I have to agree with @ghdprentice. You are focused on the speakers, but there’s a lot more out there than Bluesound , RME and NAD. Bring your RME into a dealer and ask them to demo it against some other dacs and see what you think.
upgrade path from my current speakers? (Dynaudio Special Forty)
Hi,
have gone through a rotation in the last couple of years, LS50's, Sonus Faber Lumina V's, Heresys, Fortes, Harbeth 30.2's and Habeth Super 5's
none of these sounded good to me
recently landed on Dynaudio Special Forty, loved them, upgraded to Heritage Special, really liked them also but went back to the Special Forty
this is the sound for me by far, nothing else has come close to pleasing me
I'd like to get to a tower that provides more bass and dynamics maintaining this sound profile
Contour and Confidence are on my short list
what else should I be looking at?
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- 34 posts total
Subwoofers can help a lot. Also, nothing about room conditions have been mentioned. These are the two factors which allowed me to get amazing bass with standmount speakers (Fritz) and also with towers (Ascend). I'm not spending nearly the money you are -- no shade, there at all -- but without the room/sub factor considered, I believe the lower frequencies can be an endless chase. |
Since you’re so enamored of your Dyns my first thought was why not just keep the magic alive and add a couple subs from the likes of Rhythmic, JL Labs, or REL? If your room is difficult this option might actually be better than trying to get more full-range towers to work well in there, and you can get down to an honest 20Hz whereas most floorstanders can’t. If you’re sub averse for some reason, some others I’d recommend hearing if you can are Joseph Audio, Usher, ProAc, Usher, Sonus Faber, and Vandersteen. Hope this helps somewhat, and best of luck. |
+1 @soix Indeed, OP, you're really at a choice point -- finding out whether you are really interested/able to improve the *sound* or whether you're actually more interested in swapping gear. A lot of us have thought we were after better sound when in fact we really had Gear Acquisition Syndrome. |
Given all the speakers you have tried, and how much you like the Dynaudio's I would suggest speaking to a Dynaudio vendor and ask them which speakers up the line would carry forward and improve on the characteristics of the Special 40's. Others have mentioned the rest of your gear and I agree you might want to consider some upgrades. You could make some big improvements without spending a bundle. As an aside, I am considering a speaker upgrade from my LS50's, and Dynaudio is on my list. Any comment on the difference between these two?
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- 34 posts total