To upgrade from simaudio 3.3i to 600i or not?

I believe it is worth it. I own the Cremona M (purchased new two years ago). I also love the Simaudio sound and I auditioned both the the i3.3 and the Sim audio I7 (since been replaced by 600i and 700 i) with my Cremonas.

I found the 3.3 to be very melodic and dynamic but couldn't match the i7 in terms of soundstage and transparency. I ended up buying the i7 and the Supernova CD player as part of the system with my Cremona Ms and absolutely love the combination.

Thank you for your comment in regards to the upgrade from 3.3 to 600i. Matter a fact, i did upgrade and now a proud owner of the 600i. Overall, i love it and combination has worked well. Did i understand your post correctly? Do you have or tried out the 700i with the cremonas? I find that i need to turn up the 600i to a reasonable volume (50) to get the full dynamic sound that im looking for. Wondering if i should upgrade to the 700i.

glad to hear you made the upgrade and am not surprised you have noticed an improvement with your great speakers. You should really consider the 600 as equal in quality and peformance to separates in a great looking package. I really lusted after the red limited edition version in the magazines. I am not sure how high the vol goes but that should not be an issue going to 50-you really can't hurt good gear and as long as it is not clipping no problem to amp or speakers. I really like the power of the 700 and it depends on if you feel your current set up seems strained (which I bet it doesn't). I have large floorstanders as well and I find the same applies and this is more a issue of speakers (db/efficiancy). I love low level listening but you sure notice in rock etc when you give it some juice-the music needs it. Would the store let you try the 700 in your system to see if it really makes any diff.

I wish, but I live in Italy, so No. I will have to wait until i get back to the states. It would be ideal to test the 700 with the Cremonas prior to the upgrade. Hate to dish out another 4000 prior to listening. So, right now I depend people like yourself to stir me in right direction. Speaking of right direction, what interconnects and speaker wire you use?

Volume-wise you won't get much more out of the 700i; the difference is from 125W/channel (600i) to 175W/channel (700i). And of course ecah time you double the watts it produces only a 3db increase. With only a difference of 50 watts/channel between the two models, the volume difference will less than a 1.5db increase.

The difference in sound quality, then, should be the main factor that determines whether you fork out another 4 grand or not. And sorry, although I've heard both the 600i and 700i (with focal 1028 BE / siltec 770 series / moon 750D), I haven't compared the two amps side by side.

I have, however, compared the Moon 330i next to the 700i. I say this only to point out that perhaps you are better off investing in two LessLoss DFPC Signatures to power your source and 600i. Why? Because I found that the performance enhancement offered by the LessLoss DFPC Signatures was clearly greater than the performance enhancement offered from upgrading from the 330i to the 700i. Not to mention, two Signatures would cost around $2100 (shipped from the EU), almost half of what it would cost you to bump up to the 700i. If you don't own LessLoss DFPCs already, I expect you'll be surprised how much just two such power cords will improve your system.