Moon Ace might do it.
Best Direction/Product Combo DAC/Streamer
Hello, I am wondering if anyone would recommend a combination DAC/Streamer that will also be able to accommodate or allow me to connect my CD Transport? I often stream music when I am playing background music and as of now have a Schiit Audio Modi as my Dac and an original Bluesound Node as my streamer. I also run a Cambridge Audio CD transport connected to the Modi. I would like to puchase a combination product to minimize the number of boxes. Does anyone have a recommendation? Thank you in advance.
27 responses Add your response
The ARC room correction is great with the PW Link or Martin Logan Unison and they are on sale 50% off: https://www.martinlogan.com/en/product/unison
|
Gustard R26! Great sounding r2r dac with built in streamer. I use the built in streamer by the lan connection, have my Mac book pro connected by usb, have my cd transport connected by coax, and once in a while go to my iphone through Bluetooth. On dac with all the connection option, and best of all it sounds fantastic for $1500 us! |
HiFi Rose Rs150B for 5k (I own and recommend), I have heard good things about the Ayon streamer ( I own their Kronos tube DAC and love it). I have read that the Meitner MA3 is very good for the 10K range, but I have no personal experience with it. Really it boils down to your price range, whether you want a R2R dac or a Delta Sigma dac and most importantly to me, what you can demo or what has a good return policy in case you don't like it. |
I recently purchased a Cocktail x-40, and I love it. It is a combination component. It's a NAS/Streamer/cd transport/cd ripper/DAC/fm tuner/Phono recorder. It can be used as a stand alone preamp as it has digital attenuation built in. The current model is the Cocktail x-50. Here's a link. Cheers www.cocktailaudio.com/home/sub01.php |
I'll second @jbuhl's suggestion of the Moon Ace. I will also add that if you do not need the analogue input and amplification functions, the Moon 280D is a fabulous unit also, and a small but useful step up from the Moon Ace. |
Gustard R26 for $1.5K is so good you need to spend WAY more to get better sound, something like a Lumin T3 for $6K (and even then I'd say it's not "better" sounding just different). The only downside to the Gustard is you need to use ROON (or a DLNA), and ROON will require a host computer like a NUC. |
If you are looking for true streamer DAC - Naim, Lumin, Aurender, Auralic and HiFi rose are likely all good options. They all make software that works really well. Their are tons of units that have "streaming capability" but they rely on MConnect or MControl and many don't love this software but it is free or close to free. Full disclosure, I am a Naim dealer and not a dealer for any of the other units. |
+1 again for the Auralic Altair G1 or 1.1 now. Great performance for its price I think. I have one in a second system, run it on wifi, and it immediately brought out much better sound over my cd player or lesser streaming sources. IMHO much better than node or other $1000 solutions. And one box. I run an Auralic G2.1 in my main system with a custom power supply. but the Altair gives close to that performance at a reasonable price. Talk to GTT audio. Ken |
and oh yes thank you @verdantaudio I run Roon at my home, but the Altair is at my vacation home and I do not have Roon. The Auralic software is very nice and works perfectly, though I miss my Roon playlists. |
You did not indicate a budget or indicate input output requirements. I use a Wyred4Sound 10th anniversary DAC and an Aurender 100H server with a Linn Unidisc 1.1. I believe the Cambridge CXC CD transport only has an SPDIF and Optical out, no USB out. The transport can go into the SPDIF of the Wyred4Sound for playback or the Aurender for burning or buffering before playback with the Aurender. The Aurender USB out can go to the Wyred4Sound USB in. Price of combo used is about $4k and new about $8k with the new Aurender 150 which reviews indicate better my 100H. I find the combo organic and articulate like vinyl without the background noise with dense and three dimensional images, wide stage, excellent timbre and detail, and smooth.
|
You have the basics of a great streamer set up now,most of what is being suggested are “streamers”but not wireless and pains in neck to use the streamer functionality with awful UI .Assuming a wirelessly receiving setup is something you require (as do I) I would suggest the often overlooked Sonos Port or Gen 2 connect. You can wirelessly stream your cd music to another room (to another( G2 connect) I understand you are trying to minimize boxes but the port and amp are very small boxes. Based on what you currently have consider a much better dac with inputs for the node and you’ll be very happy. Picture your node atop a ares 2 not much real estate being used really you’ll save a bunch and it will blow most of what being suggested here out of the water…
|
@sgreg1 i have not tried that app. Thanks for the tip. I will find it and see how much better it is. |
Ayre Acoustics EX-8 and their higher priced QX-5 Twenty are precisely what you asked for - streamer, DAC, and digital Hub/preamp that be connected directly to an amplifier. Multiple inputs including Ethernet, USB, optical, S/PDIF. American made, high quality, excellent sound quality with units that often can be upgraded to later versions at reasonable prices. I own three Ayre products and am very happy with their performance and the company’s customer support see https://ayre.com/categories/digital/ |
