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New DAC or New Streamer?

This should be fun. After I pay to get my amp upgraded at VAC next month  I plan to either upgrade my DAC or Streamer next. I should have enough for that by late spring/early summer. I'm retired so I save some each month until I have what I need. My system is in my user profile. But to keep this simple my current DAC is the Dinafrips Venus II I got a year ago. (I also have the Hermes DDC)

My streamer is the Cambridge CXN V2 via coax to the Hermes-> I2s -> DAC which is also 1 year old. I was just getting into streaming then and knew little about it. I have learned a lot this past year, a whole lot.

I think the bottle neck is leaning more toward the streamer. It seems the DAC is pretty good, I know there are much better DAC's out there but it holds it own I think. Maybe not? I cannot afford the likes of DCS, Lampizator, etc.

The next planned upgrades are a Terminator II DAC and Aurender N200 Streamer. Both are $5000-$6000. (Unless I go for the Terminator + DAC that is $7500 but I am not sure it is $2500 better than the Terminator II)

So, since both will get upgraded a year apart, which should I go for first? Which would provide the biggest upgrade?

Thanks. Happy holidays to all.

128x128fthompson251
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,364 posts
 

"I can only say the present sound quality I’m getting with Roon is absolute4ly revelatory"

@sns

I am sure it is revelatory with your custom build server. Please enjoy your journey and experimentation with the Stylus or HQPlayer players. I hope to read your feedback on aforementioned players vs ROON.

sns
3,097 posts
 

Thanks guys, many paths to great sound!

 

@charles1dad With the way I'm presently setup starting at streamer. Ethernet input to JCAT NET XE board in streamer (streamer powered by the JCAT Optimo, 2 cables bundles used to power processor and motherboard Optimo has three rails, third is for internal local drives, I'm using NAS for local files so no internal drives, JCAT ethernet board powered by Uptone JS2 lps, so another cable and lps) ethernet out of JCAT board to OpticalModule (dc cable and lps for power), optical cable out of OM to OpticalRendu ( DC cable to second rail on Uptone JS2), usb out of OR to usb in on dac. So boxes add up to 3, also 3 lps, 3 DC cables and AC power cables. I can also go with the simpler setup with streamer direct to dac. I also have myriad choices of how I can configure  Stylus, HQPlayer and Roon players, this with or without Sonore optical bundle.

 

@lalitk At some point I will get to more critical listening with the Stylus player, really need to get JCAT USB XE board to get full potential of Stylus, thus far only used via somewhat optimized Intel usb board mounted on motherboard. I'm open minded enough to realize Roon may be surpassed by Stylus at some point, just enjoying Roon so much at present!

charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,249 posts
 

@sns 

Thank you. A serious mission you’ve embarked on that is reaping high level sonic reward.

Charles 

lordrootman's avatar
lordrootman
368 posts
 

I have been streaming from cocktail audio X45Pro , streaming from IFI zen stream with IFI power elite and Teac NT505 to my preamp moon P8/W8 and I do not hear any difference with exception of XLR output really hard for me to understand that a streamer make a huge difference 

sel53
18 posts
 

I have to say I’m shocked to see so many saying streamer first!  The output stages of the DAC are directly in the signal path, and circuit architecture truly does make a distinct difference. I will always do the DAC first; it always pays off.

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