Add External DAC or Upgrade to a New Streamer / DAC?


So upgrade-itis has struck again and I'm looking to improve my digital front end. Right now I am using the HiFi Rose RS250 (Quobuz - Roon - Ethernet - HiFiRose) which is fed into a PrimaLuna Evo 400 Integrated into GoldenEar Triton One.Rs Cardas and Wireworld interconnects and cables. My question is this. In order to achieve a marked improvement in digital sound quality (and being that I enjoy the look and interface of the Rose) is there an external DAC you would recommend running the Rose through (as cost effective as possible - pre-owned or demo preferred) or is there a Streamer / Dac combo product that would be the smarter upgrade move. I'd appreciate any input / advice. Thanks!

jdm11

Showing 1 response by p05129

Ap1-not true. Like others that have stated above, The best interfaces to a dac are Ethernet and i2s. Most dacs don’t include these interfaces except for the better ones. Toslink would be good except it limits what can be sent thru it. Nobody uses coax anymore. Most people will use usb even though it’s flawed, so the user ends up buying all the gimmicks/tweaks to try to make usb better. You don’t see femto clocks, reclock pieces, or usb splitters to separate the power from the data on Ethernet or i2s.

If you’re into reading reviews, check out some of the latest dac reviews where the reviewer stated Ethernet sounded better than usb. Also some of the more expensive dacs don’t even come with usb, as others have stated and documented in reviews.