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New streamer or dac?

So when I put my system together the idea was strictly vinyl,I eventually added a budget streamer thinking I’d use it for background music or puttering around the house when its not practical to listen to records. I became immediately consumed with it after subscribing to Tidal ,the idea of being able to listen to anything that pops into head is just fantastic,Im enjoying music like never before.Im ready to swap out the $600 unit for something a little more inline with the rest of the equipment in the system but am not sure if another option might be better. So my question is would it maybe be a better idea to buy a Dac and use the inexpensive steamer with it as a transport until I could afford to change it out also ? or would it make more sense to just buy a new streamer/ Dac unit ( I like the Aruender ) any thoughts on that would be appreciated,thanks in advance. 

 

bikeboy52
lordmelton's avatar
lordmelton
877 posts
 

@bikeboy52 Aurender make fantastic products and from a convenience standpoint they are super easy to operate and even internet radio sounds great.

Where they do excel is playing back ripped music SQ is superb and streaming is state of the art.

They'll sound good with less expensive DACs so put most of your budget into the Aurender. The N100, N20 and N30 are their latest models. N20 is the best value and AES/EBU sounds better than USB.

Whatever you decide audition everything first with your own music.

tomstruck's avatar
tomstruck
350 posts
 

Enjoying my Aurender

sonic79
80 posts
 

Considering something as simple as a Raspberry Pi or Intel NUC can be used as a streamer, I believe the quality of the DAC is more important. A two box solution also allows for more versatility and upgradability.

sbayne's avatar
sbayne
493 posts
 

I would upgrade your DAC first, then the USB cable from the streamer to the DAC, after that the ethernet cable to the streamer and, finally, the streamer. The past couple years I've been messing around with my digital front-end and, in hindsight, that's the order I should have taken.  Basically, build it around the DAC. 

jond's avatar
jond
5,794 posts
 

Definitely a Dac upgrade is the way to go for an immediate upgrade in SQ.

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