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Dac and speaker pair suggestions for Arcam A39

25K views 44 replies 11 participants last post by  vinoth kumar 
#1 ·
Hi, recently acquired a brand new Arcam Fmj A39 integrated amp. So looking for matching dac and floor standing speakers. Room size is 14*20 and budget is beyond lower end speakers. Thanks in advance.

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#2 ·
Salk Song Towers, supercharged songtowers, one of Jim's variants of the Songtower (Song 3), or step up to the Veracity series. Ascendacoustics sierra tower (w/ RAAL tweeter. Obviously I'm a fan of internet direct. What is your budget?

I think having a separate dac is overblown, alot of sources have really good dacs. Is your source CDs? SACD? Flac files? If CDs get good CD player with a good dac. Another option is an Oppo BDP-205 with a great dac, which has digital inputs and can function as an external dac and plays a variety of formats (cd, sacd, dvd-a, flac from usb, etc.). Even the cheaper BDP-203 has a pretty darn good dac, it just can't function as an external dac (no digital input available).

I'm assuming your budget is kind of high given you have an Arcam.
 
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#3 ·
Thanks glangford. Im unaware about the speakers you mentioned. Budget is not that limited again. I may need a dedicated dac as im owning a basic bluray player with me. Let us find a best speaker pair before into dacs. Thanks again for your inputs.

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#4 ·
I may need a dedicated dac as im owning a basic bluray player with me. Let us find a best speaker pair before into dacs.
Even basic Blu-ray players have excellent DAC these days. Spending more on external DAC won't give you audible benefits. Now, there are those who say it does. Guess what, most of them are sellers of external DACs.
 
#5 ·
Your Arcam A39 integrated amplifier, equipped with analog inputs only, cannot be utilized with today's "basic" and most other Blu-ray players, which have only HDMI and coaxial and/or optical digital audio outputs. Using a basic Blu-ray player with an analog-only integrated amplifier or preamplifier requires use of an outboard DAC.

I recently auditioned at home DACs by Marantz and Teac. The Marantz was harsh and edgy in the upper midrange when listening to brass instruments. It made me cringe at times.

I thoroughly enjoyed and kept the Teac UD-503. The Teac has adjustable upsampling and filter parameters, allowing the user to select preferred sonic characteristics, instead of the typical fixed setting chosen by the manufacturer. Also, unlike the vast majority of DACs, the UD-503 has a PCM to DSD conversion setting. I like the DSD function best (when set at 50 kHz) due to its analog-like sound quality and exceptional smoothness. Detail retrieval is stunning. Whereas the Marantz was warmish sounding, the Teac is neutral. The Teac's included remote control allows on-the-fly adjustments from the listening chair.

Here is a link to the Teac:

http://audio.teac.com/product/ud-503/
 
#11 ·
My experience has mostly been with on board dacs, and I've never felt I'm missing something. I have an Oppo 95 and 203. 95 a stellar analog stage, the 203 a really really good one, if not great. I can happily listen to either analog out and do through my headphone rig. I have a variety of formats I listen to, cd, sacd, dvd-a, and flac hi-rez, a few DSD downloads so I lean toward an all in one solution.
 
#17 ·
I give this thread two days before being closed :p

To the OP, I have a Schiit Modi ... because it's silver, which matches my vintage silver-faced stuff, it's in a nice looking box and it was fairly cheap. This Schiit is pretty good. I also read the book Schiit Happened, so I know who designed them and what goes into building them.

In the meantime, I think I'll head over to my guitar forum and see how the debate about tonewood is going:rolleyes:
 
#20 ·
No, but send Oppo customer service an email. They have unparalleled customer service, some reporting they even answer on a weekend. You might also try the 203 thread, Bob may know.
 
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#21 ·
Vinoth, I'd love to throw some suggestions out there but I need a budget to work with. The Arcam isn't a cheap unit but it also isn't expensive either. I could see your budget for DAC/speakers ranging from $1500 to $5000 and my suggestions would vary greatly depending on the budget.

Some questions -

1. What kind of sound do you want?
2. What is most important to you - soundstage, tone, dynamics, or range?
3. Is your room full of hard surfaces, soft, or a combination?
4. What speaker position limitations do you have? Can they be 3-4' from all walls?
 
#22 ·
Hi,
Thanks for looking out my issue.


My budget is around 3k+.
My taste would be like clean and balanced sound, sound stage is nicely handked by the amp already so no problem in that.

The speakers are gonna be placed in a living room and there are a lot open space around the walls. No limitations for placements.

Thank you so much and looking forward for your inputs.

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#24 ·
My opinions:

1. North Star Design Intenso. I am the distributor so view this as partial if you'd like, but their DAC's have a rich sound with great holographic aspects to the sound. It will cause your soundstage to expand left/right as well as front/back. It does not have the digital edge of most DAC's you'll find in the $1000 or under range (including Marantz who I deal and LOVE).
2. Polk LSiM 705. At full retail of $3,000, I couldn't recommend it. However, at the Polk pricing of $1,500, you are hard pressed to find a better sounding speaker for the money. The sound signature will complement the Arcam quite well and give you a very balanced and natural sound. DO NOT step up to the 707 as it is most definitely not the better speaker.

These two would come in under budget and really set you up nice. I would use any more funds you like on your source as the DAC still needs a digital input to work. Laptops and computers are noisy and I'd advise against using those, but instead use a decent CD player or a streaming device like the Marantz NA6005 to pair with it.
 
#29 ·
Guys,

Bought an irDAC 2. There is a countable improvement in the sound quality and I get nice imaging and sound stage. Event I am able to observe the instrumental separation. But the pain point is that the vocal went slight in and not opening up.

Currently paired it with polk tsx110b temprorly which is very revealing speaker only. Any thoughts about it? I am still auditioning few speakers.

Thanks in advance.
Vinod
 
#45 ·
Folks, after a long wait and many demoes I didnt feel anything impressive. I have just taken my decision by reading various reviews about focal for the arcams and ended up buying Focal electra 1008 Be.

And i am pleased with my decision and it rocks all the ways.

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