I was in pretty much exactly the same boat--I had a Casa I with basic DACs looking at about $8K for an upgrade. In my case, I ended up realizing that most of what I listened to was 2 channel anyway--I had no center (Casa set to phantom center) and rarely turned on the VT60 powering my rear speakers. At the same time, the idea of decluttering my living room (rear speakers) appealed... so...
I ended up picking up a dCS Purcell and Delius... Thought I could run 'em w/o a preamp, but ended up losing some slam, so I dropped in a pre from another setup. Although I'm still working out some kinks, I'm *much* happier...
I ended up picking up a dCS Purcell and Delius... Thought I could run 'em w/o a preamp, but ended up losing some slam, so I dropped in a pre from another setup. Although I'm still working out some kinks, I'm *much* happier...