Streamer-DAC vs Seperates

I doubt that very much!  The chances that the options would be the same are incredibly low…

so…. Better or worse?  Or maybe no one has any real world experience directly comparing.  Was hoping someone had done this comparison and had some takeaways to share!

Thanks for the perspectives! @lalitk , I’m not actually considering upgrading my digital chain at this point. As I said I’m very happy with my sound, and as of now I don’t feel the need to upgrade. I started this thread only because I am interested in the latest HiFi developments and the community’s perspectives, and my digital chain is an area I simply wonder about because I never went through the excruciating process of careful component selection. Despite that I think I landed in a pretty good place!

I have a few friends who are just getting into HiFi (or maybe MidFi but I won’t tell them that) and are ALL adding lower grade streamer-DAC combos which made me start wondering. They asked me if the combo approach made sense at their level and I said I really didn’t know (I had lots of advice on their other components). In the end they liked the convenience factor.

Also was recommending they try a variety of amps but the allure of McIntosh blue meters was too strong and they all went with MC462’s and the Mac tube preamp. Seems crazy they did that as I don’t think they realize the extent of the sonic differences amps can make - none had ever had a HiFi system before. I did test McIntosh separates when looking for an amp a number of years back and the Diablo clobbered all the separates I tested in that range.

I think it’s nuts they refused to test amps (they all tested speakers extensively). But I guess I didn’t test any digital options either… but I did go by community recommendation and not what gear looked sexy…

Yes trend definitely seems to be streamer-DAC combos with “tweak” boxes like reclockers, upscalers etc.  But I’m wondering if what @lalitk said is true - that separate DAC and dedicated streamer always wins.

If I was upgrading now I’d be carefully testing separates like what I have (Zenith Mk3, PhoenixUSB Reclocker, Diablo 300 DAC module, PhoenixNET Ethernet switch) but maybe moving to a dedicated standalone DAC, and really seeing if the how the performance compares with combined boxes like the DCS Bartok, Weiss 501, etc.  Really curious if anyone has done comparisons along these lines.

Maybe not, because it seems people start by committing to the combo or standalone approach first, and testing components within those categories?

@testrun that is a very common sense approach.  I tend to go big on cables so definitely a factor.  But as I said, that is an example of first deciding what approach makes sense to you and committing to that, vs actually testing the sonic differences between the approaches.  

While the cable argument makes a lot of sense to me, I still wonder if anyone has really done a thorough comparison of sonic performance between similar cost digital separates vs combo boxes, on a revealing system (otherwise differences may not be detectable).  

That’s one approach! Again not buying anything now. Just curious if anyone has in depth comparative experience of separates vs combo box digital solutions of equal value on a revealing system, considering the trend to combo boxes.

It’s more a general curiosity, as opposed to looking for a solution for myself. Was just listening and to me my system sounds awesome.