2. digital
  3. 173087-164802

New streamer or dac?

So when I put my system together the idea was strictly vinyl,I eventually added a budget streamer thinking I’d use it for background music or puttering around the house when its not practical to listen to records. I became immediately consumed with it after subscribing to Tidal ,the idea of being able to listen to anything that pops into head is just fantastic,Im enjoying music like never before.Im ready to swap out the $600 unit for something a little more inline with the rest of the equipment in the system but am not sure if another option might be better. So my question is would it maybe be a better idea to buy a Dac and use the inexpensive steamer with it as a transport until I could afford to change it out also ? or would it make more sense to just buy a new streamer/ Dac unit ( I like the Aruender ) any thoughts on that would be appreciated,thanks in advance. 

 

bikeboy52

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
7,539 posts
 

Nice system, seems well chosen and synergistic. Given your system, an Aurrender A100 I would think appropriate. I am not familiar with what Aurender DACs sound like… my exposure is entirely to just streamers. I would recommend finding a place you can listen to one. If I were doing it I would follow the two box strategy below.

‘Alternatively a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC is outstanding for the money. I have experience with the Yggdrasil and the Schiit Gungnir multibit. For streamer an Aurender N100 (to reduce cost, buy used).

As I think you have already found… going cheap is a great way to be dissatisfied with the sound. I would save up if required. Get the DAC first and you could use your Denton as streamer only until you can afford the streamer. 

ghdprentice
7,539 posts
 

Consider the digital end just like the analog end. Each component is critical and must be of equal sound quality… and upstream matters most. If you have a high quality turntable, phono stage in front of your preamp… digital is the same thing (streamer and DAC).

Today’s streamer can perform on the same level as analog… so nearly infinite music for nearly no cost (after initial purchases). Typically it can cost a little bit more to get a digital end to sound as good… although highly variable say 10 - 15% (not by randomly choosing by cost… carefully chosen compatible devices). If you are slowly working towards a better system, get separate DAC and Streamer… skip the CD player… they are on the way out.

So with that in mind. I highly recommend Aurender. I still own two… a budget N100 and their flagship W20SE.. Truly remarkable devices. Your strategy could be to get an integrated streamer, Streamer and DAC… then after a while, get a much better DAC… then in a few years upgrade to a real high end Streamer. Or pick out a high end DAC and streamer at once… more than twice as hard. But like most high end systems…. Research… Research… Research. Happy to help further… but need to know what you got now and what kind of budget you have. But in general, A $25K streamer sounds significantly better than a $10K… which sounds better than a $5K, and a$2.5K, and a $1.25K streamer… same for DACs.

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