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November 3, 2019 - 3:36pm
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What's next? Entry-level wanting more.
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There a lot going on in this post...first things first. Are you planning on doing 2 channel listening or more? I.e. how important to you is having 5.1, 7.1, Atmos etc?
I suggest the Musical Fidelity M5 integrated amplifier. It sounds great and has plenty of power.
You can get the Monitor Audio 500 speakers for $2500 per pair new, and IMO they sound much better than the Klipsch speakers.
probably the best thing you could do, dollar for dollar, would be maggie LRS speakers for 700 a pair. But you'll probably wait 4 or 5 months to get them after ordering and paying for them like I did. But they are worth the wait. Only now I have to get a better amp. First time a power amp ever became the weak link. I'm thinking of a Schiit Vidar. Most cost effective.
I would start by not using Bluetooth for everything. I mean, you have a Dac, why not plug a USB cable into your phone or computer, or whatever you are streaming from? Even using your phone or computer headphone jack plugged into your receiver via 3.5mm to RCA cable would be better than Bluetooth, APTx or not. I have a very hard time distinguishing between 320 kbps MP3 and lossless Tidal or a CD, but I know the difference between Bluetooth and a wired connection every time.
Seriously, I'd rather listen to free Pandora streaming on a cellphone plugged through the headphone jack than 24/192 lossless audio over Bluetooth. If you are mostly streaming Spotify and Tidal, you could just get an old iPhone without a SIM card use it connect to WiFi, load the Spotify and Tidal apps and plug it into your DAC with an camera adapter and USB cable,now you've got a streamer.