[AudioICE]

The source being The Rotel RCD-971. I can get this used for about 275, and the Little Country III used for 350.

The Little Country III looks tempting as hell at that price..but the Rotel RCD-971 has had very impressive reviews. I'm perplexed...decisions, decisions.

Right now I've got a NAD C541i as my main source

Amps are: 87 made in Japan model Pioneer SA 1480 integrated amp (the headphone out is AMAZING), and an Ibasso Boa D2...

Headphones: Grado SR 80's and a pair of Audio Technica W1000's on the way (should be here any day now).

Now....source v.s amp. Which one is ultimately more important?

 

[Pars]

Personally I would say source. I like many of the Rotels; I have both an RCD-855 (heavily modded) and an RCD-991, which is the 971s big brother so to speak. Both the 971 and 991 use the excellent PMD-100 filter and dual PCM63 DAC chips. PCM63-Ks might be better, and could be put in without any problems. The laser is the Sony KSS-213 (IIRC) which is readily available and cheap. Biggest drawback is the output stage, which in mine was NE5534 I/V, NE5532 filter and OPA2604 output buffer/SE->bal conversion. I've currently replaced mine with THS4031 for the I/V and AD8599 for the buffer, left the filter out. I will be looking at going discrete shortly, but I do all my own work, so this isn't really spendy as it would be if you had to have it done professionally. Stock though, the player sounded quite good; not as good as my 855, but good nonetheless. Currently it is about equal to the 855.

I take it the Little Country is a DAC? Still the same issues with output stage, PSUs, etc.; further complicated by digital transmission (SPDIF? USB?) which are all prone to jitter. CDPs typically use I2S internally which is much less prone.

Just my $0.02...

 

[AudioICE]

Alright thanks. I decided to go with the source as well.

The little country III is actually a home tube amp.

Tube Headphone Amp - Little Country III Tube Headphone Amplifier / Pre Amp - Tube Preamp - 6922 tube preamp

Not really discussed too much on this site.

 

[AudioICE]

Also. Will the Rotel RCD 971 really make a big difference from the NAD C541i?

I'm going with the source over the amp..

 

[AudioICE]

Okay. So I got the Rotel over the weekend.

A bigger improvement than I thought there would be, wow.

 

[Pars]

Glad it worked out for you. I didn't want to comment re: the NAD because I've never heard one.