Your digital setup looks like it could stand a little updating to bring you to greater heights.
I owned the Aragon D2A mk2 and while it was good, I found it easily forgettable when replaced with even modest modern equipment.
I did a direct comparison between the Aragon D2A mk 2 + Marantz CD5000 (the same base unit they mod to make the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb, but by itself not very hi-fi) vs. my previous player - the Music Hall CD25 ($350 used), and the onboard DACs of the Music Hall sounded just slightly better than the Aragon + Marantz.
The onboard DACs of my Rega Planet 2000 ($550-$600 used) were even better still than the Music Hall's. Combined with a Bel Canto Dac 1.1 ($500 used) and Sonic Frontiers Ultra Jitterbug ($200 used), the Rega/Bel Canto/SF combo just demolished the old Aragon. So you can really attain multitudes better performance for not much money - such is the nature of digital: after a few years, the old hi-fi digital really sounds "old" compared to reasonably priced new hi-fi digital.
I also find that phenomenon sufficient justification never to spend megabucks on the digital frontend... there's lots of depreciation here. Your budget and expectations seem safe from the worst ravages of depreciation in this category, and should buy you nicer equipment than I've described, and who knows how many more steps better sound. There's lots of room low-to-high in this category, performance-wise.
Best of luck,
Mike
I owned the Aragon D2A mk2 and while it was good, I found it easily forgettable when replaced with even modest modern equipment.
I did a direct comparison between the Aragon D2A mk 2 + Marantz CD5000 (the same base unit they mod to make the Ah! Njoe Tjoeb, but by itself not very hi-fi) vs. my previous player - the Music Hall CD25 ($350 used), and the onboard DACs of the Music Hall sounded just slightly better than the Aragon + Marantz.
The onboard DACs of my Rega Planet 2000 ($550-$600 used) were even better still than the Music Hall's. Combined with a Bel Canto Dac 1.1 ($500 used) and Sonic Frontiers Ultra Jitterbug ($200 used), the Rega/Bel Canto/SF combo just demolished the old Aragon. So you can really attain multitudes better performance for not much money - such is the nature of digital: after a few years, the old hi-fi digital really sounds "old" compared to reasonably priced new hi-fi digital.
I also find that phenomenon sufficient justification never to spend megabucks on the digital frontend... there's lots of depreciation here. Your budget and expectations seem safe from the worst ravages of depreciation in this category, and should buy you nicer equipment than I've described, and who knows how many more steps better sound. There's lots of room low-to-high in this category, performance-wise.
Best of luck,
Mike