Sorry to post so many times, but it just occurred to me that since your Black Ice DAC has a volume control, have you VERY CAREFULLY set it properly and hooked it directly to your amp and bypassed the Schiit Saga, just to answer the question of whether or not the Saga might be your weak point? At least you’d know one way or the other. I like Schiit gear and think it is fine, but well, it is worth a try.
Bluesound mode not really cutting it
Running a bluesound node. Sounds pretty good but I feel like I can do better. I'm running a Black ice Dac thru a Schiit saga plus into a Mac Mc 152 and Lsa signature 20's. Looking to upgrade node I have 2 to 3 k to spend. Hard to find decent reviews. Any suggestions. Listen to blues classic rock and anything that sounds good. Have tenants downstairs so listen at moderate levels and kinda prefer realistic or almost tube or liquid sound.
- ...
- 50 posts total
TMR has a Bryston BDA-3.14 streaming DAC. The Manic Moose interface is a POS but the Bryston is Roon ready. Load Roon on your home computer and use the BDA as a Roon end point. Bryston DAC sounds smooth, laid back and has plenty of warmth. Exactly the sound signature you seek. However, you have a bottleneck in your system - your schiit preamp. May be worth ditching your entire low-fi front end (BS, Schiit and Glass) for something like the used Simaudio Moon 390 which is an all in one DAC/Streamer/Preamp here.
|
@helomech I owned A6 for a 30-day period, auditioned Node X and now had MXN10 under my possession (and planned to keep it for my 2nd system). Here are my impressions: A6 -> a bit too bright and SS is within speakers. Nothing special not worth the hype. Node X -> is just a bit too warm to my ear. MXN10 -> richer sounding, weightier bass, treble has a bit rounded edge so it was perceived less articulated than A6 but details are there. The overall tonal balance is right. All of the above opinions pertain to the internal DAC. Your experience may vary, but this is completely normal, especially in music listening. Enjoy! |
I have a Node 2i. I stream mostly from Amazon Music HD and Idagio. I have looked into upgrading to a higher end streamer, but I cannot find anything that supports these two streaming services. (Innuos supports Idagio, but not Amazon, and has no intention of supporting Amazon in the future.) I moded my Node 2i with a Teddy Pardo LPS and the improvement was significant! Deeper sound stage, more detail, better bass, just better overall! I am bypassing the built in DAC, and using the coax out to a PS Audio Directstrem DAC Mk. 1, that has been moded by APS Transformers. So far, I am very happy with the sound. I too am awaiting the reviews for the upcoming Node Icon. I'm wondering if the streaming section is improved, or just the built in DAC, which I know is improved. It would be nice if Bluesound would produce a truly audiophile streamer with a LPS and no DAC, with an XLR or I2s output. |
- 50 posts total