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Got Innuous, now a DAC

I worked with the Music Room and purchased an Innuous Zen Mk3. I remember five years ago when I started building my system, I heard many say streamers don’t matter. Well they do. I thought my BS Node 2i was good with the after market power supply. The Innuous kicked dirt in the face of the BS. The Innuous forced me to use USB which probably helps as well. And an added benefit: NO MORE SOFTWARE ISSUES. Yay! Qobuz internet interface is great. The sound of Qobuz is so good it made my $400 BT speakers sound better.

The Music Room associate said I will see another step improvement. I have looked around. I think R2R might be a good try. I would characterize my system as neutral. I have eliminated most glare or listening fatigue. But I don’t know what I don’t know.

I would like to keep this under $2000. Here are some that I found.

Denafrips Pontus 12 $1500

Ali express Denafrips 15 $1518 plus ship

Aqua La Voce. ???

Ayre Dx9. I think these are old but have good rep. I think it s Delta Sigma

Chord ??

Gustard. R26 mixed reviews

Bel Canto ???

i will not be updating amp and preamp. Thank you in advance.

The brands are exploding, but thank you in advance for your suggestions. 

 

128x128daledeee1
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,868 posts
 

I still have the original Pontus ll and it’s still has a wonderful sound to it.  I’m looking forward to upgrading someday, but I’m not a a great hurry.  Although I have had an eye out for a DDC. 😃

thebingster's avatar
thebingster
35 posts
 

If you can locate a previously owned Aqua La Voce, jump on it. Very organic sound (IMO). If not, and you can afford it, buy it new- I think it's around $6K (maybe more now as it's been awhile since I checked). I was so amazed, I upgraded to the Aqua Formula (their high-end DAC). It added further improvement, La Voce was a giant step up from a decent DAC in the Hegel integrated I had at the time. Now set for the duration.

emergingsoul
1,210 posts
 

chord Worth looking at.  I had a blue sound node and it was nice but the quality was not that great.  I'm sure that was a dramatic change. Choosing the right dac Will be very important to making older music sound good. I used a lumen x1 streamer/dac and was really happy. So my chord stored away. I don't like separate dacs if you can find a good streamer/dac but I do like to streamer you got.

fthompson251's avatar
fthompson251
477 posts
 

FWIW, you can get a new Pontus 15th for far less than MSRP through @audioman58. Bump the budget a little more and get a fantastic Venus 15th. (Which is essentially the old Terminator II)

sns
3,367 posts
 

I purchased my Gaia through @audioman58, also gave me heads up on Tubulus I2S cables, expensive but just wonderful cables.

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