Best streamer for Audio Note UK dacs


I have an older audio note dac 4, and absolutely love it. thinking about upgrading my streamer, which is currently an inuous Zen 3 going into a sonicweld USB converter. I enjoy the sound a lot but I know it can get better. So I've been toying with either adding a Phoenix clock to the Zen 3, but more likely upgrading to an inuous statement or maybe a 432 Evo aeon. What I wanted to ask is whether some high-end streamer brands tend to be better on high-res sources and others may be particularly strong on 16/44? Are some known to be better on 16/44? I play mostly 16/44 because that's what the audio note dacs are built for. 

I'm also very open to hearing opinions about innuos versus 432.

Thanks

montaldo

Showing 2 responses by lalitk

As much you love your AN DAC, it appears your bottleneck is AN DAC and USB converter not Zen 3. Adding Phoenix clock or Upgrading to Statement or EVO will not yield full benefits of their design if your DAC is limited to 16/44. If you want to venture into high resolution streaming or DSD downloads, get a DAC that can handle high resolution bits before you upgrade from Zen 3.

A streamer core job is to pass on digital bits natively to a DAC. Your DAC does the heavy lifting especially if you’re using USB protocol to transmit bits. IME, not all streamers and DAC created equal, a high quality DAC and Streamer works collectively in rendering qualitative benefits of a recording regardless of file resolution.

As you probably know, not every recording is going to sound better just because it’s high resolution, lot of it has to do with original master source of the file. I have heard and own many outstanding files in 16/44 and all the way upto DSD256.

Bottom line, ensure you have an audio system comprises of components that can allow you to appreciate the differences between low to high resolution files rather than focusing on which components will do better with low or high resolution files.

@montaldo,

Respect your decision to not replace AN DAC. Look into MU1 or Aurender N200. With N200, connect to your DAC via Coax for best possible outcome.