2. digital
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spend on the streamer or on the DAC ?

I a considering splashing north of 5000 (euro) for a new source for my rig (MOOON 340i, OPERA QUINTA speaker, McIntosh SACD, Node2). Better to spend more for the DAC or the streamer ? I was thinking about a Schitt yggrasil.Or would it make sense to spalsh on a more expensive DAC and use the Node2 as a streamer, or, for that matter, stream from my Macbook Pro. Regards.
olica

Showing 1 response by big_greg

big_greg
6,708 posts
 
In this setup my Node2 does the full MQA unfolding before sending it to the DAC (via digital coax).


Actually, no.  You only get the full unfold if you send output to the analog outs of the Node 2.

https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/posts/360037876633-MQA-Confusion

I have yet to see a technical reason as to why the streamer does or doesn't matter, but my experience was that an external DAC did improve sound quality (in my case an Auralic Vega), but that replacing the Node 2 with a higher end streamer/DAC (for me it was the TEAC NT-505) resulted in a greater improvement in sound quality, a less "digital" sound, and a larger more "holographic" soundstage.  As others have said, the app you use to control your streaming is also important.
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