Greetings!
I recently found the CA site in a roundabout way during my efforts to obtain higher-quality digital download music. You all seem to run a pretty decent and civil forum here so I thought I'd jump in, say HI and ask a starter question.
About me & my audio:
I've been picking up a few things from HDTracks, TopSpin, and a few other places. I'm enjoying a demo period of the MOG streaming service and may subscribe. I'll likely cancel my Pandora One sub. as it's only 192kbps and I can't pick tracks like with MOG.
Most of my stored music files are mp3/aac at 192 or better, with a few hours at 320, and another few hours in lossless formats. I've decided to dig my crates of CD's out of the closet and re-encode to Apple Lossless sometime before the end of next winter.
My music taste varies greatly - electronic/techno, rock, some jazz, vocal & acoustic, pop, rap, etc. I appreciate classical but own/listen to it very little.
Currently my setup begins with a Mac Mini booting from an SSD with a few external hard drives to contain media. The Mini feeds a set of Klipsch Promedia 2.1 speakers. Satellites on the desktop and sub under the desk. These speakers are several years old and have thousands of hours on them. I usually listen at low to moderate volumes. I now work at home all day, every day listening to this set-up.
I've seen the Peachtree Deco online and that looks like a really interesting product, but I'm not sure if it would be right for me, and it is more than I want to spend at the moment - particularly because I'd want to buy speakers to go with it.
Finally, the question:
If I was to plan an investment of $200-500 (US) where should I put it?
DAC? Speakers? Somewhere else? Save for the Peachtree or similar?
TIA!