New DAC! Meitner MA3, Denafrips Terminator Plus, Holo May KTE, Mola Mola Tambaqui

Add Bricasti to your list. With an optional network card it’s Roon ready. All you need is your mac mini as roon core and ethernet cable connecting the Bricasti to your network. Clean set up (no streamer needed) and great sound. Pick the model within your price range.

I bought the Yggdrasil Less Is More DAC today. I should have driven the 80 miles to the SchittR and had a listen before I bought but I was too lazy to drive. I will use a Sonore OpticalRendu for the streaming. This is better than any DAC's built-in Ethernet,

The best DAC I have had, by a small margin, was the Lumin X1 using fibre optical streaming. The goal is to get close to that sound with the Yggy and Rendu for much less cost. I think the Rendu streamer is in some ways better than the streamer in the X1.

The DAC that I want to compare the Yggy to is the Musetec 005 (used to own), which has been favorably compared to the Holo May KTE. I will be using the Holo Serene preamp with the Yggy.

First off Roon is not as good sonically as the Lumin or Aurender apps. If you don't mind ditching Roon get the new Lumin U2 with fiber optic input to start (I have the P1 with the same set of LAN and fiber optic inputs), however if you are married to Roon get an Innuos Zenith Mk.3 server, then ditch your MAC as it will be a bottleneck in your system when you upgrade your DAC. As for DAC recommendations my pick for under $10K is my current DAC the Lampizator Baltic V4. Plus $10K the Mola Mola is the best I have heard, but I have never owned one so hesitate to recommend it wholeheartedly. Another thing to keep in mind is you will want to upgrade your switch as well (get one with fiber optic and OXCO clock). Everything in a digital source chain counts IME, don't trust me however, do the research on the forums and see for yourself the growing consensus. If I could afford it I'd get a dCS or MSB or Esoteric stack, that way you don't have to take a risky mix and match approach - but that is $30K minimum entry territory.

Lampizator Baltic 4 $6850

One idea is to get a Gustard R26, which I have, or the A26, and add a master clock to it. Then add the new Etherregen v2, a SOTM sms 200 ultra neo special edition, a sotm tx-usb, connect them all to the same master clock, including the Etherregen, and I’m betting it will rival most 10k setups for $4500.