I should add that switching from roon nucleus to the same dac I was using with the roon nucleus to the wadax atlantis streamer changed the whole sound completely. That is when I was hooked. Huge dynamic range difference, so much smoother in all the right ways. So much more natural. You have a great Dac now with the Nadra, get a top top streamer and u won’t believe the difference:)
Curious to know your streaming and dac set up and the best recommended streamer under $15k
Curious to know your streaming and dac set up as well your best recommended streamer. I have recently upgraded my dac and have used 2 different set ups in an attempt to find the my best combination. Former set up was Roon Nucleus+ connected to a Lumin T2. New set up is a new Nagra Tube Dac and a separate Power Supply and I had that directly connected to my Roon via Shunyata Sigma USB cable and using a Shunyata Ethernet connection to my network. Didn’t feel like that was my best possible sound so introduced the Lumin T2 back into the fold as my streamer and then connected the Nagra to the Lumin T2. This was a much improved sound. At this early testing point I’m curious to see if anyone uses and/or recommends a streamer that has significantly improved their sound under $15k. I would like to stay with the Roon platform.
Current set up is Audio Research Ref160S amp, Audio Research Ref6SE pre-amp with Wilson Alexia speakers. All cabling between these components is Transparent Reference.
Unfortunately, I have not had time to photograph and upload my new Nagra dac.
I really appreciate anyone who takes time to assist with some thoughtful ideas, experiences, or recommendations.
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@woots, first let me say that I’m extremely jealous of the difficulties that you find yourself having. The Nagra Tube DAC is a great piece of kit to build a system around. And I would assume that you actually want to hear how good it is without adding too much unnecessary noise in front of it. To that end I’d say keep it simple stupid(KISS) as you possibly can by not throwing a $15K streamer/server into your listening chain without first investigating easier and less expensive alternatives. I use a Roon Nucleus with a 15-16v Sbooster LPS plugged into an AQ Niagara power conditioner, while using an Audiowise SRC.DX USB to BNC converter as my Roon endpoint, which is between my Nucleus and my Chord M Scaler. So I’m suggesting putting a better PSU on the Nucleus, and then plugging it right into your Nagra DAC and see what you think. As long as you’re just using the Nucleus as a means to pick your music or explore new stuff, without engaging any of the Roon software filters and DSP functions, then the Nucleus is just a pass through that will let you hear what your DAC can really do. Maybe try an Innous Phoenix USB between the Nucleus and your DAC using the Phoenix as your Roon endpoint. You’ve got lots of options.
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Two great responses. Originally, I did have my Roon Nucleus+ connected directly to the Nagra Tube Dac. Roon is plugged directly into a Furman Ultra Linear Power conditioner Elite 20. Ironically I do have the Audioquest Niagara model 5000 on order to upgrade from the Furman. When I was tinkering the first thing in my setup was Roon directly connected to the Nagra via a USB connection. Then I went and added the Lumin T2 and went from the Roon into the the Lumin then into the Nagra. This actually improved the sound, thus my post seeing if there was something out there that would improve on the Lumin as a streamer connection. I also eliminated the Roon completely and streamed Qobuz and Tidal directly into the Nagra from the Lumin. and that sounded great as well. Based on the "tinkering" it does sound better in both instances when I have the Lumin directly connected to the Nagra or said another way the Lumin in front of the Nagra. |
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