Looking at Brooklyn DAC+ or possibly Supremo


Granted there's a decent price gap, but I'm looking for a DAC in the low $2K but hear many great things about the Northstar Supremo.

I will be leaving the SA8005 as the transport and feeding the dac into my McCormack RLD-1/ DNA-1 combo which the DNA-1 was recently upgraded to Ultra Platinum.

Right now everything sounds very good, but the 8005 falls short to the higher end dacs.

I do play a lot of red book cd's, especially older ones, also enjoy Tidal which is streamed through the Aries Mini....but not using the dac in the Aries.

I feel the BDAC+ is a more suitable dac for my needs, but curious if the Supremo is worth the additional $$.

All input appreciated.
dyl71
I'd add the Metrum Onyx to your list maybe for a different option.  It's an R2R NOS DAC (I believe the others you're looking at are upsampling DACs), which some consider to have a very natural and organic sound.  It trickles down a good bit of technology from the much more expensive Pavane and reportedly captures a lot of that model's performance capabilities, and price wise it slots right between the Brooklyn DAC and Supremo.  It's relatively new so if you don't see any reviews I know there are some on the Jade, which is the same DAC but offers preamp capabilities as well. 

Also, if I were you, very high on my priority list (maybe even higher than a DAC) would be a preamp upgrade as the RLD-1 in stock form will hinder the capabilities of your excellent amp -- but I'm sure you probably know this.  I had the RLD-1 in my sysrem on demo paired with my DNA-0.5 Rev. A, and in stock form I found the RLD to lack the transparency and detail to run with Steve's upgraded amps.  It's not a bad preamp at all, but like Steve's amps they are initially designed to a price point, and I believe he has upgrades for the RLD-1 that may well be worth looking into.  Although I confess I'm planning on pairing my DNA with a nice tubed preamp in the future.  Anyway, FWIW and best of luck with the DAC. 
Interesting you brought up the preamp.....I was ready to either going to try for a Pass X1 or the P10, or have the RLD-1 upgraded.

Once I found a sweet spot with my IC's, litz chassis wire, and Clarity CMR's....the RLD-1 sounds hauntingly transparent. I'm sure there's room for improvement, but after trying the Intenso DAC, I realized how good a quality stand alone DAC can sound.

I will likely upgrade the preamp next, but I hope I'm not putting the cart in front of the horse by starting with the dac.

I wanted to add another option I was researching, and that's the iFi - Pro iDSD.

Haven't seen many reviews though.
I may even remove the Brooklyn+ from the list and debate the ifi Pro iDSD and the Auralic Vega.