[Shinsengumi]

Shinsengumi's upgrade thread

I will start to say that this threads purpose is for you to give me some tips on what kind of upgrades you recommend me to get.

Short background 
I started out with AKG 701. They were the first pair of more expensive headphones that I really enjoyed. Before I was a "speaker guy". But apartments means low listening volumes, which is not that satisfying. I ended up with Marantz CD5003 and AKG 701. I was more than impressed with the sound. 

But then head-fi.org showed up. I hate you guys Soon I had bought both Cambridge DacMagic and Little Dot MKIII. I thought I was in heaven. For a while Soon I was looking at new headphones. I took I trip and listened to Sennheiser HD800 and Beyerdynamic T1. If I could have bought them both I would have, great soundstage or great mids. But I came home with HD800. They sounded to me like perfected K701. 

But (all these buts) I thought that Little Dot didn't really make my HD800 justice. I wanted a more full-bodied sound. So I looked at new amps. I finally ended up with Woo Audio WA22 because of it is balanced, it is a tube-amp and all the great things I heard about it. 

But I wanted a complement to my well defined sound from HD800, which now sounded more full-bodied but still a bit too polite for rock songs. I bought Denon D7000. And then Audez'e LCD-2. Only LCD-2 staid.

Now I think I have found the sound that I really was looking for. Great treble (even better with balanced Silver Dragon), best mids that I have heard and fantastic deep and well defined bass.

But now when I have found the right headphones and amplifier, what will be the next step? [I would like to fine tune my rig to perfection.

What kind of sound I want
Even though I think my rig sounds fantastic I think it could be improved. For one, I know that my dac probably is the bottleneck in my rig. I would like my sound to get a more analogue sound, I think it sounds a bit digital and cold now. I also think I could get a bit bigger soundstage with a new dac. But I still want a full-bodied and warm sound. 

I listen to a lot of different music. Some of my favorite artist are Stevie Ray Vaughn, Chris Jones, Sara K., Oli Brown, Jamiroquai, Stevie Wonder, Queens of the Stone Age, Metallica, Hellsongs, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and so forth. I would like to have a musical sound and a bit forgiving, so that even old records would be listenable. 

My current rig
iMac (Apple Lossless music from hard drive ) or Marantz CD5003 -> Cambridge DacMagic -> Woo Audio WA22 (Sophia Princess, Tung-sol 6SN7-GTB, Tung-sol 5998 -> Audez'e LCD-2 (Silver Dragon Balanced) and controlling the computer with iPad Wifi.

Upgrading thoughts 
1. New dac: PS Audio DLIII with Cullen mods, Perfectwave, WYS4 Dac2 or Audio-GD NFB-8.
2. New tubes, especially Emission Labs 5U4G
3. New interconnects. I have pretty cheap cables
4. New transport

 

[Leonardo Drummond]

Shinsengumi,
 
I believe that the first step in upgrading your set should be replacing the DacMagic, this will easily give you the biggest improvement. Even though the Cambridge is really good for the money and very well balanced, to me it is somewhat on the clinical side, and it doesn't seem to be quite on par with the rest of the system.
 
My suggestion would be for you to try an Electrocompaniet ECD-1, which is a fantastic DAC, and it seems to fit your needs. It will definitely give you a warmer and more full-bodied sound, yet extremely well balanced, detailed and refined. It is a significant step-up from the DacMagic and, in my opinion, will take your rig to a new level.
 
My only worry is that it could make your system a bit too warm, because (correct me if I'm wrong) judging by what I've read, the LCD-2 is on the warm side.
 
Still, I really think it's worth a try!