[JGlacken]

My current system consists of the following:

Music resides on Synology DS 710+ NAS mostly in AIFF format or FLAC played from Mach2 macmini with pure music through Kimber USB cable to Empirical Offramp 3 with turbo clock into a DIY Twisted Pear Buffalo 3 dac with built in volume control through Genesis M60 tube mono blocks into Unifield 3s.  Cables are Silnote IC and speaker.  Room is combo room of offices and tv and music.  Room and/or swmbo doesn't really want larger speakers in the room.  Last upgrade was the dac that replaced a Meridian pre/pro for music and was a large improvement.  What is the budget?  How about 5k to start or 10K if need be.

What would you upgrade next.  Amps?-Atma sphere monos or joule electras.  I saw some Einstein mono blocks on the gon for 16K, but I don't know if I will realize that much improvement.  Cables?-VSA Masterbuilt sig. 

There are no hi end audio stores in the area.

Thanks for your recommendations,

Jeff

[roscoeiii]

I'd check with Ralph at Atma-Sphere on how his amps would work with VSA.  I don't think I have seen that combo. But I do love Atmas. And my VSA VR-4s.

But looking at that list, I would upgrade your source and get a preamp (**ducking to avoid the hurled "no preamp is the best preamp" cries**).

There are some great DACs between $2-4k, Orpheus Prism, PS Audio, Berkeley and Antelope all come to mind.

And so many great preamps are out there. At your budget you will be able to get one with the detail of a passive/no preamp set-up and the oomph and drive of an active pre.

[JGlacken]

Thanks,  what source upgrade would you make?

[roscoeiii]

One of those DACs or other DACs in that price range.

[Cheeseboy]

We are going to be testing some DAC's  in a pretty good system and I'll give you an opinion when we are done.

We are in the Bay Area and could use some help getting more samples to evaluate in our soundoff..

We have these to date for the event

NAD M51
Tranquility
Luan's pro DAC, forgot its model #
Eastern Electric Mini Max
Someone has a Wyred4 sound - I think

We are looking to find these as well

Audio Note DAC in any guise.
Berkley would be nice.
Weiss too.
Arye QB9?

Let me know

[JackD201]

My first instinct would be to play around with different input (6sn7) tubes  for the M60 if you haven't already. I switched from K-S Emotions including power cords to all M-B Signatures so I can attest to that improvement.

I'm currently running my Uni3s with a EERA Essentiel, a SONOS, a stock tubed Valvet Soulshine Pre and Valvet A3.5 R MkII monos and M-B speaker cables and ICs. This combo sounds a lot like my VR-9 Mk2/ Lamm main system only smaller. The Valvet combo will be well within your budget.

One notable tweak I made was buying custom Solid Tech stands for the Unifields from Ceedee. Highly recommended both sonically and visually.

[JGlacken]

How about a VAC PHI 300.1? for $7800.  Is this a good deal?

[JGlacken]

OK, do I need a bigger budget or you want me to build a larger room so I can get 7s or 9s?

[roscoeiii]

The Unifields have great reviews. I still say source and lack of pre are the likely weak points. So I would upgrade the DAC and get a pre or an integrated amp (though your mono locks seem very well thought of).