Does the 'Buck' Start with the DAC?

@atdavid

- Reasons for "the streamer should not matter at all"?

- Which DACs fit these criteria, according to you? Which streamers would you pair with them?

 I originally ordered an Ayre QX-8 DAC but was getting frustrated waiting so I picked up a used QX-5 Twenty for the same $$.  It sounded great while I was waiting for my Roon hub and just running thru ethernet cabling.

Once the Roon hub arrived and was connected via premium USB cable, its was noticeably and immediately better..  Since I did both "updates" at same time, hard to tell how much was the streamer and how much to assign to the cabling.

Either way/ w/o changing amps or speakers or other cables, its was a quantum leap in SQ. I was shocked and very pleased.

@worldwidewholesales   Thanks. That answers my question.

@thyname  DAC is the Denafrips Terminator   Server is the Small Green Computer sonicTransporter i7 Roon DSP only (w/ ethernet bridge). 

I haven't had a chance to listen to MSB yet... hopefully, over the Christmas holidays.

To add: a good streamer certainly benefits as well as good DAC. Recently I attended a show where three price levels of systems where presented. All based on Innuos. Ratio DAC to streamer was roughly 3:2 in all systems. 
Personally I would like to go to a FPGA-based DAC to have the upgrade ability. 

@emtrey: I used to own Ayre QX-5 Twenty. Excellent DAC.

I agree with you. It’s USB input using a decent streamer was audibly better than its built in network bridge

I guess in the lower price point, say <$2500 I would spend more on the dac. After that I would try different things. If I ever get to that.

This one looks like a good start for a streamer.
https://volumio.org/product/volumio-primo/