Digital Path to Complete my System

You have chosen a good time to add a digital end. I have been trying to get digital to sound as good as analog for… well since digital began. A few years ago I was finally able to do that. You can see my systems under my ID.

Great idea of one and done. Has that ever happened with analog? Ok, anyway.

Definitely Aurender streamer and a good quality DAC. Knowing nothing about your preferences I would say an Aurender N250 and an Audio Research DAC 9. Good combination of great detail and musical. An Aurrender N20 would be even better, but that would be over your budget.

Streamers and DACs are equally important, so both must be good quality. If you could get a used N20 and a used high quality DAC you could be in business. FYI, I found equal sound quality between my analog leg and digital required carefully chosen components for each leg which ultimately cost the same… $ analog leg = $ digital leg. 

Grimm Audio MU2 + lifetime Roon subscription.

Wow...ok...after reading the reviews....the Grimm MU2 would be an end game to my digital side. Anyone  have this in their system that can provide pros/cons or likes/dislike. Anyone listen to a side to side comparison to Aurenders top system? In one review this was good to see: 

Driven to keep improving, Grimm Audio works actively to provide ongoing updates. Whenever they improve the sound quality or enhance the feature set of the MU2, these improvements are offered to all existing customers via software or hardware updates (when possible). Software updates are free and can be installed automatically via the update server.

Finally, in case of a malfunction, the Grimm Audio Support Team is dedicated to getting you to enjoy the music again within the shortest timeframe possible. Grimm Audio offer a 5 year limited warranty to customers who fill in their warranty card.

What about dipping your toes into a used DCS Bartok….? There’s a bunch on the market now as the APEX version just came out. Really great sounding DAC…!!

Just curious, are you planning for streaming, local file playback or cd with transport? My system is not in the same tax bracket as yours, but I found a good similarity in sound with a tube buffered r2r NOS dac playing local FLAC files off my network (server pc -> streamer Pi -> DAC). That should hopefully mimic the natural analog sound you're used to (and basing your opinions from). Combine that style of DAC with a good streamer, spend good $ on usb or spdif rca cable (highly recommend Hapa Audio Aero cable for this) and leave a few $ for an ethernet cable. @ghdprentice is right with his analysis that a good digital system is almost $/$ the same as a good analog one once you get above the entry to mid-fi market. I've been slowly upgrading each side and finally have them close in performance (analog slightly better still) so I know the struggle of adopting both sides into the same system.

Hope my rambling helps,

-Lloyd