2. digital
  3. 181352-164802

Streamer upgrade?

So after following these discussions for the last year or so about the importance (or lack of depending on ones stance) of the steamer itself for sound quality Ive decided to take the plunge. I had  previously been in the “ bits is bits “ camp , so I purchased a Pontus Two to use with my Aurender A100 which is they’re entry level offering with a built in Dac. Both of the local high end dealers tried to convince me that this would not amount  to much of an improvement in SQ, well…… they were right in my estimation. So I took another member’s recommendation to contact TMR about a trade in on an Aurender N200 and just as his experience was great so was mine ,they really made it too good to pass up. So if anyone is interested I will report my findings when my new unit arrives, it’ll be a straight change out same Dac,same Dh labs cable and same system ,it should be a really easy comparison, too bad I couldn’t keep the old unit to test them side by side but it’ll still be easy enough.I’ll post my findings.

bikeboy52
soix
8,809 posts
 

Agreed and think you’re gonna be very happy with the N200 and Pontus ll.  Looking forward to your thoughts. 

bikeboy52 OP
187 posts
 

Yes I realize Im in a cash spiral trying to get my digital to sound as good as my vinyl and that theres a ways to go still. Im already in on the interconnects and ac cables, I feel like these three pieces of the puzzle ,Streamer,Dac and cables will get me to the point where I can try the other tweaks. As far as the Dac choice goes I did all the due diligence on that as well, lots of good choices in that price brand Sorry its Chi Fi, but the  Denafrips  held its own in most of the comparisons at s considerable savings, probably enough to pay for another of the tweeks.what hobby is not expensive? None Ive ever had.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,099 posts
 

@bikeboy52

Denafrips DAC’s are a smart choice irrespective of its origin. They are well designed & implemented; if it weren’t for direct sell model, you would be paying twice as much. Just enjoy pursuit :-)

ghdprentice
6,465 posts
 

Congrats on the purchase. I look forward to your comments. I have owned an Aurender N100 for a number of years with a great DAC for my headphone system it put the sound in quite a new category. The N200 is known to be a significant upgrade. 

soix
8,809 posts
 

The only thing I’d add is that I now feed my Musician Pegasus DAC (very close relative to the Pontus ll) with a Denafrips Iris DDC to take advantage of the i2S connection and the improvement over USB was substantial — no contest, and this is using a cheap 6” HDMI cable from Monoprice that I’ll eventually upgrade to something from DH Labs, etc. Just something else to keep in mind for future upgrades because it’s a very meaningful, and relatively cheap, upgrade to look forward to.  FWIW. 

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