New DAC or New Streamer?

While Taiko did use Roon, it moved on to TAS, and is now in the process of completing the very purpose-built XDMS software, which essentially all users who have it say it is easily the best software for the Extreme - XDMS is I believe not in fully finished form yet, but can be downloaded to the Extreme in I think Alpha or Beta release, with help of the Taiko support staff- it is a Taiko-built product. Likewise, TAS, as mentioned above, was almost universally preferred over Roon, on a sound quality basis. As Lalitk said, Emil, designer of the Taiko Extreme, stated that XDMS is all about the sound quality. I believe you can still use Roon on the Extreme, but it will not yield the best sound quality. And some do still use it at least part time because they love the feature-rich application.

Emil also noted that the problem with Roon is that they often release updates for the software and they are not focused on sound quality, but rather the useability of the software. From what I've read, many users, and I think server manufacturers, have provided their opinion on this sound quality issue to Roon. 

As a side note, Wadax use Roon as their software interface. I believe it is a very custom set and I believe it is locked down so it can't influence sound quality. But you'd have to ask Mike Lavigne about that because he has very in-depth knowledge of the Wadax gear, in addition to being an owner/user. You can read about that here on Agon and on WBF.

It doesn’t matter what comes first these days as long as you like the end result. It’s hard to find a clearly bad combo.Technology these days is that good. It’s clear that purely subjective personal preferences rule.

It’s clear that purely subjective personal preferences rule

Sure, how else can it be? It’s audio so you judge and decide based upon listening. You’re going to live with the product as it reproduces recorded music. If one doesn’t enjoy what they hear why bother with it? Absolutely and rightly so, subjective by default.

Charles

Many of us state streamers most important because we hear great differences with streamer changes. Of course this assumes one already has highly resolving dac and system. The thing about dacs today is not all that difficult or expensive to achieve high resolution, transparency, the presentation or what some may call color is greatest variable these days. Even more digital sounding dacs can sound far more analog with streamers and network upgrades that minimize jitter.

I've been through five streamers and same number of dacs over the past few years, the streamers have more variable sound quality than dacs. Also, the top echelon streamers will really take one past digital sound plateau, one can achieve streaming SQ that approaches or competes with the best vinyl rig setups. I know this first hand from what I'm hearing today via my streaming vs the best of best vinyl rig setups I've heard over the years.

And my own vinyl setup is pretty nice even without having even heard recent $16K in upgrades. The problem is the streaming is so nice I can't stop listening to streams, I start off listening sessions with intention to fire up my old vinyl setup, but I'm so involved with the music I don't get around to it. I don't even have new cartridge mounted or phono stage connected, and this has gone on for over a month!  I know, crazy!!

Streaming is the future, the future is now. As stated above in a post, streaming is now pretty mature technology, streaming can be one's best or only highest quality source, no need for media hardware any more. Not dismissing cd's or vinyl, just saying no need to go this route anymore.

Neglected to mention three dedicated streamers I've used, therefore, streamers without server capability. These commonly called two computer setups. Which leads me to emphasize rendering or port optimization and integration with dacs. Best ports on streamers and dacs can vary greatly, one needs to match streamer to dac here. For instance far too many servers are less than optimal with usb implementation, rendering of the usb is critical for max performance, and very likely plays role in my preference for Roon vs Stylus proprietary player via new streamer. The JCAT usb card with it's optimal rendering could upset the scale. Another streamer I came close to purchasing, the Antipodes K50 claims AES/EBU is optimal port, and other streamers may prefer I2S, one must do the research with both streamer and dac in order to discover optimal compatibility.

Also, it wasn't my intention to rate music players, I only have direct experience with Roon, Audirvana, Foobar, HQPlayer, and now Stylus, I have no idea what is preferable for someone else and their setups. My only intent is to state I'm getting sublime SQ with my present Roon setup, perhaps Stylus will outperform in time. I can understand the logic for why it should, and for why any proprietary player could do same.