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Streamer Advice / Recommendation for Denafrips R2R DAC

I really could use some help / recommendations on the choice of a streamer.  Here's where I am in my research:
I've decided on a Denafrips Pontus DAC (R2R) because of it's sound characteristics (musical while maintaining definition).  It is within my budget, while the Terminator is not.

My current thinking is I need a streamer that does not have memory, amplification or a DAC on board.  I will use the streamer-DAC pairing to listen to music in a AVR / Music setup: Denon AVR3700H (105 watts) connected to a Rotel 1590 power amp through the Denon precouts.  Bowers & Wilkins 702 S2 (left right) speakers.  Bowers & Wilkins 802 center channel (power connection by Denon amp)  SVS and Yamaha powered subwoofers. When used for streaming Netflix it's a 7.2 setup.

For streaming music I listen to the usual list of suspect: Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify.  In it's current setup, the system is too bright and harsh.  Speaker placement is in the room from acoustic hell: rectangular 15' x 45' with the front/ center channel speakers facing the narrow width (unfortunately by necessity and I'm in the process of adding reflection panels to cover 15% of the room.

I am determined to achieve music that does not wear me out after a couple of hours listening: well produced electronic music / R&B  / piano jazz.  I like midrange dominance but without too much detail in the +8k hz.

I learned to budget more for the DAC than the streamer, but most of the streamers I've looked at are combo amp/hard drive/DAC or they have networking into multi rooms. The  Auralic Aries G2.1  is out of my budget by about $2,500 (at 5,100 US), Willing to pay more for great sound but am unsure the streamer makes that much of a difference than the DAC.

Advice? Setup Recommendations?



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rfnoise
153 posts
 
I was in the same boat as you, with the Aries G1& G2 outside of my budget. I recently purchased an original Aries Femto with linear power supply, preowned, for just under $700. It was the second time I’d seen one at or around this price point, so if you’re patient you could probably come in well below budget with one of these units.

It’s been in my system for about a week, and I couldn’t be happier with it. The control app is extremely intuitive, with excellent Tidal integration, and the improvement in sound quality has been absolutely startling.

If patience isn’t your gig, there’s an Auralic Altair here on Audiogon for sale right now for about a grand, which does have an onboard dac, but has digital outputs with which you could feed a signal to your Denafrips.
Good luck!
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,635 posts
 
The Pro-Ject S2 Ultra is perfect for Spotify Connect, Qobuz and Tidal. You can feature them all on the home/startup page. It also includes a decrapifier for PC and Bluetooth. Front and back USB A and it is pretty much plug and play. Great support. Can be had <$800.
If you go any cheaper new you will sacrafice SQ or add hours to setup.
Beware it benefits a wee bit from a LPS or PSU (teddycap)
Highly recommended.
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
bluesound node 2i or the newer revision just called the node

1 and done

you can spend more on a bitstream source (innuos, mytek, auralic, lumin, aurender and so on) ... it won’t sound better feeding the pontus in your system
soix
9,780 posts
 
+1 @jjss49 — IMHO you’re wasting your $ on the Pontus if you’re feeding it into the Denon.  Its highly inadequate preamp section will suck most of the goodness out of any good DAC.  If you’re serious about better 2-channel you need a good stereo preamp you can hook the Pontus and the front L/R preouts of the Denon into (bypassing the Denon entirely for 2-channel listening), otherwise your stereo performance will be bottlenecked by the AVR and the streamer won’t make a bit of difference.  Sorry if this is a bit harsh, but your next purchase really needs to be a good stereo preamp to do the Pontus justice, then maybe something like the ProJect Stream Box to handle streaming.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 
deadhead1000's avatar
deadhead1000
717 posts
 
I have to agree with @soix3  - I had a highly rated Denon AVR and although I am sure yours sounds better with the Rotel amp. I've owned Rotel in the past and always though they sounded good. But when I replaced it with a Luxman the sound improvement was amazing. If you don't want to go that route, the Bluesound should be more then fine for you.
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