Help with upgrade priority

[Jimmythefish]

First post here.

So, I have a pair of Energy Pro 22s that I got for free from a relative, having been told they were not functioning. They sat for years until I tried them last week with my 100-watt-per-channel Sony STR-DE595 receiver that has been working fine for me and my Polk bookshelf speakers for almost 2 decades.

Well, they're working just fine and they're in pristine condition. Tweeters are great. Huge upgrade over the Polk T-15s, it goes without saying. I'm running wired networked Tidal > Sonos Connect > STR-DE595 > Energy Pro 22. It sounds amazing. Having said that, would I see benefit from upgrading the receiver? How much am I going to have to spend to get a noticeably better 2-channel stereo receiver? I don't want or need a home theatre setup, just a stereo setup for music.

ADDED EDIT: I guess the other question is, I'm running analog out of the Sonos to the amp, so using the Sonos DAC rather than the receiver's DAC with my thinking that the Sonos DAC is probably better than the 20-odd year old Sony DAC. If I run optical to the receiver I'm assuming I'd be using the receiver DAC instead. I think the answer would probably be test it out (given the modest price of an optical cable) and go with what I think sounds better. But, if anyone has thoughts on that one I'd be appreciative.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ross6860]

"Better" may be hard to quantify.

This is just my opinion. No HT Receiver I've owned or heard sounds as good as a decent dedicated 2-channel receiver or integrated amp. The money goes into HDMI switching, Dolby processing, and all the other HT stuff that's completely un-necessary for 2-channel music. You also have a shared power supply and multiple Class D amps driving all those channels you aren't using.

I currently own a decent Onkyo HT receiver and a 70's Pioneer SX-626 with a whopping 20 wpc sounds "better" to my ears for music. Your mileage may vary.

For a relatively inexpensive integrated amp I do like my Yamaha A-S301 for around $350, brand new. Critchfield has a liberal return policy if you don't like it.

 

[Jimmythefish]

Good info, thanks. I was eyeing up an Onkyo 2 channel integrated amp that has a bunch of useful things that my old one doesn't and may provide a decent upgrade in features (such as integrated music services and Sonos etc). Those may be more useful than any upgrade in sound may be, and with selling the existing hardware it may end up not being a significant cash outlay. With the Pro 22s and the Tidal source I'm probably entering into the land of rapidly diminishing returns and may benefit from saving my pennies for when those tweeters decide that they've had enough. Hmm.