I inherited this system from my deceased father- his hand-me -downs as he upgraded his system to all sorts of Spectral components. The Goldmund DAC just died and I need a replacement. One of my father’s friends suggested an Emotiva pre amp/DAC but the Goldmund was attached by MIT cables and seemed to generate a lot of heat. I don’t know that the Emotiva is up for the job- any advice on replacement? I am very new to this.
My system:
Mark Levinson ML-2 amplifiers
Magnepan speakers(MG-Ib Magneplanar)
Enlightened Audio Designs CD player
Audio Research High Definition Stereo Line Amplifier
Goldmund Mimesis 12(deceased)D/A Converter
Gigantic MIT cables
Power Wedge power wedge.
Many thx.
I have so many questions about this.
I presume your budget is around $500? Since you were thinking of the Emotiva pre-amp/DAC?
What happened to all the Spectral components? Did somebody else get them? Were they sold and did you get money for them?
Have you been using this system for a long time already or did you just inherit the system?
Are you trying to keep most of these components because they belonged to your father so this is like a connection to him?
The Enlightened Audio Design CD transport usually is purchased with the Enlightened Audio Design DAC called DSP7000. Do you know if your father sold it and replaced it with the Goldmund DAC?
Do you only listen to CDs?
When you said Gigantic MIT cables coming out of the Goldmund DAC, do you mean you’re using XLR (balanced) or RCA (unbalanced) audio cables?
To me, the main issue here is sunk cost theory. Unless you really really want to feel connected to your father and continue listening to his stereo, if somebody gave you a sizeable sum of money to buy a new stereo, I doubt you’ll find anybody who would purchase what you listed.
So the first thing that jumps out in my mind is why not sell everything and just buy a modern stereo system that suits your needs?
If the goal is to preserve as much of your father’s system as possible but with a limited budget of $500, then I would suggest getting a Topping/SMSL/Schiit DAC in that price range that can connect to the EAD CD transport and can connect to the Audio Research preamp (so you need to know whether it’s XLR/RCA cables coming out of the DAC) and you’re done.