Starter amp and DAC recommendations for a young music lover

[oceanobsession]

tube technology unisis integrated or manley stingray , jolida valve dac , should be able to pick up these for £1000 seconhand if it has to be ss then avi pre and monos
phil.

[Svend N]

Thanks Phil. I appreciate the recommendations. I've heard very good things about Jolida products, incl. their DACs.

Just as an aside, the contrast of very old school tube technology being used in a 21st century digital product amuses me. Makes me want to go there just for that reason.

Best,
Svend

[ppat2]

I am starting to hunt around for some components to set up my eldest daughter with her first audio system for her upcoming move into an apartment in the city. She'll be graduating from university this year and is starting a job downtown after the summer. She loves music, values good sound quality, loves vinyl for its sound and not because it's trendy. Musical tastes range from alternative, acoustical, folk-influenced alternative, jazz, and a little classical. No rock, metal, or hip-hop. Doesn't care for overly heavy bass, but likes accurate, crisp, dynamic sound that highlight vocals, acoustic guitars, wind and brass instruments. Transparency and detail would rule here. Full midrange, lots of quickness and jump.

So far I have acquired an original Rega Planar 2 turntable which I will upgrade with a few sensible mods (nothing over the top...mostly motor and deck isolation-focused). Arm and cartridge undetermined, but they will be good quality....something like an RB300/2M Bronze, or equivalent.

Digital source will be a Macbook, most likely running Spotify and iTunes.

Her Grandpa is giving her a pair of his old KEF stand-mounted speakers; model unknown, circa 1980's vintage. They are two-way, unported, so will likely need good oomph from whatever amp I end up getting. He ran them with a Quad 306 and I don't think it enough gas in the tank for those.


So what I'd like some opinion on from the group here is the amp and DAC. Budget about C$1000 (600 GBP) for both.

Re. the amp -- this could be compact separates or an integrated, new or second hand (prefer the latter for value for money). We'd probably need 75 to 100 watts to really drive the KEFs, but I could be wrong. I see that some of the new integrated amps have built-in DACs. My concern here is redundancy of the on-board DAC after a few short years, so instinct says to go for a high quality traditional amp and separate DAC that can be upgraded when needed.

Older integrated models that I'm considering are the Rega Mira, one of the more powerful NAD integrated units, or something from Arcam or Cambridge. I love the Sugden sound, but I don't think they made anything much over 50 wpc(?). For separates, some of the older Bryston combos can be had here for very reasonable prices, being a local company, but some of their early stuff had a very grainy sound. I'm also not averse to Japanese units if simply designed, well made and good sounding -- most of them have so many superfluous bells and whistles that I'd be turned off by....and they tend to be rather large.

I haven't heard most of these, and definitely not recently, so opinions most welcome. If new, then the field is wide open, but I'm doubtful I'd find anything suitably powerful within the budget. How about Class D? I know nothing about this - can these little amps drive a larger unported speaker like the KEF?

As for the DAC, I'm leaning toward one of the Schiit units as they are good value, preferably one that can be upgraded (if it makes sense to do so). On the budget end perhaps one of the Dragonfly models would do the job.

So, advice welcomed and gratefully accepted. Hopefully I'm on the right track with my amp leanings. Looking forward to hearing some recommendations.

Kind regards,
Svend

I am starting to hunt around for some components to set up my eldest daughter with her first audio system for her upcoming move into an apartment in the city. She'll be graduating from university this year and is starting a job downtown after the summer. She loves music, values good sound quality, loves vinyl for its sound and not because it's trendy. Musical tastes range from alternative, acoustical, folk-influenced alternative, jazz, and a little classical. No rock, metal, or hip-hop. Doesn't care for overly heavy bass, but likes accurate, crisp, dynamic sound that highlight vocals, acoustic guitars, wind and brass instruments. Transparency and detail would rule here. Full midrange, lots of quickness and jump.

So far I have acquired an original Rega Planar 2 turntable which I will upgrade with a few sensible mods (nothing over the top...mostly motor and deck isolation-focused). Arm and cartridge undetermined, but they will be good quality....something like an RB300/2M Bronze, or equivalent.

Digital source will be a Macbook, most likely running Spotify and iTunes.

Her Grandpa is giving her a pair of his old KEF stand-mounted speakers; model unknown, circa 1980's vintage. They are two-way, unported, so will likely need good oomph from whatever amp I end up getting. He ran them with a Quad 306 and I don't think it enough gas in the tank for those.


So what I'd like some opinion on from the group here is the amp and DAC. Budget about C$1000 (600 GBP) for both.

Re. the amp -- this could be compact separates or an integrated, new or second hand (prefer the latter for value for money). We'd probably need 75 to 100 watts to really drive the KEFs, but I could be wrong. I see that some of the new integrated amps have built-in DACs. My concern here is redundancy of the on-board DAC after a few short years, so instinct says to go for a high quality traditional amp and separate DAC that can be upgraded when needed.

Older integrated models that I'm considering are the Rega Mira, one of the more powerful NAD integrated units, or something from Arcam or Cambridge. I love the Sugden sound, but I don't think they made anything much over 50 wpc(?). For separates, some of the older Bryston combos can be had here for very reasonable prices, being a local company, but some of their early stuff had a very grainy sound. I'm also not averse to Japanese units if simply designed, well made and good sounding -- most of them have so many superfluous bells and whistles that I'd be turned off by....and they tend to be rather large.

I haven't heard most of these, and definitely not recently, so opinions most welcome. If new, then the field is wide open, but I'm doubtful I'd find anything suitably powerful within the budget. How about Class D? I know nothing about this - can these little amps drive a larger unported speaker like the KEF?

As for the DAC, I'm leaning toward one of the Schiit units as they are good value, preferably one that can be upgraded (if it makes sense to do so). On the budget end perhaps one of the Dragonfly models would do the job.

So, advice welcomed and gratefully accepted. Hopefully I'm on the right track with my amp leanings. Looking forward to hearing some recommendations.

Kind regards,
Svend

Used NAD C372 at 150wpc has rock solid bass, very dynamic sound. How good? I preferred it over the far more expensive NADC375BEE, had them both and would keep the 372 over the 375. Used sell for maybe $440 CDN, leaves money for a decent DAC. The 372 sounds more real than “hifi” and does jazz and such well, along with rock, orchestral. I wish I had never sold it. I use the 375BEE now in a second system.

Another fantastic choice is the Cambridge Audio Minx XI, only 40wpc but drives my Epos bookshelfs to volumes louder than I need. The built in DAC handles up to 24/96, has 2 analog inputs (no phono pre), 2 USB inputs for external HDD, and digital inputs. The sound is very refined for the price and unnaturally even across the board with no peakiness. I have it in a third system which gets heavy use in our kitchen. Have cable box, DVD, and 1TB HDD drive with hi-res files connected. Plus it has very good wifi connection for internet radio, solid bluetooth connection which I use to stream my TIDAL hifi account. My main sytem is a $12000 CDN Air Tight tube amp, but I absolutely love the sound of the very cheap Minx XI. What HiFi gave it a 5 star review and 93% user ratings. To me this would be an ideal starter, and easy to use and stylish and ticks all the boxes. Not sure about driving your Kefs but my Epos speakers rock. https://www.whathifi.com/cambridge-audio/minx-xi/review

[Svend N]

Hi Paul,

Some great recommendations there -- thank you! I will definitely keep those NAD and Cambridge models in mind. I've always liked the NAD sound, but don't know Cambridge at all. We'll see how things evolve with my daughter and her taste in sound quality. She has a good ear, so hopefully is discerning as to what sound character she likes in a hifi system. First thing I need to do is get hold of those KEFs and see how efficient (or not) they are. That will tell me much about what we need to drive them.

Regards,
Svend