I had a Bluesound Node 2 and Schiit Bifrost 2 and was looking to upgrade the DAC and first and the streamer later. But after evaluating different options, I settled on an integrated streaming DAC: Cary Audio DMS-550. Mainly for the following reasons:
1. One less set of cables in the signal path and avoid any possible degradation of sound quality.
2. How to allocate the budget between a streamer and a DAC. Given a budget, a respectable audio company would optimize the sound quality by spending appropriately on both streaming and DAC sections.
I am very happy with the DMS-550 and it would have been difficult for me to match its performance by going the separates route for the same budget.
1. One less set of cables in the signal path and avoid any possible degradation of sound quality.
2. How to allocate the budget between a streamer and a DAC. Given a budget, a respectable audio company would optimize the sound quality by spending appropriately on both streaming and DAC sections.
I am very happy with the DMS-550 and it would have been difficult for me to match its performance by going the separates route for the same budget.