Congrats to the OP for a nice pair of gear! Hope you have many happy hours of listening pleasure and welcome to this wonderful world of music enjoyment!
Just out of curiousity...why is the 2060 referred to as beginner equipment?
I also own this amp and would like to know the forum's thoughts on what 'advanced' equipment provides that starter equipment doesn't so that I know what to look out for when scouting for an upgrade.
Thanks.
Hello Dear,
Greetings!
IMHO, the whole notion of "beginner" or "advanced" is very abstract. It could be categorized such in one of many ways like:
1. Price
2. Performance
3. Aesthetics (looks/finish) and so on
I have had the opportunity to hear gear that may look "cheap" but sounds like a million $ and the reverse as well.
Added to that a layer of personal taste. Something like sounds like a million $ to one person may sound not to the liking of some other person. And this is where things start getting fuzzy I mean really really fuzzy..
Its the same thing like your favorite color.. your favorite food.. and your favorite music taste...
So this is the part that could be part fiction and part reality.
Having said this there is actually truth in various performance levels of equipment. Certain design decisions allow sound to be reproduced in more desirable ways. Then there is quality of components which *may* enhance the performance/shelf-life of the product.
I really like the idea that "A well designed audio equipment will sound good even 15 years from now" because it just sounds good..! Its as simple as that.
Now to the actual improvements that can be achieved with "better" made/engineered/designed/equipped gear as per my experience:
1. Reduced noise floor (less grainy/more clean so as to say. negligible sound when no music playing)
2. Improved overall resolution of music (better highs/mids/lows)
3. better "transparency"
4. improved sound stage/placement of instruments/artists
5. more accurate timbre of sounds. tabla sound like real table and guitar like real guitar
6. power that drives speakers better (higher power not always = better/I have heard very low powered amps sometimes sound better)
7. etc,etc,etc..
You might be wondering why I took this long route to and why not post these points upfront.
That is because - it takes some time to understand and gradually develop the taste to truly appreciate these parameters. If on the first day we hear a 40K amp and a 1.5K amp there is every chance that we will find them both to be okay. But an experience ear can clearly make out the differences between the two (assuming they both are well engineered/etc and on a level playing field)
What this means is the Norge 2060 is a superb amp that will do all the things right. Whether you want more refinement is the call we have to individually make (and there is really no limit and end to that wish! Just look at the for sale and wanted thread and you know

)
I thing the best system for you is the one that makes you enjoy the music for hours without you bothering about fiddling with the system anymore.
The ultimate upgrade is of the cable in our brains!
Wishing you happy listening!
Thanks and Cheers!