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New Streamer, DAC or Let it Be

Hello.  I am at a crossroads and interested in soliciting suggestions on a streamer and/or DAC upgrade using your collective experience.  My focus is actually home theatre, with perhaps 20% of the time devoted to music.  The space is my wife's office by day, my home theatre/ listening room by night, and furniture placement, windows, doors, etc. cannot be moved; it is what it is. 

Equipment is a Marantz AV8805A processor, Parasound A51 amp and new Focal Kanta 2 speakers.  My streamer is a Bluesound Node with upgraded internal power supply and external LPS, and Gustard U18 DDC feeding a Gustard X26 PRO DAC with SR purple fuse.  The Node upgrades made a very positive difference, and addition of the Gustard U18 was a noticeable and very welcome upgrade as well.  My frame of reference/ comparison are CDs from a modest collection played on an Oppo BD103, fed to the Marantz via HDMI (I tried Toslink and Coax but HDMI to the Marantz sounded best).  I stream a variety of music using Qobuz and the Bluesound app on my phone.  The app is OK but despite a trumpeted recent upgrade, Bluesound has not yet resolved something as simple as the ability to organize Favorites by Artist or Album; they appear in the reverse order added, which is nuts.  The various digital upgrades have made streaming sound just about as good as the CD.  Here’s the dilemma.

I live vicariously through your experience with the enormous breadth of quality digital equipment out there.  I am not necessarily looking to throw money at something I do infrequently, yet am driven by the unknown: will an upgrade provide added pleasure and justify enhancements equal to the expense for the limited time I listen to music?  Obviously, a therapist could help, but I trust many of you have been down this road and can offer insight.  My questions are, would a streamer upgrade alone take me to the next level?  Is a DAC upgrade instead the better path?  Or, am I chasing unicorns, and is my humble setup good enough, to simply let it be?  I learned never to say never, but the likelihood of an investment now and then further upgrades down the road is unlikely, as the wife has zero patience and appreciation for all this.  As to existing equipment, the Marantz and Parasound aren’t going anywhere, and I am very happy with the Kantas.  Any purchase will likely be via the used market, to mitigate costs.  My budget is in the $3K range (preferably less, usually more), which is what I was looking at for a used/ open box Aurender N150.  I am by no means limiting myself to just that brand or model streamer, and have not scratched the surface on a DAC, should that happen.

Thanks for your time and any experience/ suggestions you might share.

traubr
traubr OP
22 posts
 

Thanks to recent posts, all very interesting.  Here are some comments:

Space is at a premium for me, both in my equipment rack as well as in the room itself.  @jji666, I pace all day waiting for my turn, hoping the wife finishes work early.  Hardly ideal but it is my lot. Nowhere else for headphones...

 @jimpainter, I am coming to see the Marantz may be a weak link, which makes me heartsick considering it was purportedly of audiophile quality for 2 channel, not to mention its cost.  It certainly works well in the HT, but audiophile quality is in the ear of the beholder.  I would love nothing more than to invest in more "stuff," but my loving wife has no patience with nor understanding of the equipment merry go round that this hobby is.  A good preamp may be the price of admission to quality 2 channel audio, but then there is the inevitable follow up of replacing the humble Node and my Gustard DAC.  A combo unit also makes sense.  A couple thousand here, a couple thousand there, and I am into some $$$ for something that is lesser for me.  Yet...

During this last week I had many conversations with Juan of Bliss Hifi, who is experienced and well-versed in this arena, patient and generous with his time.  He echoed the sentiment here about a quality preamp, and made suggestions that fit my situation and mindset of the moment.

I just received a T+A DAC 8 DSD on approval basis.  It is an oldie but very goodie.  Not the current model, to be sure, but within the budget and consistent with the level of my equipment.  It is a very solid step up in sound quality from my Gustard, and displays a sophistication that my system lacked, showing me what digital music can be with quality components.  Rather than taking a measured approach, I decided to do most of it now and leapt into this with both feet; an Aurender N150 arrives in a few days.  I will add the Aurender to my current system and see what it alone offers, then throw the T+A into the mix.  Yes, my HT preamp might still be a choke point, but the new equipment will hopefully get me closer to where I would like. @jji666, the Parasound is a good choice as it has a slim profile, which makes it easier to place. If all goes well, that or perhaps a used BHK (thanks, Juan) could be a follow-up step.  We shall see how this first phase of the transformation goes.

sudnh
94 posts
 

You don’t say what you run for cables.

my thoughts are that if you are using ordinary cables is the first upgrade should be your speaker cables.

I would recommend kimber kable 8tc for your first experiment.

Make sure you use a reputable authorized dealer for your purchase. Lots of fakes out there.

if you use thecableco.com you can likely borrow this cables for a small fee so you can try them and compare with what you currently have.
if you purchase the cables thecableco will apply the fee to the purchase.

if you don’t hear any improvement then at least you know and have only spent a small amount for the experiment.

traubr OP
22 posts
 

@sudnh, my cables are a mishmash, which will no doubt offend many.  I started low and slow and built from there.  Have given The Cable Co much of my hard-earned money and used their lending library, which is great.  I have limited patience for A/B comparisons and find that differences can be subtle and confusing.  I had Cardas Clear Sky speaker and IC cables, yearned for more.  Heard the Cardas Reflection, then Silnote Anniv II Master speaker cables (one down from their top of the line) and found the Silnotes a touch better and cost less.  I have since added their IC cables as well.  I have a huge bowl of spaghetti in back of my setup (13 channels of HT speakers will do that), with a wide variety of manufacturers represented: Audience Au SX from DAC, Shunyata ethernet and power cords, SR power cord, Grover Huffman IC and PC, Cullen and Wisdom Technology power cords, Morrow subwoofer cables.  Were I to do it again (not happening), would do it differently.  It has been an expensive learning curve.

sudnh
94 posts
 

@traubr

Ahh... then you are well experienced with cables.

I would agree with the comments suggesting the Marantz is now your bottleneck.

Marantz was good enough to hover at entry level high end for a good part of their history. Though I don't know after the denon take over if it was good for denon or negative for Marantz. 

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