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Help a recovering audiophile build a system

Hello there! I have been out of this hobby (sickness) for about 2 years now. In 2008 I sold my entire system (look up Beauty and the Beasts) and decided to take a little breather. I am now ready to get back into this hobby, determined this time to stay focused on enjoying the music and not spend a ridiculous amount of money (no more than $4K per component).

My system now consists of a pair of Sonus Faber Cremona monitors and a huge digital music library. I am looking for advice on the following:

Integrated Amp
DAC
CD transport (instead of a DAC a CDP that has digital inputs would be nice)

My goals are clarity, dynamics, and speed with just a touch of sweetness.

Thank you in advance for your help!
128x128tboooe
buconero117
2,311 posts
 
I will not be your 'enabler'. I have enough problems of my own.
macdadtexas
1,794 posts
 
hey, you could buy my whole system.

then I would have to buy a new one.

AWESOME!!!
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
If I was buying new I would look at the Krell S 300i, which you can get for $2000. Used opens a wide field, Blue Circle isn't famous but I like their products. CJ 2000 looks good, I saw one on here for $3200 the other day. I like the Naim DAC, there was one on here used last week for $2000 OBO. I offered $1750 but was outbid [don't tell my wife!] I would look for products that have a rep of being musical rather than analytic, a lot of high end products sound too bright to me. I was going to get a pair of Cremonas but got a very good deal on another European speaker instead. Happy hunting. Stan
daverz
477 posts
 
I'd suggest a Squeezebox Touch for the transport.

I use a Cambridge Audio 840C as a CDP/DAC, which I do like very much for the DAC, but you might consider going CDPless as it only takes a few minutes to rip a CD and rescan the music collection. That would give you a lot more choices for a DAC.

For the rest, I'm sort of in between gear myself, or maybe just getting restless.
inna
5,245 posts
 
I would start with ipod touch and Grado headphones and see how much I really want to go into that repetition.
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