New DAC or New Streamer or New Streamer/DAC

@lemonhaze  And I use a "decent" ethernet cable, a Supra cable I bought off of Ebay.  Periodically a change in the system configuration has forced me to use another random cable and I haven't ever noticed a change, so I wouldn't focus on that variable a ton until everything else is totally dialed in.  And I say this believing strongly that interconnect, speaker, and power cables can make impactful changes to your system sound.  

And too elaborate a bit more on the setup, I use bubbleupnp on an android tablet to stream CD resolution music from Tidal to the PS Audio bridge.  The bridge is just wired into my router using that Supra ethernet cable.  

@keeferdog


"Check out Innous music servers. I’ve heard the 2.5k Zenith. It’s great. Can only imagine the high end Statement sounds like. Great build and sound quality from Poland."

Just to clarify, I believe you are referring to the Innuos Zen, not the Zenith, at that pricepoint. The Zenith is the model above the Zen and below the Statement which is I believe currently $4,300 US dollars. I believe you meant Portugal not Poland as the country of manufacture. Other that that....excellent post.

Update:

I listened this weekend to my current setup (Aries Mini->Pass D1) vs the Vega original vs the Vega G2.  

Using the Aries mini as the source:  Best to worst:  Vega G2, D1, Vega original.  It was kind of a toss-up between the G2 and the D1, air and space and vocals were better on the G2, but the D1 sounded a bit more organic.  Overall would have to give the nod to the G2.  Original Vega was way behind the others, by a mile.

Using the G2 as the source into itself blew away anything I have heard in my system before.  The D1 was still more organic in a way, but the G2 streaming itself was astounding.  

So I should buy the Vega G2 (or even the Aries G2)?  Not so fast.....the Lightning DS app works well, when it works, but constantly crashes and cant find the device.  I also would love it if the G2 had MQA....why not.  So I am now looking to see how the Lumin T2 compares to the Vega G2 as I hear the app is more stable and it does MQA to boot.

@Acurus, thx for your analysis. Interested to follow your T2 vs G2 analysis. 

Acurus: I have the Aries G2 streamer (I do run Roon off a Mac mini for library management) and have found it to be very stable. I’ve yet to have it crash or not find the device.  That said, I’m hooked up via Ethernet as opposed to wireless.  Perhaps that’s the difference.  Or, it could be that some router incompatibility is causing you grief.  I had that issue when running a Bluesound Node 2 wirelessly in this system (before I got the G2).  
It’s possible Lumin is more stable in all environments, but it’s also possible there’s a culprit to your crashes that can be sleuthed out.  I have to say I’m pretty happy w/ the sound of the Aries G2.  I compared it to my Aurender N100H, the Bluesound Node 2, and a lumin mini.  It handily eclipsed all three of those units.
Best,