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@Erwin: thank you for your anwser VAT in Croatia is pretty high 22%... First of all I'll take a little rest , then think again about everything

Well my budget is basically not pretty big . Best buy category I dare to say and yes, somewhere around 3000 dollars. Speakers wise maybe even monitor audio Rx 6, it also sounds great with NAD... But definitely it will be arcam rDAC and NAD amp, now only decision I have to make is whether to buy Dali Lektor 8 or Monitor Audio Rx 6/8 and of course which interconnect cable (I hate this part). I was thinking maybe Nordhost blue heaven or Kimber Timbre or Some Van Del Hul, what do you guys think? And I have to say that this is a really great forum, thank you all, and sorry for my english beacuse I'm from Croatia (Europe)

@Erwin S: Now I'm definitely confused what preamp and amp would you pick (the models)? I thought I'll be good with integrated amplifier only.. So preamp and amp will give me a better sound than single integrated amplifier? Sorry for all of my questions I'm pretty new at this Hi Fi world, and I'm collecting all the information I can get So far, I decided to buy Dali Lektor 8 speakers (or maybe Monitor Audio Rx or Bx 6/8) and Arcam rDAC, now I have to decide which amp and analog interconnect to buy, this is harder than I thought, but I tring to pick best equipment for the money

CharlyD thanks again

one more question, since the output of NAD @8ohm is 80W x 2, does it have a greater output when it comes to 6ohm speakers, say 90W x 2? because Dali speakers are 6 ohm

CharlyD thank you so Lektor 8 can be used with an amp of max 180W x 2 RMS if I got that right? could you tell me this too, I have a receiver sony str 698, should I use it (for stereo music) with NAD 355 amp and Dali speakers? Will I get anything better with that combination (or just stick with an amp) and if yes, do I plug in the speakers into amp or into receiver? I mean how do I connect all that with a DAC? DAC to amp to receiver or? sorry for bothering you

As I'm buying a whole new system I got pretty much confused with lots of stuff, but could you help with this.. I'm planning to buy Dali Lektor 8 speakers and it says: Recommended amplifier power [W]: 40 - 180 So what I don't understand is, does this 180W part mean that it's for 90W x 2 RMS amp? or 180W x 2? Does one speaker have 90W or 180W RMS? That is what's troubling me, I assume it's the first optionm but I don't know really Because I'm planning to buy Nad C 355BEE amp. and of course Dali Lektor 8 so I got confused with these specs

thank you for your long answer with so many details from your post is seems like you explored the whole earth for best bang for the buck and also seems like i'm thinking exactly like you, especially when considering the fact that i'm planning to buy NAD stereo amplifier which you already HAVE , not to mention the rDac which i like more than magicdac and would probably purchase thanks again and stay well

@dummy: i'm planning to buy rdac so if you could tell me, is it worth the money, are you happy with it?

rom thank you for sharing your experience this whole upgrade thing confused the hell out of me there are so many options, brands models.. my head hurts i think i'm gonna buy arcam rdac and kimber analog interconnect (timbre) and in the the future probably a new receiver and floorstanding speakers

socrates thank you for your answer after a lot of reading i decided to buy arcam rdac over magic dac could you advise me on a good analog interconnect up to 100 dollars?

not sure if i should buy a DAC to improve overall sound quality, so if someone more experienced could help me i would really appreciate it thing is, currently i'm using onboard alc888 spdif digital coax out to sony receiver with a pair of floorstanding jamo speakers, and suprisingly enough the sound is pretty ok considering the fact that card is an ONBOARD sound so what worries me is, will a new cambridge magicdac (for instance) have a better sound than setup described above? and my main music source is mp3 and little audio cds and flacs also i couldn't decide between these: -nuforce icon hdp -cambridge magicdac -arcam rdac any advices, suggestions? thanks