*DAC

my 2 cents

the r26 is really excellent, one would truly need a mega system to hear significant sonic benefit to pricier dacs - i feel it strikes a wonderful balance between uber clarity and musicality, and it has very good spatial qualities

i would work on getting the feed into the r26 is clean and pure as possible to let it be at its best before getting on the dac merry go round (the front end improvements would benefit most other more expensive dac choices as well)

i use the r26 in a roon based system, it is truly excellent

@jjss49 thank for the perk! I do have the Ethernet in to my Aurender N200 going through a pair of fiber media converters https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp20Ju-ABoE then from the N200 into the R26 with DH Labs cable. I have tried both USB and coaxial and I think USB sounds better. Although I found the renderer in the R26, feed by ethernet, to sound very good as well. I don’t think the N200 sound $4000 better than the R26 but I can’t really tun back now (thanks ghdprentice)

Any other suggestions (as in better front-end improvements) would greatly be appreciated!

@navyachts I agree USB sounds better with the N200 but would also like to add that the fiber converters degraded the sound in my system. I’d say try and remove them, go straight into the N200 with a good Ethernet cable and see if you still like the fiber converters after you hear it as is. 

@audphile1 thanks, will do! Off to AZ to look after my Dad, I'll try this when I get back. Any suggestion on ethernet cables? 

LinkUp Ethernet cable from amazon is very decent. I toss it in once in a while.
I mainly use Purist Audio Design though. Audioquest Vodka and Diamond are raved about on these pages. I haven’t tried these in my system but I can immediately hear the difference between the LinkUp and the Purist…will be interesting to compare Purist to AQ..