Jaw Dropping Improvement?


60-something, intermittent earner here (Read “mostly starving-artist with the rare, unexpected windfall here and there.”) who has just acquired a Bluesound Node 2i.  I’d be very interested to hear what external DAC, in your experience-and-opinion gave such a dramatic improvement in SQ over that of a stock Bluesound streaming device as to be jaw dropping...an absolute game changer.  Does such an animal exist for less than $2000 U.S. or are improvements at this price point more in the nature of subtleties?  Somewhere in between?  To be sure these things are subjective but your take on this would give me a running start on researching things here with a fairly tight budget being considered — If subtle-to-low/moderate level “tweaks” to SQ are all I can expect from, say, a Qutest or Gungnir Multibit, I’ll probably stay with just the streamer and be happy.

Thanks in advance.
lg1

Showing 3 responses by canibefrank

i have told this story before. i had a PreSonus Audiobox USB DAC (XLR outputs) that cost me a whopping 79 bucks including shipping. I was sure that I was missing something. $200 later with a SMSL SU8, I cannot hear a bloody difference. I would like to try the TEAC NT-505 when I get 2000 bucks to burn on something else I won't hear a difference from...