New DAC or New Streamer?

@charles1dad

I don’t intend to use Roon. I may in the future want to rip CD’s to a SS drive I can add one to the N200. From what I understand it (N200) has great SQ. How would the Innuos better it? In what way? More bang for the buck in that is will sound the same as the N200 for less money? I use Qobuz primarily, what’s the difference between these Pluse units and the Aurender? Don’t the Aurenders cache the stream into RAM and then play it back? Thank you for your feedback. I will take a look at them. I should add that I am seeking my end game streamer. (As funny as that may seem in this crazy rabbit hole hobby)

I am honestly surprised by the feedback as I expected the DAC to be the priority, and get the best DAC you can afford in an all digital playback system first. That would be the Terminator for me as I like the "house sound" I have so far.

Interesting bit of information that may or may not cause a stir. I today concluded that the CXN may be my bottle neck because when I tried different Power cords in it I really didn’t hear much change. However when I added the newer power cord to my DAC it was immediate that it improved, the same result when I added the same one to my CD transport although the DAc was affected more. (The power cord that is new to the system is the Wireworld Silver Electra 7 of which I now have two) My  perspective on this is that the streamer isn’t of high enough resolution to to distinguish this or that PC’s make little impact on it. It is currently powered by a Shunyata Black mamba from years gone by. I have 4 of them, but have retired 2 of them to my LHY network switch and my LHY linear power supply. I have a Synergistic Reference Master Coupler due in Friday to try on my Preamp to see how it compares to the Shunyata. @ghdprentice YES, being retired offers many hours of music listening during the cold days of winter and fussing with the sound of the system. You are one that through your feed back on many threads have helped convince me to look into Aurender, since streamers are all they do. Secondly when I see sophisticated systems featured online the Aurender units are featured rather frequently.

There is a lot more to be gained in a DAC.  Until you have a flagship dac of your dreams, you can get by on a $300 streamer.  

In other words the differnce between a $1000 and a $10000 dac is huge but the differnce between a $300 and a $5000 streamer is much less.

Jerry

Linn DSM

@fthompson251 

I'm surprised so many people like a bundled streaming solution too. You can get an iStream or a Bluesound Node to be used simply as a transport for less than $500. You can even use a mac or a PC as a transport. Then you can use the rest of your budget on the best dac with the features you really want. There are so many outstanding values on dacs and there are more choices at different price points. 

There is a lot more to be gained in a DAC. Until you have a flagship dac of your dreams, you can get by on a $300 streamer.

In other words the differnce between a $1000 and a $10000 dac is huge but the differnce between a $300 and a $5000 streamer is much less.

Jerry

I understand everyone has their own opinions and perspectives. I have to say that I patently disagree with this take. The quality of the digital source is very crucial to the overall sound quality of a digital front end. Yes, without question the DAC is an important component but it does not over ride the source component either.
 

A mediocre source will impede a good DAC. The “bits is bits” attitude is trite and superficial. A better quality streamer/music server will clearly make its contribution very apparent. In the OP’s scenario I recommend upgrading the streamer source  first. I believe that the current DAC is of higher quality than the current streamer/server in use.

Charles