Bluesound Vault 2i and a Qutest DAC

Been a long time since I’ve listened to a Theta Miles, modified Pioneer player but I’m not surprised it sounded better than a Bluesound Vault on its own. I do remember at the time when the Miles came out I along with the dealership that carried both, preferred the CAL Icon and Tercet over the Miles. Haven’t heard any of these players in years but I own a Vault and with a modern standalone DAC it will significantly be better over these older players in every area. Use a good coax and not the toslink and a better power cord on the Vault as it does make a difference. Also pick up a Supra CAT 8 cable as it is really good and very affordable... yes, better than the CAT 5 cable it comes with. Have not heard the Chord but based on its reputation I suspect it will walk all over your Miles.

Adg101... good to know and I appreciate the cable advice. Thanks.

Yes, in fact I did the exact same thing with the same DAC for some time and it does substantially improve on the dac inside the bluesound. If you use a top end coax cable to go into the qutest dac you will get great results.  Now looking at your current components you might want to get yourself something better than a vault.  I now have an Aurender N100H server/streamer and it is fantastic.  I use an MHDT Pagoda NOS DAC and wow...great sound.

I added a Chord Qutest DAC to my Bluesound Node for a significant improvement.  I also ripped my CDs (well, about 1,600 of them) and stored them on a Samsung SSD which is plugged into my Node.  Best of both worlds...Tidal MQA streaming and my private collection all from the Node into an amazing DAC! 

Whoops...I meant hi rez Tidal, not MQA.