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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.

fthompson251

Showing 3 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,026 posts
 

I have a Cambridge Evo 150 all-in-one. This thing is like a Swiss army knife. Many ways to stream and DAC integrated in. Do they all sound exactly the same? No. Most sound very close though. Chromecast can be a straggler sometimes. Nature of the source material is the biggest variable by far. However I hear more in most recordings of decent or better quality than ever before.

I think for many who want to simply cut to the chase for top notch sound streaming an integrated device like this is the ticket.   This is a future-fi trend and I expect many other new and similar devices to be coming the consumers way in the near future.  

 

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,026 posts
 

It doesn’t matter what comes first these days as long as you like the end result. It’s hard to find a clearly bad combo.Technology these days is that good. It’s clear that purely subjective personal preferences rule.

mapman's avatar
mapman
23,026 posts
 

What is the basis for people asserting these other streamers they happen to fancy  are somehow better than the Cambridge? In what way other than perhaps cost? Anything concrete to back it up? Has anyone actually compared what they suggest with what the OP already has? What about feature comparisons? That can vary a lot with streamers. The Cambridge streamers tend to get top notch reviews in the press so that would suggest they are pretty good.

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