The Streamer-Dac-Preamp Chain

I strongly recommend skipping the preamp and putting your money into a streamer DAC.  Does the Auralic play well with Roon? 

I am a huge fan of the Grimm MU1 streamer which also works as your Roon core.  The Grimm MU2 came out and you can find good deals on the MU1 as people upgrade.  It has a very loyal customer base.

Get a DAC with volume control.  One of my favorites is the DAVE.  DAVE is gettng kindof long of tooth but still performs excellently and has an excellent volume control.  It takes the AES input which is the only option with Grimm.

Alternatively, I  like Lampizator tube amps.  I have a GG3 with engine 11.  You can find a Big 7 or other DHT based Lampis well within your price range if you don't buy a pre.  Volume control if optional on the Lampizator so get one that has VC.  Most lampis also have one analog in so using it as your volume control you have an option to run an analog signal thought it if you have another analoge source.  I like the single ended and find no need to go balanced for a DAC.  This saves 50% on sets of output tubes which is nice when you tube roll.

Finally, I'd say Preamps in the price range you listed are going to be well below the quality of your other components.  If you must have a pre, consider Apollo Audio systems or Aric Audio.  the latter has become popular and is more expensive.  the first is not so discovered yet.

Jerry  

Sounds like you have done some thinking about this. Your thoughts on individual components are good. I think opening about a third on each. I would consider revisiting the Benchmark Preamp... these are extremely detailed and transparent and tend to loose the music in achieving the level of detail. I would recommend a warmer more natural sounding preamp... and you definitely want a preamp. These give you the natural and fullness to the sound. I would look at a used Audio Research, Conrad Johnson. Rogue also play in this field... but they are rather solid state sounding... but still a much more musical choice than Benchmark. DAC, good choice.

Also, I prefer Aurender to Aurlic. I owned an Aries G2 and the Aurender outperformed and was much more reliable than the G2. However, from what I have read, the G2.2 has much improved sound quality. So it would not be a bad choice... I’m sure you will be happy with it.

Yes, on the Benchmark LA4. I am listening to the CODA #16 (similar to the Moon 761) with the Benchmark HPA4, and I love it. I also have a Holo Audio Serene preamp in another system which is like the LA4/HPA4 but adds a tiny bit of warmth.

I have a super complicated and high powered ROON setup (running on a cheap $500 Dell PC in another room under a bed). I have 3 Sonore Optical Rendu’s for fibre optical streaming. I have compared this to the Lumin X1 streamer (using fibre optical) and the PlayBack Designs STREM-IF (SPDIF) and the OpticalRendu did well. The 3 different streamers sounded different, and I had all 3 in the house at the same time.

DAC’s to flavor the sound. Especially with the LA4 and 761 amp which will not color the sound.

BTW - if you want to save some money try the Schitt Wotan amp for $2k. I have the CODA #16 and Schitt Wotan that flow between my 2 systems.

BTW2 - Give me a million dollars for audio and I still get the LA4 or HPA4.

Thanks, super helpful so far!

I re-read my wordy post. The Moon 761 power amp is a given, I have it and won't change it. So it's really the other components that are even up for discussion here.

@erik_squires yeah, I'm tempted to put the Moon 791 in between and forget about the whole thing. That's what I have in my other system and I'm very happy, but the itch to tinker never goes away :-)

The Benchmark preamp --- yes! transparency -- but I have to be honest and say that the loopy signature across the front is aesthetically problematic. Aesthetics matter...

@ghdprentice the Aurender (N200? can't afford the N20) is a great suggestion for a streamer. After my mini-debacle with the Auralic volume module (though the rest of the Vega is super good with Roon @carlsbad2 ) I'm not in an Auralic mood, so no Aries.

Which leaves the DAC. And yes @yyzsantabarbara the Holo Audio adds warmth; I've read about this elsewhere. This scares me because I don't want too much color on the sound. This DAC warmth business is going to be the ultimate reason why I'll probably wimp out and redo the Moon 791. But convince me otherwise! And thanks again...

Does Aurender work with Roon?  I know a lot of streamers that are not "Roon Ready" can be made to work but I think Aurender sees roon as competition and purposely prevents it's use.

Jerry