Upgrade 120

[Sailor4W]

Hi Damon, my apologies if I raised a question covered already in an existing thread, and thanks for the link! I am new to this forum and I still need to find my way through the various fora!

OK, very good to know that the upgrade to the 220 Pro is significant. I must say, I am leaning towards this solution. But I'll see, as I might upgrade my speakers as well, but all in good time.

@Sailor4W
No problem at all. I wasn't criticizing you for the question. Because the big upgrade move, to the Pro series generally, was done in the fall of 2016, those threads are older, and they can be hard to track down easily.

Believe me, I understand the dilemma. For me, the D120 was a difficult expenditure, and so was the upgrade. Not that it was threatening my retirement, but in terms of what I imagined spending, it was double.

Do search for some threads that discuss the sound quality change with the Pro; to many of us (but not all) there is a real change in sonic character. Personally, I was astounded by the improvement out of the box. Others were also surprised but not pleased. I'm not familiar with ATC speakers, though the dealer down the road from me has them, so I can't offer anything about how well they mesh. But detail and tone across the frequency range were notably improved for me. However, the Pro series was, for me, much more critical about cables; I had to fuss with things to tune the sound of the Pro, whereas the Expert amp, though amazing, did not reveal the same differences- it didn't require the same fussing with other bits of the system.

I agree with @Pim on the Aurender. I'd keep it for a while if you do upgrade. It might be an ideal companion to either system.

I won‘t let the Aurender go! I am really attached to this cute box. Whatever I combined it with, it never had a glitch and integrated itself perfectly into any system. I‘ll sell my DAC, pre-amp and that crappy power amp. All those boxes are now stacked in the attic and are waiting to find a new home.