Higher End DACs

ufguy73 thanks for starting this really interesting thread
I believe two pages ago you were thinking in the $15k range for DAC, if still so, have you considered the Simaudio 780d v2?  It handles virtually all formats including MQA and does have a streamer built in to get up and running and bypass if you like (it is really 90% DAC). Not sure compatibility with Mac but there is a dealer in the bay area that carries both lines.  
Anyway, thanks for sharing your journey with us.

@ufguy73 I stream both Tidal and Qobuz. My current DAC does not decode the second MQA ’unfold.’

I listen, daily, to a number of MQA tracks where Roon performs the first unfold... HOWEVER, I AM NOT picky in terms of preferring MQA coded over non-MQA files in Tidal  OR  where Tidal offers MQA and a higher resolution via the first unfold over a "lower resolution" file via Qobuz.

My answer, at the simplest level: nice to have but far from necessary. That, again, is from a daily listening perspective.

It is a total non-factor in terms of component choice as there are far more important considerations (for me).

This may serve as an analogy, though not a perfect one:

I’m car shopping. For me, it would be akin to rejecting a choice in a car because I’m looking for a specific tread pattern and that car’s stock tires don’t offer it.

@david_ten 

thanks for the real world check on format and usage - appreciate it!

@audiotroy 

Sorry, i missed one of your recent replies.  Thank you for your reminder about T+A intention for the MQA update.

just out of curiosity - have they definitively confirmed it is coming?  Another poster I think had provided an email reply from them that I thought made it sound more vague (I will have to look back and see).

also, a general question - are software updates always limited to the first MQA unfold only and if you want the subsequent full MQA unfolding it would require a hardware upgrade? Or does the ability of a software upgrade to give a full MQA compatibility depend on the DAC implementation?

Does T+A’s implementation allow for full MQA thru just a software upgrade?

Thanks for righting the ship folks. And +1 on the Star trek reference kren.

RF isolation is needed to determine DAC differences. That is, RF noise in signal, power or radiated thru free air affects how a DAC sounds. 
Regards xtreme servers ...well if the output is optical and the server is 100% RF isolated from the DAC, they sound the same as a $100 raspberry Pi. Exact same.
Im in the Toronto area and able to plainly demonstrate this.