Better DAC or better Streamer

If anyone is still using SPDIF, well, it is their problem.

Unless they have a really good coax cable - then not so much.

kn

@knownothing +1. I never cared for a coaxial connection until I got an Acoustic Zen mc2 cable. That made a noticeable improvement. I had used cables by Harmonic Tech, XLO, Morrow, and others. 

@sls883 yeah.  I did a blind test of eight different coaxial cables ranging from $30 to amounts I never would have considered spending for a cable (until I did this test) with another audio enthusiast who is a critical listener.  The cables we both liked best were the two most expensive in the test from Nordost and Chord, and one of those lists for the same price as my DAC.  I was able to find it used for about a third the cost of new and have zero regrets.  Funny thing is, that cable sounds a little bit better than my best optical and USB cables, but that positive difference grows with every improvement to power delivery upstream of the DAC and streamer.

@eddy1 elaborating on my streamer recommendation, also upgrading your cables from your source to your M-Scaler and the two coax cables to your TT2 might be a better investment now, and one that will continue to pay dividends when you finally move to a DAVE.  Just a thought.

kn

The cables we both liked best were the two most expensive in the test

Funny how that works, hey?

@eddy1 elaborating on my streamer recommendation, also upgrading your cables from your source to your M-Scaler and the two coax cables to your TT2 might be a better investment now, and one that will continue to pay dividends when you finally move to a DAVE.

100%. It is assumed someone with or contemplating components such as Hugo, Dave and Nagra has addressed this, but sometimes this has been overlooked.

Probably the reason some people say all streamers sound the same- they are using throwaway cables which mask 30% of the music from getting to their downstream components and speakers. 

Thank you so much, everyone.