upgrade what


Hello

My system sounds pretty good but can be a little bright, forward sounding and sometimes lacks really good instrument separation. I have decent Morror cables and AudioQuest power cords. Just wondering which component would you be looking at to upgrade? 1) Denon 1700NE CD/SACD Player; 2) Rogue "Dark" Magnum lll Integrated Amp 3) Focal Aria 948 Speakers; 4) Two SVS SV2000 Pro Subs. I was thinking of better speakers. Maybe book shelves since I have the 2 subs. Thanks a lot.

Bill

bzawa

Upgrade your digital to a dac and streamer , you can rip your CDs to Flac files 

your cdp is a big part of the problem , your speakers too a bit bright changing the tubes to vintage nos , something warmer , there are custom grade  tubes  out there , one change at a time.

if you’re looking to upgrade, given the room is treated, look into ATC SCM40 passive speakers. Focals are not bad (I have Aria 906 mostly for movies) but the ATC will smoke them. 

@bzawa 

Why don’t you give AI a chance to answer. I went to ChatGBT, Perplexity and Gemini and listened all of my equipment. Then I asked what was the weakest part of my system and all three said the same thing, my DAC.

All the best.

Sounds like the knowledge is leaning towards different speakers and your room is treated. Just curious , what is your current tube compliment ? 

Seems you’ve got some treatment, well placed too. Previous comments explaining further options there made need to be considered, however? Yep, when you get a chance…experiment with that first reflection point - dedicated panels placed on sidewalls relative to your listening position using a mirror to determine placement, etc. You may already know this.  But it does sound like first reflection issues. @yogiboy with other considerations (that are great and I should also try!). 
 

But if changing speakers - and don’t want to break the bank - I’d consider also Revival Audio. Their whole range seems phenomenal and definitely compete with more expensive equipment. I’ve the Atalante 3’s and they sound great with whatever I do front end wise. But - of course - the other recommendations are all super excellent!