I went like this:
1) good speakers, midfi pre, amp, CD, DAC
2) good preamp
3) good amp
and I just discovered that for the last year my good preamp has been negated by my midfi amp. Now that I have a good amp, I'm in audio nirvana-- so my advice would be speakers, amp, preamp like someone else said.
CD players nowadays are fairly small incremental differences compared to amps and preamps, IMHO. My CD player is the next piece to get upgraded, but right now I'm listening with a DVD / outboard DAC combo that could be bought used for $300 and have auditioned $1000 + Cd players in the system that don't make a huge difference (although now with the new amp, I'll have to do that again, darn)-- There are so many good mid-fi CD players that will give you 90% of what high-end CDs give you, but the same is not true for amps / preamps, again IMHO.
Good luck, and tell Daryl he was right.
1) good speakers, midfi pre, amp, CD, DAC
2) good preamp
3) good amp
and I just discovered that for the last year my good preamp has been negated by my midfi amp. Now that I have a good amp, I'm in audio nirvana-- so my advice would be speakers, amp, preamp like someone else said.
CD players nowadays are fairly small incremental differences compared to amps and preamps, IMHO. My CD player is the next piece to get upgraded, but right now I'm listening with a DVD / outboard DAC combo that could be bought used for $300 and have auditioned $1000 + Cd players in the system that don't make a huge difference (although now with the new amp, I'll have to do that again, darn)-- There are so many good mid-fi CD players that will give you 90% of what high-end CDs give you, but the same is not true for amps / preamps, again IMHO.
Good luck, and tell Daryl he was right.