Edited: Now potentially looking for new preamplifier 11.23.2021

I may be selling off my Onkyo Reference gear and I still have connections from back in my "repping" days for home A/V stuff to get NAD gear at a great price. I'm pondering something like the C368 or more powerful C388 and possibly with the BluOS 2i, if they have those in stock. These use the newer technology amps versus Class AB, etc. But, before I took the plunge, I thought I'd ask if anyone uses the newer gear. I'm not big on paying full retail for A/V gear after spending 25+ years in that business so I like the deal I get. :)
 
I've heard a bunch of their modern gear and have enjoyed it all. Great company, making really good, musical equipment.
 
Yeah 658. Yes, NAD model numbering is awful. Can never rememeber any of them for some reason. so arbitrary.
 
I think for the moment, I'm going to keep all my Onkyo Reference gear but if any part of it gets changed, I'll be keeping the preamp as it takes care of all my digital and analog inputs and already has separate 192kHz/32-bit Burr Brown D/A converters for each channel. Not that my current hearing will ever hear the difference in a higher end DAC. I'm going to keep my eye out for something different in the amplifier department.

Has anyone here used the Adcom GFA5802? Edit: After calling a tech friend in Little Rock, I'll probably steer away from the 5802 as it apparently had lots of cut corners. Not to mention he doesn't care to work on MOSFET amps at all. I have a Rockford Fosgate RF2000 home amp which is based off of the Power 1000 which used 32 MOSFET's.

I've looked at some of those and a good buddy in Phoenix keeps pushing me to look for Mcintosh MC7270 or even an MC2300. But, those two stretch my budget out a little farther than I care to go. Tinnitus and loss of high frequency range past 11kHz keeps me from going too bonkers on expensive stuff. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise. ha
 
Last edited:
I think for the moment, I'm going to keep all my Onkyo Reference gear but if any part of it gets changed, I'll be keeping the preamp as it takes care of all my digital and analog inputs and already has separate 192kHz/32-bit Burr Brown D/A converters for each channel. Not that my current hearing will ever hear the difference in a higher end DAC. I'm going to keep my eye out for something different in the amplifier department.

Has anyone here used the Adcom GFA5802? I've looked at some of those and a good buddy in Phoenix keeps pushing me to look for Mcintosh MC7270 or even an MC2300. But, those two stretch my budget out a little farther than I care to go. Tinnitus and loss of high frequency range past 11kHz keeps me from going too bonkers on expensive stuff. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise. ha

Don't discount your hearing. I'm not certain I can hear above 10k and I'm half deaf in one ear with a blown eardrum in the other, but I have been able to put together award-winning rooms at major shows. It isn't what you hear, its how you listen. I'm 100% certain that you could hear the differences in my system with a $1000 DAC and a $5,000 DAC, or even a $1000 streamer vs. a $2000 streamer.

If you are content, more power to ya 🤘 Just don't use that excuse please. It's a peeve of mine given my life-long hearing deficiencies. 😁
 
Don't discount your hearing. I'm not certain I can hear above 10k and I'm half deaf in one ear with a blown eardrum in the other, but I have been able to put together award-winning rooms at major shows. It isn't what you hear, its how you listen. I'm 100% certain that you could hear the differences in my system with a $1000 DAC and a $5,000 DAC, or even a $1000 streamer vs. a $2000 streamer.

If you are content, more power to ya 🤘 Just don't use that excuse please. It's a peeve of mine given my life-long hearing deficiencies. 😁


Point taken. I do have good days and bad days with the tinnitus. Last night it was worse and made listening tougher as my wife was upstairs with me and doesn't quite like it as much when I'm playing it to overcome the "noise" in my head.

And I probably could hear the difference in those, but, my bank account won't let me ha.

From 2001 till 2009, I was a Manufacturers Rep and covered DFW/north TX, OK, AR, and LA (I20 north) for New Age Marketing. Those were fun times till the market took a dump in 2008/2009 and I lost my gig as a rep. But, I sold my house, paid everything off, and went back to college at 43 and started again. Good times before the drop out.
 
Point taken. I do have good days and bad days with the tinnitus. Last night it was worse and made listening tougher as my wife was upstairs with me and doesn't quite like it as much when I'm playing it to overcome the "noise" in my head.

And I probably could hear the difference in those, but, my bank account won't let me ha.

From 2001 till 2009, I was a Manufacturers Rep and covered DFW/north TX, OK, AR, and LA (I20 north) for New Age Marketing. Those were fun times till the market took a dump in 2008/2009 and I lost my gig as a rep. But, I sold my house, paid everything off, and went back to college at 43 and started again. Good times before the drop out.

Sweet! If I remember, you were in Haslet, right? I used to be on the Polk forum and I think I tried a few times to get you to come out to one of the meets I hosted. 08/09 was when I started getting heavy into this hobby and by 2015 founded AudioThesis. I really just wanted to be a small time dealer but sometimes a business has a mind of its own and drags you along for the ride. I've definitely enjoyed the ride and can't believe I get to bring the finest 'attainable' speakers I've heard to the US market.
 
Sweet! If I remember, you were in Haslet, right? I used to be on the Polk forum and I think I tried a few times to get you to come out to one of the meets I hosted. 08/09 was when I started getting heavy into this hobby and by 2015 founded AudioThesis. I really just wanted to be a small time dealer but sometimes a business has a mind of its own and drags you along for the ride. I've definitely enjoyed the ride and can't believe I get to bring the finest 'attainable' speakers I've heard to the US market.

I don't believe that was me as I lived right outside of Denton in Krum and moved away in June '09. I was on the Polk forum, too, under the same name as here. Not sure why I've not ever changed it as I haven't been an AV guy in TX for 12 years now. haha
 
What's the general consensus on the Emotiva amps? Anyone here run them or have used them in the past? Seems their new stuff is modular. For $1700, a person can get 550wpc and a 5 year warranty! haha But, I've never used any Class H or D or ?? amps.
 
A friend bought one for his Snell Type A's and we were both profoundly disappointed. A little old Carver TFM6C I had along with me totally blew it out of the water.

YMMV of course, but it sure didn't sound good to me.
 
A friend bought one for his Snell Type A's and we were both profoundly disappointed. A little old Carver TFM6C I had along with me totally blew it out of the water.

YMMV of course, but it sure didn't sound good to me.

I've kind of gathered that, too, with the various reviews and forums I've read written about them. There's so many variations with amplifiers these days...so many more since I got out of the industry back in 2009. Hell, I'm probably fine with with I've got. I just get on these kicks every now and then like all of us do, I guess.
 
I don't believe that was me as I lived right outside of Denton in Krum and moved away in June '09. I was on the Polk forum, too, under the same name as here. Not sure why I've not ever changed it as I haven't been an AV guy in TX for 12 years now. haha
Not far off LOL.

I used to live in Providence Village on 380 between Denton and McKinney, but I moved there in 2010 so we just missed each other. I think I might have you confused with hockeyguy or something like that, but I know I immediately recognized your tag when I saw you post here.

Skip Emotiva. If you want something simple, consider the Norma HS-IPA1. It's absolutely world class and will consolidate you into an integrated. If separates are still up and quantity of watts is not as important as quality, check out the Dayens Ampino stereo amp or monoblocks. They utilize high quality toroidals in them and bypass bells and whistles for sheer sound quality. They are solid options for not a lot of coin, but the Norma is still a better sounding option. At $3,000, I can still use this on my $35,000 Siena 2 and get world-class sound.

As the sig notates, I am a dealer for Dayens and distributor for Norma so take that for what you will. I don't represent products that 'sell', I represent products that keep me planted in that chair.
 
Not far off LOL.

I remember when that area was being built and would see the progress when travelling from Denton to McKinney to Greenville. It was a nice area but, man, those zero property line lots would not have worked for me. ha.

You do rep some nice lines but definitely out of my range anymore. Now, if I were single and not married along with a 14 year old son in high school and a 21 year old daughter that's a Senior at the U of A about to go to Med School, it might be another story ha
 
Did you ever do anything with the C658? Contemplating that again, myself. Kind of wondering how well the BlueOS works in it and compared to a new stand alone Node.

No. But a good friend has one and just loves it. He has a youtube channel and he did a review on it.
NAD C658
 
I still haven't changed up on amps and haven't sold the Onkyo Reference preamp and amp. I moved my fully updated/upgraded Carver C-1 preamp and 1.0t back in place for the time being. There's been a few fairly local amps I've looked at priced at $300 and below including an Adcom GFA 555 in my town, a Parasound HCA1200 20 minutes away and a Nakamichi PA-7 further out. All would really need some tech work to bring them up to snuff for safe use, of course, but my repair guy in LR (39 years at it) says he isn't confident enough to work on the Nak and isn't a fan of working with MOSFET amps. He did great work on the two Mcintosh amps I had him go through.

Hell, I may stick with some new amps where I have a warranty. I thought about a pair of the Schitt Vidar amps and have 400 watts a side on tap. My Carver is rated at 460 a side so power is nice to have. :) Who knows.
 
Last edited:
Well, I sold off all 3 pieces of the Onkyo Reference gear and I honestly kind of miss the preamp already. Mainly because of the built in DAC, digital inputs, built like a tank, etc., but it was a little long in the tooth as a preamp and I was a a rep for this series when it came out maybe 2008. I think it's still being sold in Japan but they quit doing updates on the line in the U.S. when they got out of the 2-channel market.

I'm currently using my fully rebuilt Carver gear (C-1 and M-1.0t) and really do like the sound. I ordered a basic Topping D10S USB AC to take care of the computer's USB out since that's what I use for streaming from JRiver/NAS FLAC files, Amazon Music HD, and Spotify. I'd thought about getting an NAD C658 with BlueOS built in as the C658 doesn't have a USB input...which I wouldn't need at that point. I can get one for rep sample price (not $1750 retail) but still hate to spend that, really. Another thought was to just buy a new Node to use for streaming and use its built in DAC, too. I have connections to get some various brands like Parasound, Teac, NAD, Yamaha, etc., but, dang, even at cost it's more than a cheapskate audio guy like me wants to spend anymore. lol

Hell, I don't know...
 
streaming from JRiver/NAS FLAC files, Amazon Music HD, and Spotify.
You could use a Raspberry Pi 4B and free open source software such as Moode, or Volumio to do all of the above except Amazon HD, and you can replace Amazon HD with either Qobuz or TIDAL, but at a higher monthly cost.

In that scenario the computer you currently use becomes a server, still running your instance of JRiver with the FLAC files on the NAS, but it streams them over your LAN to the Raspberry Pi acting as the "player", or what's also variously called an endpoint, streamer, or renderer. The Raspberry Pi 4B then connects to the Topping D10s DAC via USB.

That Raspberry Pi 4B, in a nice metal heat sink enclosure, comes in south of $100, and lets you keep using the Carver amp/preamp you already have, as well as move the actual server computer to a different location not near the stereo if you so desire.

If the DIY aspect of the above is unattractive, you can get a finished product that will do the same thing in the $399 iFi ZEN Stream, which is in my opinion a better overall value than a NODE at $549, if you already own a DAC that you like.

Amazon HD is closed source and likely not going to be made available to anything but the big hardware partners that are willing to shell out for a pricey license, or of course Amazon's own Echo devices.
 
Back
Top