Higher End DACs

I have a lowly celeron NUC as my server. Its inside a 90dB RF-STOP isolation chamber with only optical I/O. This means zero RF noise escapes to impinge on my DAC and sounds, IMO, like endgame quality

If you put some stones on your breaker panel you will discover that all the electrical grid of the house is only one integral piece, and that isolating one link from R.F. does not lower so much all the noise floor... This fact is underestimated completely.... And many companies sold some "magical" electronic component to solve this with some ready made solution out of the box...But controlling this noise floor is not the same thing than working only on one link as well electrically isolated as it is....

@david_ten

Taiko Audio SGM Extreme 6Moons review:

"The Mount Everest of PC-Based Streamers" Blue Moon Award!

https://6moons.com/audioreview_articles/taiko/

nice review! you ought to hear the Extreme with the MSB Select II. pretty awesome.

agree that my local files are better than streaming, but i don’t get any of that streaming edgyness that the review referred to. not sure their network set-up was ideal. i think in a review temporary install you don't quite get the natural sorting out that would otherwise happen.

One thing to consider is how long you intend to keep a new DAC or DAC/streamer. If I were in the market for a new DAC (and I may be in a year or three), is how future proof it may be. The dCS units and PS Audio DirectStream are upgradable without having to send the unit back to the manufacturer/distributor and the cost is minimal.

If I was searching for a new unit, I would consider the PS Audio DirectStream and the dCS Bartok. YMMV, of course.

-Bruce

@mikelavigne
Mike - how can local vs streamed files sound better? How can you sense ’edgyness’ from one vs the other if the bitstream is the same. The MSB Select II supports a bit-perfect test file. Play the test file from SGM Extreme or ’pick any server’ using local or streamed and it will be reported by the MSB as being ’bitperfect’. So the innards of the MSB get all the bits 100%. So its not data corruption; its not jitter ...but the sound is different? Follow the evidence, Mike, it’s all about analog noise. Each server throws off a field of RF energy that gets into the DAC. Via signal, via power or through the air. This is the core issue here.

Audiophiles have to start behaving like Ham Radio operators who know and understand its all about RF noise mitigation that allows them to pick up the voice from distant Australia. You can apply common sense about the physics and technology involved ..and save a ton of money.