Recommendations for upgrading my system

bshikari said:
Decided to up my budget to the £1000-£1500 range for speakers, amp, and a streamer. I think it'll prevent me from upgrading again soon, and have the system last in my hands.

I'm considering returning the Onkyo and getting a manufacturer refurbished Cambridge Audio CXA80 for less than £400. It doesn't have a pre-amp, but I think a Schiit Mani should do that job well. But I'm very pleased with the Onkyo, so if it fits the other components well, I might keep it.

Regarding streamers I've been trying to hunt a cheap Cambridge Audio CXN V2, and I've found a few for £600. I've tried one the other day and was very pleased with the interface and the sound quality. I'm trying to justify paying the extra over the Bluesound Node 2i or the Audiolab 6000N. If anyone has any of them, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Regarding speakers, I listened to the Dali Oberon 3 the other day and was very surprised with the quality of their sound. It was right after I tested the B&W 606 (which I was kind of underwhelmed by, but I listened to them in a huge room, and I don't think they were too suited to fill that room with sound), and I was much more impressed by them. Before making a decision I wanted to listen to the ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2, the ELAC Uni-fi UB5, and the Klipsch RP-600M.

I'd love any input.
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ive had the Oberon 7 for a couple of month now really enjoyed them. theres a seller in the Netherlands who sells them fairly cheap. might be worth checking
 
Joe Mac said:
In that budget for a steamer I’d be goingfor the bluesound now that the Aurelic aries mini is no longer a thing. Unless you fancy a bit of a DIY project with a raspberry pi and DAC hat to sar some money to invest in other two components.
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I can't really find any good deals on Node 2i's, and for £100 more I've found new CXN V2s. The screen is a lovely addition, and it seems to be a step up in quality from the node 2i
 
BazookaTooth said:
ive had the Oberon 7 for a couple of month now really enjoyed them. theres a seller in the Netherlands who sells them fairly cheap. might be worth checking
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I've found a British seller on ebay selling them for £100 below RRP, but I'd love to check out the Dutch store. Do you know the name?
 
bshikari said:
I can't really find any good deals on Node 2i's, and for £100 more I've found new CXN V2s. The screen is a lovely addition, and it seems to be a step up in quality from the node 2i
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The only thing is that it doesn't, as far as I can tell, offer MQA. I'd personally not be arsed as I use both qobus and tidal but if you're ever tempted to sub to high quality tidal you'll need someway to do a first step decode before it passes through.

But mqa is a mega source of debate. It's not widely rated so may never be an issue for you
 
Rowan said:
The only thing is that it doesn't, as far as I can tell, offer MQA. I'd personally not be arsed as I use both qobus and tidal but if you're ever tempted to sub to high quality tidal you'll need someway to do a first step decode before it passes through.

But mqa is a mega source of debate. It's not widely rated so may never be an issue for you
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That's a good point as I do have High Quality Tidal. I might look into the node 2i, and then maybe later upgrade to cambridge audio once they support MQA. They say that they'd need a hardware update so there's no way to ever update the CXN
 
Rowan said:
The only thing is that it doesn't, as far as I can tell, offer MQA. I'd personally not be arsed as I use both qobus and tidal but if you're ever tempted to sub to high quality tidal you'll need someway to do a first step decode before it passes through.

But mqa is a mega source of debate. It's not widely rated so may never be an issue for you
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MQA is essentially tidal DRM, the music quality is no better than FLAC and most reviews prefer the sound of qobuz, but only marginally. Unless you’re huge into hip hop or have a TMR vault discount for tidal I’d just stick with Qobuz and be done with it...
 
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I own the B&W 606 and they are amazing in my space. I have a narrow straight room though. I do consider them more of a monitor type. That said they get loud as hell. I got a Marantz PM 8006 and they never peak and I borrowed them before I bought them and tried to destroy them and couldn't. They work really well if you like the Marantz sound. I do have a sub and they are bright stand alone I will say.
 
A dac I was really looking into that is slightly above what you are looking at is the Denafrips Ares II. It gets some really solid reviews from people I feel have same taste as myself. I ended up settling for a Raspberry Pi Hat and it works for me right now. That said the only reason I came here right this moment was look at the latest in the "digital darkside thread" LOL
 
Joe Mac said:
MQA is essentially tidal DRM, the music quality is no better than FLAC and most reviews prefer the sound of qobuz, but only marginally. Unless you’re huge into hip hop or have a TMR vault discount for tidal I’d just stick with Qobuz and be done with it...
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At 25 per month, Qobuz is quite steep. You can get the Tidal Family Plan for 5 devices for that much. I will try to trial it though. I've enjoyed the Tidal app. It doesn't compare to Spotify's, but it has some nice features.
 
Haimez40 said:
I own the B&W 606 and they are amazing in my space. I have a narrow straight room though. I do consider them more of a monitor type. That said they get loud as hell. I got a Marantz PM 8006 and they never peak and I borrowed them before I bought them and tried to destroy them and couldn't. They work really well if you like the Marantz sound. I do have a sub and they are bright stand alone I will say.
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I really want to listen to them on a smaller room that's closer to my setup. They sounded really underwhelming when I listened to them and I just don't believe that's how they actually sound, given how much so many people love them.

Haimez40 said:
A dac I was really looking into that is slightly above what you are looking at is the Denafrips Ares II. It gets some really solid reviews from people I feel have same taste as myself. I ended up settling for a Raspberry Pi Hat and it works for me right now. That said the only reason I came here right this moment was look at the latest in the "digital darkside thread" LOL
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I really want a good app with nice integration of things like Spotify Connect, maybe even Chromecast. Volumio on a Raspberry Pi I think I'd just find too annoying, so I dropped that idea very fast. I'll probably just wait for a good deal on the Node 2i, and until then I'll just use USB on my Mac.
 
bshikari said:
I really want to listen to them on a smaller room that's closer to my setup. They sounded really underwhelming when I listened to them and I just don't believe that's how they actually sound, given how much so many people love them.



I really want a good app with nice integration of things like Spotify Connect, maybe even Chromecast. Volumio on a Raspberry Pi I think I'd just find too annoying, so I dropped that idea very fast. I'll probably just wait for a good deal on the Node 2i, and until then I'll just use USB on my Mac.
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Ydah I use volumio and it’s great but I also use it as either a Roon endpoint of for AirPlay/Spotify connect so i only ever use their own UI for settings. I could imagine it being frustrating as the main interfaxe alright!
 
Joe Mac said:
Ydah I use volumio and it’s great but I also use it as either a Roon endpoint of for AirPlay/Spotify connect so i only ever use their own UI for settings. I could imagine it being frustrating as the main interfaxe alright!
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Would you recommend investing a Pi with Volumio and get Roon over getting a proper streamer then? I've used Roon at a few Hi-Fi stores and it seems pretty nice, but the price is really steep
 
bshikari said:
Would you recommend investing a Pi with Volumio and get Roon over getting a proper streamer then? I've used Roon at a few Hi-Fi stores and it seems pretty nice, but the price is really steep
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If you want to go Roon it’s a more affordable way in because you’re not paying as much on the endpoint, sort of offsets the outlay on the system. What I will say about Roon is that it is expensive and it is also brilliant at what it does. If you have a big library of files together with qobuz and/or tidal and you want to combine the whole lot in one user friendly library then I’d say yeah go for it. If you just want to use one or the other streaming services Roon is a bit overkill
 
Joe Mac said:
What I will say about Roon is that it is expensive and it is also brilliant at what it does. If you have a big library of files together with qobuz and/or tidal and you want to combine the whole lot in one user friendly library then I’d say yeah go for it. If you just want to use one or the other streaming services Roon is a bit overkill
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I agree with this 100%. If you have don’t have a big library of ripped CDs/high res downloads, then I don’t think Roon is worth it. The best part is combining my Qobuz and tons of downloads in one easy to navigate UI. The multi room functions is an added bonus.
 
Joe Mac said:
If you want to go Roon it’s a more affordable way in because you’re not paying as much on the endpoint, sort of offsets the outlay on the system. What I will say about Roon is that it is expensive and it is also brilliant at what it does. If you have a big library of files together with qobuz and/or tidal and you want to combine the whole lot in one user friendly library then I’d say yeah go for it. If you just want to use one or the other streaming services Roon is a bit overkill
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MikeH said:
I agree with this 100%. If you have don’t have a big library of ripped CDs/high res downloads, then I don’t think Roon is worth it. The best part is combining my Qobuz and tons of downloads in one easy to navigate UI. The multi room functions is an added bonus.
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I don't really have a big library, only for the few things not on Spotify/Tidal;. In the end I just want a way of playing Tidal (and occasionally Spotify, AirPlay, or Bluetooth) with nice sound quality. And to use Roon as an interface for Tidal seems a bit redundant.
 
bshikari said:
I don't really have a big library, only for the few things not on Spotify/Tidal;. In the end I just want a way of playing Tidal (and occasionally Spotify, AirPlay, or Bluetooth) with nice sound quality. And to use Roon as an interface for Tidal seems a bit redundant.
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Yep it’s absolutely redundant. I’d skip out on Roon then in your case!
 
bshikari said:
Decided to up my budget to the £1000-£1500 range for speakers, amp, and a streamer. I think it'll prevent me from upgrading again soon, and have the system last in my hands.

I'm considering returning the Onkyo and getting a manufacturer refurbished Cambridge Audio CXA80 for less than £400. It doesn't have a pre-amp, but I think a Schiit Mani should do that job well. But I'm very pleased with the Onkyo, so if it fits the other components well, I might keep it.

Regarding streamers I've been trying to hunt a cheap Cambridge Audio CXN V2, and I've found a few for £600. I've tried one the other day and was very pleased with the interface and the sound quality. I'm trying to justify paying the extra over the Bluesound Node 2i or the Audiolab 6000N. If anyone has any of them, I'd love to hear about your experience.

Regarding speakers, I listened to the Dali Oberon 3 the other day and was very surprised with the quality of their sound. It was right after I tested the B&W 606 (which I was kind of underwhelmed by, but I listened to them in a huge room, and I don't think they were too suited to fill that room with sound), and I was much more impressed by them. Before making a decision I wanted to listen to the ELAC Debut 2.0 B6.2, the ELAC Uni-fi UB5, and the Klipsch RP-600M.

I'd love any input.
Click to expand...
I have a CXN and chose it over the Node 2i. Happy to answer any questions.
 
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