Ia a good amp more important than a good DAC?


Hi guys, I would like your opinions as to wether it makes sense to use a great integrated (Simaudio i7, many think it is the best out there) amp and not have a CD player that is not in the same league, eg Cambridge Azur 840c. What is more important - the quality of the DAC in the CD player or the parts that make up a great amp - would I be peeing in the wind to use a great amp and a good but not great CD player?
thomastrouble
1A Speakers 1b PreAmp 1c Amp = Primary sound Characteristic of your system.

2a Primary Source (Digital or Analog)

3 Spk Cables, IC's Power Cord. (Address weakneses above if any)

4a Power Dist
4b Power Cond if needed, some set ups sound great w/out.

5 Room Acoustics and treatments

6 Sit back and Enjoy the fruits of your labour. Tweak as necessary but enjoy the process and let things settle in a good while after any major upgrade.
Your ears will need to reaclimate to the changes,... some take a bit of time to bear fruit. Best to you!
I have to go with the Amp here.My feeling is that the disparity between so so amps & good amps is much greater than that between so so sources & good sources.A really good amp will allow everything the source is capable of to shine through were as the so so amp will NOT let the benifits of a great source come through.The HIGHLY respected speaker designer Bill Dundleston(I hope thats right)of Legacy Speakers once stated in an interview that the importance of the individual components in a music reproduction system was:Recordings-Speakers-Amplification-Source-Cables.I agree completely.
I am not familiar with these components, but I believe that all components in the system should match. I already went thru this when I tried to pair great preamp Cary SLP-05 with OPPO as a source (even highly modified), and the result - all the time instead of music I heard limitation of my source.
BTW, the source is not just a DAC, transport is very important part. Again, my experience - I added MSB DAC hoping it solve the problem - nop, it just does not work that way.
Now I got Esoteric and enjoy the music.
Bottom line - if components do not match, high level parts just emphasize limitations of low level components.
Good luck.
Very interesting to hear your responses so far guys - thankyou. To Bob Reynolds . yes, simply because of price, though apparently it is a very good player though it is the only one I have had so can't really compare.

To Jax 2 - agree with you but I can't get the best NOW, I blew all my money on hookers. Should be the subject of a new thread - "Should I blow a lot of money on hookers now, or should I get the system first?"
Damn, i'm never going to be able to afford that cheap amp.