[Xel'Naga]

First, this question relates to my amp and my dac, so if this is not the right forum section, I'll ask the mods to forgive me and move it to the right section.
Now, I have been a lurker on this forum for quite a long time and only recently made an account. Thanks to everybody for the knowledge I have gained here.
I have the system in my sig. I am a poor student so I'm looking for my next, reasonably priced upgrade. I have 3 options, maybe there are more, but what is the bottleneck here and which upgrade I should do first?

1. Change the tubes. I run the stock Chinese 6N6 and 6J6. I will need help here since I am a tube newbie.
2. Change the DAC.
3. Modify the DAC. It uses Burr-Brown PCM2902 CODEC, which is decent, but the op-amp is horrible. Change the op-amp with a decent one, replace caps, maybe some more modifications. I am in my last year of a EE & CS double major and I have the knowledge to do this.

 

[mbd2884]

Oh easy, change the DAC. Get the Compass, hehe, New DAC and will add a Solid State amp to your collection. Will work with your LK MK II fine.

Or find a DIY DAC project, from scratch.

 

[oneplustwo]

What's your definition of "reasonably priced?" I would second the DIY approach and build AMB's Gamma DAC and mini3 amp. You can probably build both for $150 or so.

 

[olblueyez]

Start with the tubes as they will have the biggest affect on the sound signature. Sure a better dac will affect sound quality but the tubes will enable you to color the sound so you can acheive perfect synergy, you need both to be honest, just dont discount tube rolling, its like having 5 or 10 different amps in one.

 

[Uncle Erik]

How about trying a different pair of headphones? A pair of Grados, Sennheisers or Beyerdynamics will give you an entirely different sound signature.

 

[Frihed89]

If I were familiar with the Dac and, given your education, i would usually suggest modifying it. But, here, i am in some doubt because this isn't the kind of piece that receives a lot of DIY attention.

Why should that matter, given your education? Unless you have a lot of experience with digital and analogue circuit design a plus good deal of hands-on experience, OR there is a lot written about modifying a particular piece of equipment, you stand to make a lot of changes that will cost money and get you very little sonic improvement. DIY work is about 20% theory, 60% experience, and 20% having a good information base/network to work within for a particular mod.

If you go at this, then changing the opamp is probably a no-brainer, but adding better caps and resistors may not buy you much unless you have worked with this stuff before.