I just had to make this choice but was a level behind you. I had the Bluesound Node 2i and the Denafrips Ares II. I knew I wanted to upgrade both. I assumed the streamer would be the best choice because the DAC was amazing so very pleased and want more Denafrips in the future. It also came down to getting a super deal on a DEMO unit one generation back. I bought an Auralic Aries G1. The G1.1s are about $3,500, I got mine for $2,200 free shipping and full warranty. I chose Auralic because it would stream the big three natively: Amazon, Qobuz, and Tidal and the reviews of the App were great the other big two streamers Lumin and Aurrender do not stream Amazon and I hear of App issues. Going one generation back was not an issue. One major change was only cosmetic and the other had to do with playing Apple music. Now I have done the AMP, Speakers, DAC, and Streamer. One more time on the DAC. Let me know if you want to part with the Venus.
New DAC or New Streamer?
This should be fun. After I pay to get my amp upgraded at VAC next month I plan to either upgrade my DAC or Streamer next. I should have enough for that by late spring/early summer. I'm retired so I save some each month until I have what I need. My system is in my user profile. But to keep this simple my current DAC is the Dinafrips Venus II I got a year ago. (I also have the Hermes DDC)
My streamer is the Cambridge CXN V2 via coax to the Hermes-> I2s -> DAC which is also 1 year old. I was just getting into streaming then and knew little about it. I have learned a lot this past year, a whole lot.
I think the bottle neck is leaning more toward the streamer. It seems the DAC is pretty good, I know there are much better DAC's out there but it holds it own I think. Maybe not? I cannot afford the likes of DCS, Lampizator, etc.
The next planned upgrades are a Terminator II DAC and Aurender N200 Streamer. Both are $5000-$6000. (Unless I go for the Terminator + DAC that is $7500 but I am not sure it is $2500 better than the Terminator II)
So, since both will get upgraded a year apart, which should I go for first? Which would provide the biggest upgrade?
Thanks. Happy holidays to all.