Clock vs Streamer advice


Hi,

My current system is/was

Aurender N100H>Bricasti MC1>ARC Ref6 Pre>PS BHK 300 monos>B&W 803 D3

I sold the Aurender to try a different streamer and am temporarily using a MacBook to run Roon straight the the DAC through USB. I currently don’t have a huge budget. I emailed a local shop that has a used Melco N1Z to demo at home. I am going to try it out. I also want to try the Bricasti M5 streamer to see if there is synergy with my DAC.

I also came across the Mutec MC3+USB and Mutec Ref10 Nano combination in a similar price point, but I won’t be able to demo this.

If I have to pick between using a mac>Multec MC3+USB and Ref10 Nano>dac and the Melco>DAC option, which do you think will improve sound more. I’m still pretty new to this hobby and can’t currently afford the Melco and Multec combo.

zpatenaude37

I'm sure I'd have some love for Antipodes if even their cheapest streamer/server was at my price point 

Actually, some are affordable for me. I was on a different site where they were more expensive, but the k21 looks to be $7k

@zpatenaude37 

Perhaps you might check out the Grimm MU1 (disclosure: I’ve onwed one for 2+ years). With the introduction of the MU2 (MU1 with inboard dac) a few preowned MU1’s have popped up for sale. At the time of my purchase I compared with others inclusive of the Innuos Statement and preferred the MU1. The current street price for a preowned appears to be in your target price range. I run mine via AES into a DCS Bartok Apex…simply breathtaking. There are alot of fine products out there and I passed through the tweaky phase (ether regens, filters, fiber, usb, all kinds of stuff) and found the greatest improvement was simplifying the chain, which the MU1 facilitated. I believe strongly that AES is superior presently. While the inboard streamer over ethernet in my DCS sounds exceptional, there is just something very special with the stream from the Grimm. Good luck and best wishes.