My set up, with which I am very happy, is a Melco N100, and Melco D 100 for a ripper and CD transport. The N100 feeds a SHM room correction device which uses Dirac Room Correction (the SHM also a streamer contained within, which I don’t use), and is connected to a Bryston DAC 3, which is a fantastic DAC. My Oppo 105 Universal Disc player is also connected to the DAC via HDMI cable, and I use this to play SACD, since the Oppo can be programmed to output the DSD layer of SACD over HDMI, and I have a large Classical Music SACD collection.
The Room Correction and SACD may be a step to far for you at this point, so let’s drill down to ripper/streamer/DAC issue for you. A common solution for Audiophiles is the all in one Bluesound Vault. I bought one years ago before I upgraded to Melco, and the Vault now resides in a HT system, which I am currently listening to as I type. It costs around $1300. It plays high resolution files. It has a very good controlling App. The weak points:1) not a perfect ripper-about the same level of error as the Apple 2) The DAC was not truly high end, although it is listenable and can be bypassedrecently upgraded the DAC, and I haven’t heard it, but people whose judgment I value say it isn’t that much of an improvement, and 3) Customer Service isn’t that good, and that is an issue that I am well acquainted with as it is prone to crashing and burning.
The Melco N 100 can be used as a NAS (currently feeding my aforementioned Vault), but it is also a player and has an attached 2TB player. I think it sounds amazing and works flawlessly. Do you need the expensive Melco ripper? No, but it’s accurate and also is superior to my Oppo as a CD transport.
Other DACs that I have owned are PSAudio Digital Link III and Mytek Manhattan. Both were excellent, but I really prefer the Bryston, which is great on detail but doesn’t sound overly Clinical and has the features (HDMI) that I want
The Room Correction and SACD may be a step to far for you at this point, so let’s drill down to ripper/streamer/DAC issue for you. A common solution for Audiophiles is the all in one Bluesound Vault. I bought one years ago before I upgraded to Melco, and the Vault now resides in a HT system, which I am currently listening to as I type. It costs around $1300. It plays high resolution files. It has a very good controlling App. The weak points:1) not a perfect ripper-about the same level of error as the Apple 2) The DAC was not truly high end, although it is listenable and can be bypassedrecently upgraded the DAC, and I haven’t heard it, but people whose judgment I value say it isn’t that much of an improvement, and 3) Customer Service isn’t that good, and that is an issue that I am well acquainted with as it is prone to crashing and burning.
The Melco N 100 can be used as a NAS (currently feeding my aforementioned Vault), but it is also a player and has an attached 2TB player. I think it sounds amazing and works flawlessly. Do you need the expensive Melco ripper? No, but it’s accurate and also is superior to my Oppo as a CD transport.
Other DACs that I have owned are PSAudio Digital Link III and Mytek Manhattan. Both were excellent, but I really prefer the Bryston, which is great on detail but doesn’t sound overly Clinical and has the features (HDMI) that I want