@mike4597 you’re on the right track with replacing the streamer. As to non-PRC options, Aurender is awesome. If you don’t need Roon, a used Aurender N10 is going to be amazing.
Start with Upgrade to DAC?
I am ready to set out on an upgrade cycle to my system, which consists of the following, over the next couple of years:
* Rogue Audio RP-7 Preamp (Upgrades: Rogue RP-9 or McIntosh C2800--C2800 includes Phono preamp and DAC)
* Odyssey Kismet Monobloc Amplifiers (Keepers!)
* Lounge Audio LCR Gold phono preamp (Keeper!)
* Fyne Audio F-702 Speakers (Keepers!)
* Definitive Tech Supercube 6000 (Vandersteen Sub Three or Paradigm XR11)
* Schiit Bifrost 2/64 DAC (Schiit Yggydraseil or ????)
* NAD C568 CD Player used as transport (Schiit Urd or ???)
* iFi Zen Stream
*iPad Pro for Apple Music
* Ice Age Audio OFC Power Cords
* Audioquest and mostly Morrow Interconnects (RCA & XLR)
* Performance Audio Speaker Cables, using Mogami W3104 Speaker Wire
I am thinking that perhaps the best place to start would be the DAC, with the idea of moving from the Bifrost 2/64, which I like, to the Yggdrasil (model TBD) DAC, which has gotten superb reviews that speak to sound quality characteristics that are of concern to me. Budget for DAC upgrade is about $2500. OR, should I go for room correction capability?
I recently replaced a highly-rated 100 wpc tube amplifier with the Odyssey mono blocs, and I was stunned by the improvement in sound quality, definition, and imaging, but I think there still is some room for improvement.
Thoughts and recommendations most welcome.
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@mike4597 I have an Innuous Zen MK3 and I'm very happy with it. I didn't buy it for the cd ripper, but I actually use it a fair bit. Pop a cd in and it rips a copy to my library in under 5 minutes. Real easy. I use the Sense app by Innuous with Qobuz. Assuming you would as well, I don't know if the convenience would be any different between Qobuz and Tidal. |
This answer maybe different based on who you spoke with at Schitt. I called them a few months ago to discuss the Yiggi+ MIB DAC. The guy I spoke to cursed out the Yggi+ LIM DAC that I owned and told me the Yggi+ OG was much better. I took his advice and got the last OG available (Schitt replaced it with the MIB). It took a month of burn-in for me, the same as what Robert Harley reported in TAS a few years ago. However, after that burn-in I could tell that the OG was much different than the LIM. Either could be preferred by people over the other. I love both and have then in 2 separate systems. I have not heard the Bitfrost but based on my experience I described above I would think the MIB or LIM is much better than the Bitfrost. It would of course depend on the sonic match with your system and how revealing your system was. I use a used $700 Sonore OpticalRendu streamer, which uses fibre optic cable (glass) just before it goes into a USB conversion and into the DAC. Not as pure a fibre solution as the Lumin X1 (owned it before) but close in execution. Only issue with the Yggi+ DACs is that it sometimes shuts down for 1/2 second between songs on a ROON stream. That is if the next song is a bit slow to play. Irritating at first but the sound of the Yggi+ is so good that I do not care. Saved me $20k by eliminating my desire to buy the Playback Designs DAC.
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