy your system I've just watched Diana Krall live in Paris on YouTube and with decent audio and a good screen it's a very nice way to spend the morning !! ... Paul Weller up next

then time to move B&O on ...

[Conan]

Let us know what do you think of the MA A100.

[Arkless Electronics]

Any MF A100's, A1's etc still working will be in need of a total rebuild in order to work correctly...

[Conan]

Any MF A100's, A1's etc still working will be in need of a total rebuild in order to work correctly...

Not talking about MF but Monitor Audio A100

[hifilover]

^^^

Thanks; yes, it's the Monitor Audio A100 I've bought; not Musical Fidelity

I'm looking forward to it landing; it has everything I need to partner some good speakers and having my Mac as the source; no need to faff about with DAC's etc

I do like the Q's that are here currently; but I know already that they're a bit bass shy for my tastes... I may look out for some B&W 686s or 685's or maybe some MA RX1's, if I can find them at a sensible price!

[brian2957]

Nice one Dan . How does the Amptastic compare to the SMSL ?

[hifilover]

The SMSL is a DAC; I haven't heard their amps, but they can be bought for £35 via eBay, so I'm tempted to order one to have a play with!

[brian2957]

Ah.. OK How's the SMSL DAC then Dan

[hifilover]

Haha; it's very good!

I'd say a good step up from the likes of the Fiio D3 or Lindy DAC's, but not as good as the MF VDACII etc... But it is only around £30, so it's at that level where they all probably sound the same haha