Upgrade Suggestions please

I have been chasing the same problem of not getting my CD music to sound as enjoyable as my records.  The digital playback is pretty good, highly detailed and not fatiguing as long as I keep the volume low.  I had hopes tht I would find a DAC upgrade that would get m closer to my analog set up.  But I am losing hope that I’ll ever get there.  
 

Good luck.  From the reviews, the Mearson looks to be pretty darn good.  Maybe you’ve already tried this, but you might consider upgrading your power cords.  I replaced mine with Supra power cords and the effects were quite dramatic, on the order of my hopes for upgrading components and for a lot less money.

@maprik 

I do not know the Merason DAC but its reviews stress its musicality.  Its USB interface appears to be first class so changing your streamer (or anything else upstream) probably won't help. AES will probably sound worse as you are then more dependent on the A6's clock which is good but probably not as good as the Merason.

Upgrading (that may not be the correct word, given the quality of yours) your DAC to (e.g. EMM Labs) would cost you to  $30k+ and still might not do it.

Your Tim de Paravicini phono stage is legendary for its lush musicality so you may never get the same type of sound - unless perhaps you switched to a tube pre-amp.  Are you using the Hegel as an integrated?  You could try a Cary SLP-98 (you get 30 days approval on a standard - non upgraded one.)  If that went too far with the analog use the Hegel's pre for analog, and the Cary's output into the Hegel's main amp input.

The phono stage is a strong contributor to what you are hearing, as an example when I switched to a Sutherland Dos Locos from the Duo there was immediately more "there there", resolution, sound stage, musicality, richness, dynamics.  de Paravicini was a genius and you are hearing his magic.

Switching to Cardas Clear Reflection from DAC to amp might help, that cable is on the warm side without losing definition.

Weird thought - try the DSP EQ system perhaps? I have a T8 and there are a couple of old 44.1 16 bit recordings where I knock down the excessive top end with EQ.  Generally I do not use it.

I think I have accepted that LPs and Digital have a different signature, LPs have a warmth and depth, great digital has a wonderful clarity and precision. Generalizing, (and others may disagree) LPs put you in a sweet spot in the concert hall, digital gets you in the front row.

The one digital system I've heard that doesn't disappoint after your time with a great analog rig is the Master Fidelity NADAC D & NADAC C combo.  In fact, folks are hanging out with this gear and not feeling the desperate need to get back to their analog setups.

@audphile1 

Me.

"Probably the most significant issue with streaming to my understanding is the bit rate. Your provider can send you a stream that by all indications your equipment identifies as 16 bit or high res when in fact, you’re receiving a compressed low bit copy. Your ears aren’t fooling you."

You.

"@faustuss no. Your streamer can’t possibly treat an MP3 file as a 24/192. Every streamer will validate the incoming data stream. DACs will do the same."

Yes, I stand corrected. I believe the point I was trying to make is that it stands to reason that you can record from any source to any of the available high rez formats whether it be FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, DSD or MQA and the result is only going to sound as good as the source it was taken from that is the distinction and your streamer isn’t going to make that one.

@ddgtt 

I look forward to hearing the Master Fidelity stack sometime. Perhaps at AXPONA. 

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