spend on the streamer or on the DAC ?

Just gonna state for the record, that asynchronous USB from computer to DAC and then on to the rest of the system is superior in pretty much every case to whatever streamer you’re using and the gymnastics it’s doing to convert the bitstream to either SPDIF or Toslink. Async USB doesn’t exhibit the clocking issues that either of those connections are plagued with.


Just sayin.

My local high end dealer have put multiple systems together for shows and I noticed the budget allocation roughly was 40% streamer and 60% DAC. 

Personally I use the Innuos Mini running Roon/Tidal into RME ADI-2 DAC and I am very pleased.

I have been considering moving to an FPGA-based DAC to be "future-proof" and the PS Audio with a built in bridge (streamer) comes to mind. 

Lately, though, I have been dreaming of the adding the Innuos Phoenix re-clocker to my setup as it is getting excellent reviews. And the RME just released a new version of the DAC. Life of an audiophile :-) 

Eventually check out Darko audio on the web and youtube. Some very good and educational stuff. 

I would emphasise here that the performance of the combined streamer/DAC is affected considerably by the configuration of your wired Ethernet delivery. I would go for a 50/50 streamer DAC ratio, connected by USB if possible, with a really good cable, then use the ENO Ethernet filter (Network Acoustics) to remove the ‘noise’ picked up in the Ethernet cabling. This really makes your investment in streamer/DAC come to life. All streamers gain from this, except the Naim 555, as it has measures built-in to eliminate this, hence why it sounds so good.

I have stream from Chromcast audio digital out bluesound node 2i digital out cocktail Audio X45 digital out Allo digi signature USB out and more streamers to my Preamp DAC Michi P5 zero difference
analog out is different story
like others said the interface of streamer APP is more important to me that’s why I’m using Naim Atom Uniti as a streamer only to my preamp the interface of Naim app is amazing compare to Cambridge 851 app auralic G1 app Bluesound app

If I had to choose I'd spend the money on. DAC.
However, with your budget, maybe consider a Lumin streamer/DAC.