Upgrade Internal DAC of Node or go with Atoll ST120.


Looking at upgrading to a external DAC for my Bluesound Node or picking up a all in one streamer/dac like the Atoll MS120 or ST200 or another brand all together. My price for all in one would be around $1500 and DAC only would be $1000. I stream via Qobuz. Big question would be what option between these two would sound best. 

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Showing 1 response by audioman58

The blue sound node is very low quality,it’s fine if audio quality is an afterthought 

rule of thumb 25% on average goes into a product including packaging 

the rest overhead and markup meaning $125 ,  buy a $950 Denafrips aries2 dac 

even run through a computer ,night and day better sound ,my nephew had one at college it’s ok  for streaming at a beginner level , I just use a purpose built computer for music and external dac , and for Ethernet a Uptone audio Ether regen

it truly cleans up the digital incoming signal after the router at the end point ,

for usb a nice little ad on is usb perfect  the usb cable plugs into.

buya quality usb cable and ethernet cable , if on a budget a excellent model for both cables is, the Wireworld  star light . I have been just working my way up in streaming ,,I am trying to buy the Denafrips Terminator + it’s excellent dac  my personal favorite in its price class $6400, it competes with anything even at $10 k 

an-easy recommendation  !