Suggestion for $10K soup to nuts digital?


I have Comcast/Xfinity coaxial cable to their modem/router in an Apple equipped office approximately twenty feet from a remote xFi Pod with 2 ethernet outputs next to my rack. If this source is adequate what would you suggest next with a $10K budget?  

128x128m-db

What about just purchasing software for your Mac - Roon and HQ player? You can then either go straight into a network ready DAC or purchase an endpoint - like Sonore - to "convert" the ethernet into USB for a USB DAC. Roon and HQ player will cost you under $1K to purchase and are loaded with features, including some very high level filters in HQ player. Of course dealers will tell you that "a dedicated streamer is needed" but no one on this planet can demonstrate a rumor of difference across every measurable characteristic nor a plausible mechanism for why the sound could be any different. This is NOT a bits are bits argument - it is a modulated analog signal encoding digital data is a modulated analog signal encoding digital data when the signal is received by a modern receiver argument.

This leaves you $9K for the DAC! That would be a fun for shopping. 

 

 

 

What about just purchasing software for your Mac - Roon and HQ player? You can then either go straight into a network ready DAC or purchase an endpoint - like Sonore - to "convert" the ethernet into USB for a USB DAC. Roon and HQ player will cost you under $1K to purchase and are loaded with features, including some very high level filters in HQ player

I am new to digital, but the last millennium CD player always worked fine.

However the amount of computer noise I had recently using my new DAC as an ADC was astounding.

So I am not sure any old computer makes for a de facto good starting point??

 

Are those all in one solutions like a TDAI with the Roon player built in worthwhile?
(Or worthwhile is one needs an amp and player?)

@m-db 

Lumin T2 and Roon Nucleus+.  Way under 10K OR used Lumin X1 and Roon Nucleus+ also throw in a NAS drive and you are still under 10K if you get the Lumin T2.

Let us know how you make out with your decision!

@blisshifi 

Thanks about the news for the aurender conductor V3 app for Android, but as it is still in development I will have to wait to see how it is rated once in production. Glad to see they are attempting to address the issues. However I hope they make it feasible to read on phones rather than larger tablet screens. The remote use for me is critical and bluos app has mastered that.