USB yet again

Thanks to all on this and various other threads who have been so helpful and illuminating in my search for information to level-up my streaming situation.

I’m definitely pretty budget constrained but am looking at either the Aurender N100 or Innuos Pulse on the high-end of the spectrum (for me) or the Innuos Pulse Mini on the lower end.

regarding USB, both the N100 and the Pulse are USB out only streamers.

Some here have said that finding the right DAC with a great USB implementation would be key in terms of getting the most out of such a streamer.

What are some of these DACs with a good USB input.

Neither of my DACs have USB…Border Patrol SE-I and Denafrips Ares ii.  I do have the Denafrips Iris DDC however which I could feed from one of the aforementioned streamers before the DAC, but I’m not sure of that would be extraneous on such a quality unit. 
 

Would love to get some feedback on that potential situation

thanks

JS

Thanks all,

Yes the Ares has USB, sorry I was having a lapse of memory.

I am currently using an Ifi Zen Stream w/ LHY linear 12V supply > Curious USB cable > Denafrips Iris DDC > Lifatec glass fiber optic cable > Denafrips Ares ii (or Border Patrol Se-i via coax from the Iris)

To answer your other question , I’d like to keep my Border Patrol and eventually upgrade the Ares ii AFTER getting a better streamer than the Ifi.

Surprised to hear you say that the N100 would be an intermediate step.  I was under the impression that it was essentially Aurenders scaled down streaming only / USB-only option and would be up against the Innuos Pulse.

I also need to really look at the user interfaces for each brand but I hear they are both superb. 

@lalitk 

Thank you, and sorry …I was thinking of the N150 not the N100.

I believe that’s more in line with the new Pulse from Innuos.

It and the Pulse are both USB only and apparently that output is touted by both companies to be excellent ..and both are priced around the same ($3250 vs $3500)

I would say that would be my stretch at this point .  I can’t go to the N200 this year.

I love that the Pulse is sans screen but the N150 has a nice monochrome text only screen that is subtle and can be turned off.

So, my question is really… given that both those units are USB-only … would placing an Iris after them redundant or counter productive?

I will definitely look into a pre owned N10 based on your suggestion.

regarding the Ifi, it’s been a great intro to streaming.  I haven’t had to use the interface since I’ve been using Tidal Connect… but now I’m using Qobuz and I have to use the M-connect app to get the streamer to play those high rez files and I can’t stand using M-connect.

Thanks again 

Thanks for all the great suggestions 

happy new year!