The Vault 2i is a pretty good machine and has served me well. It's in my bedroom system playing via coax into to my Cyrus Integrated amp and it sounds really good. I mean REALLY good. I have been listening to it exclusively for the past three weeks as I make some changes in my main listening room I also have an Aurender but dollar for dollar the Vault /Node / BluOS is hard to beat. Love it or hate it BluOS is one of the best streaming platforms out there. |
Thinking about it further, if I’m you I’d start saving for an Innuos Zen Mk3 that’ll undoubtedly boost your sound quality significantly rather than spending $$$ trying to make the Vault sound better. They can be had around $2k used, and if you sell the Vault it’d offset a good chunk of that. If feasible that’s what I’d do. Here’s an example available now… https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649994436-innuos-zen-mk3-1tb/ |
The Vault does a lot for its price point but the rest of your equipment is pretty good and is revealing the limitations of Bluesound as a digital transport. Spending a few hundred dollars will get you a noticeable improvement in streaming or playing files from a HD. My Bluesound stuff sounded best in my mid Fi systems |
A lot of Node users have experienced significant improvements by adding a separate linear power supply so that might be something to explore. On a related note, I have a Stereovox XV2 SPDIF digital cable that, like your Black Cat, was also designed by the late Chris Sommovigo so I’d think they sound more alike than different. I recently bought a used Acoustic Zen MC2 and was pretty amazed at the all-around improvement — not even close so maybe something you might wanna give a shot as well. Good news is if you buy it and it doesn’t work out you can turn around and sell it for little/no loss. Here’s one that’s exactly the same version/length I bought in case you’re interested… https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649951192-acoustic-zen-mc2-digital-coax-cable-1m/ Hope this helps, and best of luck. |
