2. digital
  3. 160436-150944

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 4 responses by lalitk

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lalitk
5,634 posts
 
“Bel Canto, Simaudio, Aurrender and there isn’t a nickel worth of difference between them.”

I bet you saved lot of nickels staying with raspberry pi4 😂
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,634 posts
 
@skanda,

Thanks for your post. May I know what DAC you are currently using with Taiko Extreme? 
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,634 posts
 
“in my experience... using the Node 2i as the base case, the DAC upgrade rates a 7-8 (10 scale) on its impact on SQ, whereas a digital streamer change rates 1-2.”

@jjss49,

To put things in perspective, would you please share which model did you try from Innuos, Brooklyn, Auralic? And what DAC you were using?

IME, going from Vault 2i to Aurender N100H was quite a leap in streamer performance. I was using Modwright Elyse DAC at that time.


lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,634 posts
 
+1, mgrif104.

Node 2i is and will be a average sounding device even with an upgraded DAC. A good streamer (check out Lumin, Aurender, Innuos) and a separate DAC will be a solid investment if you’re serious about exploiting the true potential of high resolution streaming available through Qobuz.

Both Lumin and Aurender also offers streamer with built in DAC within your budget.
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