Congrats on the Zen! From what I’ve read it sounds like the DAC choice comes down to whether you want a warmer tube-like sound with maybe less upper octave detail versus the R2R sound that more falls between tubes and delta-sigma DACs with more treble detail than the Lampi but with a bit less warmth. Both great DACs fer sure, but the choice could really be that simple depending on what sound characteristics you’re looking for in the context of your system/tastes.
Auralic Vega G2 or Denafrips Pontus II 12th + streamer?
I'm looking to add digital to my system as a supplement to vinyl (my main listening avenue), but I've been debating whether to go with a very capable combo unit like the Vega G2 or separates for some time. My main concern is longer term support re: various streaming service apps, etc that might make built-in streaming capabilities outdated in a few years in combo units.
I had a thought that maybe investing in a great DAC separate that will outlast changes in streaming tech where I could just upgrade separate streamers in the future if necessary might be a better approach, but I don't know.
I like the idea of keeping it simple with a combo unit a la Vega G2 or Hifi Rose or something, but I'm also not interested in anything that might be a brick in a couple years. Not interested in having the 'smartphone' experience of needing to upgrade every few years, especially at a multi-thousand dollar price point.
Having an excellent control app is 100% required for any streaming solution I consider as it needs to be very simple to use (will be controlled by family occasionally as well via an iPad most likely, which is mostly why).
I'd like to stick to under $5k total (used is fine). A used Vega G2 tends to sit at about $4500-5k on the market from what I've seen, so this would be the tip top end of what I could consider.
Showing 5 responses by soix
Highly recommend keeping them separate for all the reasons you raised and more. Put it this way — would you buy a turntable with the phono pre built in? Why not? Because they’re both critical components and just because you might like the turntable it doesn’t mean you’ll like the phono pre as much, right? Same thing with a DAC and streamer. They’re both critical and very different components, so what are the odds that a combo streamer/DAC is going to be optimized on both counts for your specific tastes? As far as specific recommendations, that really depends on what sound characteristics you’re looking for because, just like in analog, the flavors are all over the map so we really need to know what you like. Specify what sound characteristics are most important to you and you’ll get some great recommendations here, otherwise you’re gonna get blindfolded darts at a dartboard. FWIW. |
Great info! Given what you’re looking for my first thought was an R2R DAC and was gonna recommend the Pontus but you beat me to it. With your budget, and to borrow a phrase from Emeril, you can kick it up several notches by adding a DDC (like the Denafrips Iris) so you can take advantage of the DAC’s i2S input, which gives a very significant performance bump. For the streamer I’d recommend the Innuos Pulse Mini because, in addition to being a very good streamer (and a good step up from the Node), it comes with their Sense app that gets excellent reviews for both usability and sound quality and is continually being upgraded. And Innuos offers top-notch customer support as well. If it’s in budget I’d get a linear power supply for the streamer (good ones can be had for $200 - $300) as a good LPS will significantly up its performance. I believe all this can be had within your budget even new, so if you can get some of it used you should come in well under and have a pretty killer streaming setup. So glad you’re getting into streaming — it’s literally life changing. One last thing — go with Qobuz for a streaming service. Hope this helps, and best of luck. |
That sounds like a very valid concern and may be a good argument for the Pontus, but in the end it’s all personal taste and system dependent. If I had tubes downstream I’d go with the Pontus, but that’s just me. |
You might consider this Zen Mk3 for $2k instead of the Mini as it’s better overall, you won’t need to buy the LPS, and you don’t need the Mini’s DAC. I think you’re making great choices with both the Innuos and the Pontus BTW and think you’ll be very happy with the pairing. Just fyi and FWIW, and best of luck. https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisb1b8g-innuos-zenith-mk3-music-servers-docks |