Ready For Digital Source...Computer?

auxinput - WOW exellent (aux) input, thanks so much for pointing all this out to me! I was just about to pull out my check book for the T2 (at the discounted price) and you have made me re-think this.

I have limited space for audio equipment in this house and trying to keep everybody happy (it’s just me and my wife here), hence the thought of the one (or in my case) two box solution. But yes, I could get a better DAC then a smaller server (Nucleus, Innous Mini or?) and tuck it away behind or under the amp stand, on the floor.

With all the rave reveiws of late, I was considering the the Deafrips Pontus. I would go with the less expensive but still highly rated, Ares II but it doesn’t come in silver.

adasda - agreed, laptop out, working on the DAC now (see above).

I'm just pointing out what I see on the Lumin T2.  It is definitely not a bad product if you want a single all-in-one-unit (but also with that Sbooster power supply that you could put anywhere, even on the floor). 

A note on the Innuous products.  Even as just a server/streamer, they do changes to the sound via their DSP.  It is a type of waveform smoothing that changes the sound somewhat.  Many people love this affect from Innous and think it sounds better then other products.  I heard the Innous and I did not prefer this sound.  I compared it to an Antipodes streamer and the Antipodes sounded a lot better (since it was neutral).

There is a youtube review comparing Innous and Auralic streamer where they commented the Innous sounded more lush and silky.  The Auralic sounded more dry.  I actually think this is because the Auralic is completely neutral and is not changing the waveforms from the audio.

Like I said, many love Innous.  Just something to be aware of.

auxinput - How do you know all this stuff, amazing and great information, thank you again. No, I do not want coloured music, but I'm afraid the Antipodes is way over my bugdet.I will keep researching.

I was not trying to "push" the Antipodes product. I was just stating what I compared the Innous to when I listened to it (it was an audio shop in San Francisco). There are a lot of streamer options. I’m sure there are going to be competing arguments here, but I think you would be extremely happy with a Roon Nucleus with linear power supply. You don’t necessarily need to spend $5k+ on just the streamer part. It’s all about your budget. My point was that the Innous is definitely coloring/changing the waveforms and most other streamers are not doing this (unless you forcable enable some sort of DSP in your streamer). Like I said, many people have listened to Innous and think it’s the greatest thing on earth. Everyone has different points of view of what the "best sound" is.

Also, depending on what you want to do. the lesser priced Roon Nucleus ($1459) might be good enough. If you don’t need to do DSP on DSD audio files or have a need for multi-channel audio, then you probably do not need the Roon Nucleus Plus ($2559). The lower priced Roon Nucleus will still do DSD, but you won’t be able to apply much DSP to that. Lower priced Roon Nucleus will still do all DSP functions against PCM audio (such as CD, 24/96, 24/192, etc.).

The Nucleus is using an Intel i3 processor; the Nucleus + is using an Intel i7. This allows Roon Nucleus + to do all the extra DSP on DSD files. Some examples of DSP functions are Sample Rate Conversion, Procedural or Parametric EQ, Convolutions, Crossfeed, some Speaker Setup and Headroom Management. I’m not exactly sure what the Roon Nucleus provides for DSP.

As far as how I know this stuff, I’ve been in this audio game for 22 years at this point. My hobby also includes rebuilding/upgrading audio electronics (replacing/upgrading capacitors, internal wiring, rectifiers, audio stages, power supplies, etc. etc.) I’ve been doing that for about 15 years now.

I don’t know if this is something you want to consider, but there’s a used Roon Nucleus Rev A on audiogon for $995. It’s Rev A which means a limit on SSD thickness size and you only get one HDMI output, but this item does include a 1TB internal SSD for song storage. It’s used, of course.

What auxinput is suggesting is exactly what I thought you should do all along. Get the Roon nucleus with lps, and those dacs are the exactly what I suggest. I use the Musetec 005, wonderful dac, recent comparisons with Holo May and Mola Mola Tambaqui favored 005. Still, any of dacs mentioned would be superior to the server/dac combo.