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New DAC or New Streamer?

This should be fun. After I pay to get my amp upgraded at VAC next month  I plan to either upgrade my DAC or Streamer next. I should have enough for that by late spring/early summer. I'm retired so I save some each month until I have what I need. My system is in my user profile. But to keep this simple my current DAC is the Dinafrips Venus II I got a year ago. (I also have the Hermes DDC)

My streamer is the Cambridge CXN V2 via coax to the Hermes-> I2s -> DAC which is also 1 year old. I was just getting into streaming then and knew little about it. I have learned a lot this past year, a whole lot.

I think the bottle neck is leaning more toward the streamer. It seems the DAC is pretty good, I know there are much better DAC's out there but it holds it own I think. Maybe not? I cannot afford the likes of DCS, Lampizator, etc.

The next planned upgrades are a Terminator II DAC and Aurender N200 Streamer. Both are $5000-$6000. (Unless I go for the Terminator + DAC that is $7500 but I am not sure it is $2500 better than the Terminator II)

So, since both will get upgraded a year apart, which should I go for first? Which would provide the biggest upgrade?

Thanks. Happy holidays to all.

128x128fthompson251
lollipopguild's avatar
lollipopguild
125 posts
 

Hi @charles1dad 

Good questions.  I bought the Zenith Mk3 a few months ago, but effectively don't use the internal hard drive.  99% of my listening is new stuff, so I stream Qobuz.  It's also the case that many of my CDs have since been remastered and rereleased to Qobuz, so sound better streamed than ripped.  So, if I had to buy again now the Pulse series would be my preference.  

I also added a 2nd hand PhoenixUSB (with great success), so I would look seriously at the Pulsar, which reportedly bundles a USB reclocker.  You'll need a good USB cable though.

I recently trialled Roon.  Basically, Sense 2.x sounds better than Roon - many would agree with this.  The only thing I miss about Roon is their rich DSP feature.  We all need a form of tone control occasionally.

Interestingly, one of the biggest gains I made was only a couple of weeks ago. I replaced my 25 year-old entry-level mains conditioner with an Isotek Gemini to feed my Innuos boxes.  Was only £300, but brought about huge gains.  Innuos put huge emphasis on the quality of their internal PSUs, but it seems to me that they're still very sensitive to mains noise.  A decent-ish shielded mains cable will also help.  Belden 83803 is very affordable.

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 

@lollipopguild 

Thanks for your reply. I like things that are straightforward and simple. Does this apply to the Innuos Sense app/OS or is there a considerable learning curve involved? They do seem to seriously address power supply quality and that’s important to me. I use a very high quality AC balanced isolation transformer that has served my audio system well.

Charles

lollipopguild's avatar
lollipopguild
125 posts
 

@charles1dad . Roon is more fully featured, but Sense is simpler and more than enough for me. At least Sense is free, and enabling the Roon trial is also easy. Give it a few months for it all to settle before trying it though. 

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,098 posts
 

@charles1dad 

Just sent you a PM. 

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,236 posts
 

@lollipopguild 

Roon is more fully featured, but Sense is simpler and more than enough for me. At least Sense is free, and enabling the Roon trial is also easy. Give it a few months for it all to settle before trying it though. 

Thanks, I’m not in a hurry and will sort this out.

Charles

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