Considering A New Streaming DAC (Pick 1 of 4)


Hi Folks, The four under consideration are Weiss 501/502, Mola Mola Tambaqui, Aurender A20, and Bricasti M1. Anyone of these will feed a signal into a Backert Labs Rhumba Extreme preamp before going to a Pass XA 30.8 and out to a pair of Audio Note AN/K's ("mildly effecient" at 90 db). The K's are in a fairly large room (26x12). I currently have a Lampizator Amber 4 (bal w/vc) and do like how it sounds in this system, but wish to at least explore a one box option. Although I do stream (N100H) most of my "front end" time is spent either with a Macinstosh MR88 digital tuner or an Audio Note level 2 CD transport. I'm interested about folks preferences or experiences with any of these four DAC's taking into account my front end usage and existing system. I've also looked at the possibility of keeping my streamer and upgrading the tube DAC in the form of Totaldac or BAT Rex. Any thoughts on this are welcome.

scottya118
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Rockrider, Detailed response is very much appreciated. Any comments on ergonomics and ease of interfacing with the units?

Regarding “ergonomics and ease of interfacing with the units”, they are both equally great. Settings like filters, volume offset, source selection, etc can all be changed with their respective Apps on a phone or tablet. All from your listening position. 

Since I’m feeding the Tambaqui with an N20 there is the extra box and cabling (and about twice the cost!).

At the level of your system, keep the DAC and streamer separate.  Does that extra box really bother you that much?

Hi Soix, Not at all and I just might do that. But you learn a lot by asking questions. At this point I'm leaning towards keeping the N100H and looking at an M1.