ATC SCM 40 mk2 vs Salk Song3 Encore

I meant to mention it earlier to you tgat the ATC’s are power hungry but your amp should be fine.  I drove ghe Atc Scm7 v2 to satisfying volume levels with slightly less power than you.  I would have ket the scm7’s but they just didn’t have enough bass with that small driver.

either way you’ll want to upgrade your dac.  A used schiit bifrost multibit can be had for $500 or a schiit gungir multibit, like what I have, can be had for $800.  
Those Atc Scm 40 v2’s at $3500 is a pretty dang good deal!

either way you’ll want to upgrade your dac.  A used schiit bifrost multibit can be had for $500 or a schiit gungir multibit, like what I have, can be had for $800.

Thats a lot of money for a DAC Bruce. How can you be sure there's really any difference?! 

Its only a lot of money to you.  
Your source and dac are very important.  Crap in crap out.

I know theres a difference between a $200 dac, a $500 dac and a $1500 dac because I’ve heard it with my own ears, which happen to be far more exceptional than yours.  My hearing is two to three times as good as yours K.  Its easy to quantify. People have been giving you sound advice for months here and you haven’t heard a thing.  Just goes to show that your hearing sucks.

Wow @b_limo Are you for real? With your attitude, you’ve just lost all credibility.

whoops! I just read some of K’s posts, And I get where you are coming from! Not worth any of our time.

jjss49 is correct in assessment of the two brands and obviously a bit of a cheerleader for the active ATCs.  So am I, but then it's not my system to listen to.  I've the ATC SCM 40A and have unabashedly touted their talents of immediacy, dynamics and accuracy.

If you go with the ATC passive, jjss49 is completely correct that upstream is particularly salient.  You need lots and lots of clean strong stable current to hold them together.