2. digital
  3. 158414-13747

Wisdom of buying high priced digital gear (given new advancements underway)

Wanted to ask for thoughts from others on the forum who have been playing with digital front ends longer than I... I only recently dove into streamed hi res music given the Covid shut-in...(although I am climbing the learning curve pretty fast)

I have been an avid trader/tester of good used hifi gear for many years now, a cost effective way of auditioning and understanding high end pieces in my own system, my own home.  Not for publication or posted reviews, just for my enjoyment and improving my own rig.  Buy smart on the front end, can usually get all or most of your money back when you sell, so it is a fairly low cost trial and ownership experience.

As I am fairly new to the world of stand-alone streamers and DACs, as well as combo units like a Hegel amp with onboard DAC, my question is whether it is wise to buy some of the more expensive high end streamers and DACs, say in the 3-4-5 grand (and up) range.

For instance, a Bluesound Node 2i is a capable digital bit-source (weak internal DAC noted) at only $500, so I question the benefit of buying a $2-3-4k unit from Innuos, Brooklyn, Auralic etc etc?  But if I do, just to try them, I am concerned there will be newer units out in the future, and these used units may take significant value hits.

Same thought for high end DACs... there are so many DACs out there, from high-value units like Chord, Schitt, RME for around a grand (or even less) -- what is the downside risk of climbing the curve of diminishing returns to get, say, for example, a Denafrips Terminator or PS Audio DS or Chord Dave for $4-5-6 grand used?  

I guess what I am really asking is what is the relative stability of the technology, product development, and the trickle down effect in the streamer and DAC markets, and does this materially affect the loss of value for the higher priced units more so than with old school analog gear.  This is something I feel I pretty well understand for speakers, preamps, turntables, the like...but not so much for the digital stuff, especially as streaming is really developing fast on the high end scene in recent years...

Thoughts welcome.  Thanks in advance.
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Showing 2 responses by yyzsantabarbara

yyzsantabarbara
4,576 posts
 
I paid $1560 last month for a new Benchmark DAC3B. I was thinking this would be a good backup DAC  or a DAC for the second headphone system I am also building. Well it turned out that the DAC3B sounds extremely good to my ears and the thoughts of spending more on another DAC do not make that much sense to me anymore.

I think my Benchmark preamp, HPA4 is likely the reason this DAC sounds so good. The noise level on these 2 components are almost non-existent. I am getting a new preamp next week for the second system and I will test the DAC3B with that preamp to see if it also sounds the same. The second preamp is not as quiet.

My plan is to use neutral and quiet components on the preamp and DAC and add some sweetener with the amps and maybe speakers. I think some of the more expensive DACs have some flavor to them which people like (maybe the exception being the Mola Mola Tambaqui).

For a streamer, I use the Sonore microRendu. You can get them for $429.  I paid something like $700 for mine 5 years ago. It still works great.

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/products/microrendu
yyzsantabarbara
4,576 posts
 
What does more expensive streamer get you? We are transferring bits over Ethernet or USB. My understanding is better streamers have lower analog noise transferred on the wire to the DAC.

A fiber optical cable (not the same as Toslink) is said to not be able to carry this analog noise. So wouldn’t a streaming solution that incorporated fiber optical from your network switch be the ultimate solution?

If and when I need a second streamer I will get the SystemOptique system from these guys. My current "noisy" microRendu works well.

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/pages/systemoptique

If I win a lottery today I may get the Lumin X1 DAC with built-in Fiber Optical streaming input. My prediction is future DACs will also have this type of FIbre Optical input.

BTW - I was talking on A’gon PM with someone who bought the ROON only version of this SystemOptique and said it was better than his Bluesound Node 2i.
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