As folkfreak has commented, it depends on many variables. I've owned many DACs which recently included a 4-box Paganini stack (DAC, Upsampler, Clock and SACD/CD player), a Lumin S1 single box music server/DAC and a Rossini single box music server/DAC.
IMO, the Rossini DAC is sonically better than a dCS Paganini stack. But there are many other extra feature considerations that may tip the scale to the Rossini depending on what you're looking for. The Rossini is the swiss army knife of digital front ends as it'll accept just about any type of digital cable and data format connectivity.
I was able to streamline my system by using the Rossini as a pre-amp direct to my amp. I know many will claim pre-amps are needed for a variety of reasons. But I was able to get rid of a well regarded pre-amp as the Rossini connected directly to my amp sounded better to me. A couple years ago when I tried to use my Paganini direct to my amp it sounded a bit lifeless. I'm not sure what dCS did to the Rossini analog out but it sounds amazing. And it supports use of an external clock in case you want to elevate the system a bit more. Not many DACs support an external clock.
I think a more important consideration is that the Paganini, being older technology, isn't TIDAL ready. I believe this will become a game changer, especially if TIDAL MQA adoption becomes a reality. I've been told that the Rossini MQA firmware is close and even today you can listen to TIDAL MQA tracks on the Rossini at 48kHz/24 bit, which sounds better than Redbook CD to me, perhaps due to the increased bit rate.
BTW, Lumin just released their ver 9.01 firmware which plays TIDAL MQA tracks all the way up to 352kHz/24 bit with MQA Studio Authentication. There's already hundreds of MQA albums on TIDAL at 96kHz/24-bit, many at 192kHz and some at 352kHz. Once you experience these higher resolution rates, you may find that you stop listening to CDs and perhaps even SACDs.
IMO, the Rossini DAC is sonically better than a dCS Paganini stack. But there are many other extra feature considerations that may tip the scale to the Rossini depending on what you're looking for. The Rossini is the swiss army knife of digital front ends as it'll accept just about any type of digital cable and data format connectivity.
I was able to streamline my system by using the Rossini as a pre-amp direct to my amp. I know many will claim pre-amps are needed for a variety of reasons. But I was able to get rid of a well regarded pre-amp as the Rossini connected directly to my amp sounded better to me. A couple years ago when I tried to use my Paganini direct to my amp it sounded a bit lifeless. I'm not sure what dCS did to the Rossini analog out but it sounds amazing. And it supports use of an external clock in case you want to elevate the system a bit more. Not many DACs support an external clock.
I think a more important consideration is that the Paganini, being older technology, isn't TIDAL ready. I believe this will become a game changer, especially if TIDAL MQA adoption becomes a reality. I've been told that the Rossini MQA firmware is close and even today you can listen to TIDAL MQA tracks on the Rossini at 48kHz/24 bit, which sounds better than Redbook CD to me, perhaps due to the increased bit rate.
BTW, Lumin just released their ver 9.01 firmware which plays TIDAL MQA tracks all the way up to 352kHz/24 bit with MQA Studio Authentication. There's already hundreds of MQA albums on TIDAL at 96kHz/24-bit, many at 192kHz and some at 352kHz. Once you experience these higher resolution rates, you may find that you stop listening to CDs and perhaps even SACDs.