DAC’s

Good. Nirvana. Then why are you in these audio forums 24/7?

@thyname It was raining off and on most of the last couple of weeks, but I am doing some upgrades, so there is also that.
I went on a drive earlier and took the dog for a walk.

holmz I must say you got an unusual combination of components there. I’d recommend you start a separate discussion, asking for some feedback based on your current set up rather than hijacking this thread

OK @audphile1 - I was thinking that knowing “what to listen for” might also help the OP figure out if the DACS they are considering are markedly different or not.

@holmz

You shouldn’t have to listen to any particular instrument to detect the difference between an iPad dongle and a $2K DAC. It should be obvious and overwhelming. Definitely, Spotify is not a high quality source. But even then… very unusual..

@ghdprentice

There is nothing strange about holmz lackluster attitude towards streaming, here is one of his earlier replies in the thread,

“Yeah - I am not much of streaming guy”

@lalitk ​​​​@ghdprentice

even if he is a late comer to high performance streamed music, we shouldn’t be too negative about that per se... if it weren’t for covid in early 2020 shutting me in, i would also not have found the time energy and focus to learn and work on my streaming setup...

that said, folks shouldn’t poo-poo stuff they haven’t personally invested in and tried at length, but old threads can and should be given a pass imo... as enthusiasts should be allowed to change their minds as experience increases (you will find old threads of mine saying the bluesound node delivers as good streaming quality as more capable streamers... i have since learned, tried more, upgraded the feed, and revised that view...)