Oppo Sonica DAC

gibbsy

Yes, in my opinion but I do like KEF's signature. The 500s are three way as opposed to two and a half. The 500s can dip to 3.2 ohm and hence they need a good power supply. I'm a great deliver in how the speakers construction affects it's performance and although both these speakers are essentially the same size build wise the KEFs are almost 5.5kg heavier.

That's not to say the Tannoys are poor speakers, far from it, but in my opinion the KEFs have more than an edge.

dollag

I owned the sonica dac for a while and is the cleanest sounding dac i have ever heard. That isn't necessarily what people are after but for me it was amazing. I mean it still measures as one of the the best dacs out there albeit, measurements are not everything.

I'd actually consider getting a power amplifier rather than an integrated if you get the sonica as it doubles up as a preamp.

something like an emotiva bassX a300. it's a powerhouse with very clean power. these paired together imo are just amazing, especially if you go for something like the kefs which impedance swings all over the place. with it's massive psu and high damping factor, it gets them really under control.