New DAC or New Streamer?

Learned a lot here as I’m still in relative diapers when it comes to streaming, but even at this relatively early stage it’s so clear how much everything matters, and matters ALOT. Those who choose to say this or that component is more important are just kidding themselves. As with most things in audio, my experience is ultimately the chain is only as strong as the weakest link, so to think the DAC is most important is just silly to me because everything before and after it matters. What really amazed me was how much better my streaming sound got when I upgraded to a better streamer.

To that point, @nyev I thought you raised a great point I haven’t been as focused on but makes a lotta sense to me, that being vibration control and specifically in streaming applications. Not sure if you’ve heard of Townshend Seismic vibration control devices, but I’ve never read more emphatically-positive user reviews from any “tweak.” I mean, these things just get raves, so if you’re sold on vibration control being significant as I am because, again, IME everything makes a difference you might wanna at least give these a look. No offense to Herbie’s, and I’m about to buy their gliders to improve the sound of my speakers and allow me to, um, slide my speakers around without the huge hassle or wrecking wood floors. Anyway, the Seismic products, although admittedly more pricey, seem to be true next-level products. Just sharing some info that’s been stuck in my brain after reading so many glowing reviews so just thought I’d share FWIW.

http://www.townshendaudio.com/hi-fi-home-cinema-equipment-vibration-isolation/seismic-isolation-pods/

@lalitk thank you for the insight really appreciate it. 

@soix Yes I’ve read lots of great reviews of Townshend for sure, although people complain of the price. I did read a few odd accounts where folks said they didn’t like the “tonal tuning” of Townshends, but that was just a few and every system and individual is different. Same deal with Herbie’s; lots of accounts of people relaying their OMG moments. If anything like my experience you will get to experience that with your speakers. Most likely with the Townshends too. But as I mentioned Herbie’s has the advantage of being able to position the feet anywhere under each device, which unbelievably makes a big difference. Took a good deal of experimenting before I arrived at the best footer positions for my ears. With Townshends you are stuck with only one position. That said, chances are you will be happy. Just listen carefully after adding to each component, and don’t do what I did with my amp. I assumed Herbie’s would have the same positive impact as it did on the rest of my gear, and for months I wasn’t happy with my sound not realizing what the issue was!

Oh, I also added 4 Herbie’s Giant Fat Dots under my wooden shelf and this produced a noticeable bump in performance as well.

Lastly @soix when you seat your speaker spikes into the Herbie’s gliders (assuming you are getting the spike decouplers) don’t make the same mistake I made. One of my 180 pound B&W 802’s wasn’t quite seated in the divot. Speaker went toppling over just with the slightest unevenness! Miraculously I had multiple camping foam mats stacked right where it crashed (was using them to help adjust spikes while speakers were on their sides) and no harm was done. Other than waking up the family with my shouting/screaming….

I have a Innuos Zenith Mk3 and was about to pull the trigger on a lifetime Roon membership - I may have to rethink this as this but may work out if I someday upgrade to another brand....

My long term thoughts are I'll keep Roon even if I find my proprietary music player to have superior sound quality at some point. Roon SQ good enough to be totally engaging and even more important, the great interface has turned me on to so much great music and artists new to me. Qobuz and Tidal also offer this, but Roon far superior, Roon radio is simply awesome with it's analytics,  graphics suggestions same awesomeness. Finally, I don't know how well the other proprietary players organize local libraries, but my Stylus players completely destroys organization of local library on NAS, makes library unusable. Perhaps it would do better with streamer internal drives?

Bottom line for me is Roon cost so little it would always provide more than commensurate benefit. Being able to transfer it to nearly any brand or custom build streamer is another added benefit.