There’s a plenty of good advice here. I’ll add my own $.02 as I have a bit of a different view than some. We all agree on the importance of the DAC. However, if you have a $10k budget, and given the high quality of your other system components, I’d suggest you can skip budget server/streamer. I had a Node 2 going into an outboard DAC and have upgraded twice.
The primary difference between a budget unit like the Node 2 and a better unit is in information, and particularly spatial information in the music, not in tonality. Your KEFs are very, very good overall, and better than most at reproducing spatial information. As you like jazz and classical, it’d be a shame to hamstring them. Since you’re asking for input, I’d budget a similar amount for the server/streamer and for the DAC. Some would say the DAC is far more important than the server/streamer. They may be right, but at least a few of us in these forums have found them to be equally important.
The primary difference between a budget unit like the Node 2 and a better unit is in information, and particularly spatial information in the music, not in tonality. Your KEFs are very, very good overall, and better than most at reproducing spatial information. As you like jazz and classical, it’d be a shame to hamstring them. Since you’re asking for input, I’d budget a similar amount for the server/streamer and for the DAC. Some would say the DAC is far more important than the server/streamer. They may be right, but at least a few of us in these forums have found them to be equally important.
