New or amp or...?

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Hi guys! I have a sansui au-a607 extra 110v recapped, which sounds awesome for me, but now probably I have a chance to get a new Nuprime IDA-08 or a ST-10 (using a parasound Zdac v.2 like preamp), my use is 100% PC, and I listen a lot of classic, pop, orchestal music at low-medium volume, paired with a KEF Q300 (mundorf oil crossover mods), my goal is the sound quality. so my question is like this:

1) Keep the money
2) Get the IDA-08 with dac and preamp of course inside
3) Get the ST-10 and paired with the Zdac V.2 (I don´t have too much money for the dac-09)

For now just I am looking for those options.

Thanks!!!
 
If your goal is sound quality, the first bottleneck, next to the speakers, are your room acoustics and not your amplifier. Have a look into broadband absober panels. Your room might cause +/- 20dB dips in frequency response, even with totally flat speaker frequency response as well as add hall and sometimes even echos. There's a good reason professional recording studios spend as much (usually even more) on acoustics as they do on speakers 😉
DIY broadband absorbers, filled with >100mm thick glas- or rockwool are an excellent and very, very cost-effective solution (at <25€/panel) for the hobbyist. And, since you build them yourself, you can even choose the colour/pattern on them (or let your wife/girlfried decide 😀 ).

Apart from that, my personal quarrel would be with the bass response of the KEF Q300s. A 165mm driver just can't move enough air to make a deep & tight bass. So you might want to consider adding subs (although, to be fair, it doesn't have that much impact for classic, pop and orchestal music as it would have for techno or home cinema). It's always nice to hear and feel the bass notes beeing played - mind you, your neighbors will think otherwise...

The Nuprime IDA-8 and ST-10 don't look like an upgrade from your re-capped Sansui. Personally, I'd be reluctant to change the 16kg Sansui for a modern 4-6kg unit with the same specs.

Things you could do in order of the bang-for-buck rating they offer:

  1. acoustic treatment of your room
  2. decent DAC/soundcard (the Zdac V.2 has worse specs than e.g. a Asus Xonar Essence STX II, balanced or not...)
  3. adding a sub/side
 
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