Auralic Vega G2 or Denafrips Pontus II 12th + streamer?

@soix I considered that, but the form factor of the mini and ability to just stack it on its PSU is very helpful for me. Don’t have a ton of space to fit this stuff in on an already pretty full rack, so saving half the horizontal shelf space is a major benefit. Would allow me to have the streamer and DAC on the same shelf next to each other or could squeeze it next to something else if necessary. I haven’t seen or found another streamer solution that is this small form that offers the level of robust UX as this does. There are some more DIY solutions, I suppose, with something like a Pi, but I don’t want to mess with that or use a computer like that as a source.

But, if I somehow stumbled on a used Zen at the same price point as the mini + PSU, I'd probably strongly consider it anyway.

I own a Vega G2 as well as a Terminator Plus. I'm using a Sonore Signature Rendu SE into a Denafrips Gaia as my streamer for the T+. 

I would not be concerned with the steamer becoming obsolete.  I think every steamer on the market is software upgradable. 

The Denafrips is a touch smoother with a deeper, wider soundstage, but the Auralic is no slouch. The Auralic is the more reliable steamer - never falters - while the Sonore has occasional pauses and sometimes just stops playing. 

I bought the Auralic for my bedroom system because I wanted high quality but a minimum of boxes. The one big advantage of the Auralic is that it combines a built in preamp with a high quality relay-stepped-attenuator. 
 

The Denafrips DACs have fairly high output impedance, so you will almost certainly need a preamp after the DAC. If you already have one (which I'm assuming you do), and don't mind the multiple boxes, then the Innuos + Pontus is probably the slightly better choice, particularly since you can further improve performance with a DDC. 

@soix I pulled the trigger on the Zen 3 and it should arrive later this week. I should be gearing up to pick up a DAC shortly as well, but I'm still on the fence a bit.

Right now, I think I'm torn between either:

Denafrips Pontus II 12th + Denafrips Iris DDC

or

Lampizator Amber 3 (I could get one used in about the same price range as the denafrips combo).

I'm leaning toward the Denafrips though, I think.

Congrats on the Zen!  From what I’ve read it sounds like the DAC choice comes down to whether you want a warmer tube-like sound with maybe less upper octave detail versus the R2R sound that more falls between tubes and delta-sigma DACs with more treble detail than the Lampi but with a bit less warmth. Both great DACs fer sure, but the choice could really be that simple depending on what sound characteristics you’re looking for in the context of your system/tastes. 

@soix Thanks! That makes sense. I hesitate since regardless of the choice, they'll be getting amplified by SET amplification and going through both a tube pre-amplifier and the tube amp. I also will be listening to more lively music versus vinyl where I focus mostly on Jazz, so having a bit more detail might be a good idea to balance out the tube amplification.

Worst comes to worst, I can always sell whichever one I go with and get the other down the line. They both seem to have fairly good resale value and sell fairly quickly.