Curious to know your streaming and dac set up and the best recommended streamer under $15k

Whomever suggested the analog "place" in Minnesota can go to the head of the class.....

I demoed the MSB Reference with the Innuous for about 3 months while I was deciding which way to go

So, let me get this straight, a DAC costing ~ $55,000 did not do it for you? Wow!

If you like LUMIN, but plan to use one as a streamer only (no DAC), then I believe the U1x is their top of the line: https://www.luminmusic.com/lumin-u1x.html

@thyname it's not that the MSB didn't do it for me it sounds amazing.....it's just that the Nagra Tube Dac with the Power supply (similar price to MSB) sounded significantly better in my opinion and delivered a much better soundstage.  So it's not about a dac "not delivering".  Both MSB and Nagra are Dac's only and I was using Roon to serve as the streamer into the dac.  The ah ha moment was when I reintroduced the Lumin back into the system as a streamer only and it improved the sound.  It got me wondering what other people are doing for streamers and what their set ups were.  I love love love my dac!!  Prior to the dac I went from Roon into the T2 and I enjoyed that for a couple years until I recently upgraded the dac and started tinkering with my set up.  I understand your commentary, it's definitely not a dac issue.  It's being curious and open to learn from others successes and misses.  That's all.  I do appreciate you and your feedback.  I do like your suggestion as I did not think of going with a Lumin only streamer and your thoughts make great sense so thanks @thyname . 

@woots : I appreciate you taking your time to explain your process. It all makes sense.

Here are my thoughts, with the assumption that your Nagra DAC is there to stay, and you keep Roon (I am a 5+ years lifetime Roon subscriber, so I understand). There are two ways to do this:

1) Keep your Nucleus as your remote Roon Server / Core. Get a standalone Roon Ready streamer (no DAC) to “feed” your DAC (I.e Streamer —> USB out —> DAC). Such as the LUMIN U1x. Plenty of good options on standalone Roon Ready streamers/ network transports, but since you like LUMIN sound signature, U1x

2) Get a very good Roon Core / streamer unit (ditch Nucleus), such as Innuos Statement or Zenith MK3 mentioned above. Run USB out from it to your DAC. Yes, Innuos has relatively low powered processor (on purpose, by design), but unless your are doing heavy DSP on Roon, or you have a huge library, it won’t be a problem. With Innuos, in addition to Roon, you can also use their own Sense streaming platform, and you can switch between Roon and Sense with a tap in your tablet or phone in no time

+1 @jimmy2615 the Lumin U1 is supposed to be an awesome unit if you have a DAC. It’s basically an S1 without a DAC. I’m wrestling with this decision right now. It’s is highly recommend by a friend of mine who who’d did some comparisons with others in the Lumin line including the X1. This is one serious streamer. My 2 cents.