DDC or Better Streamer?

@baylinor Ok, I think you are telling me my system is not good enough to reveal benefits of the better Aurender or Innuos Streamer.

@mbolek When I was researching the LAIV Harmony DAC, the majority of reviewers preferred i2s with it.

@curiousjim & @oddiofyl Much respect for the N200 but probably more Streamer than my system will show benefit from.  Yes, I understand Aurender to be very good with USB.  Will there never be temptation to convert to i2s?

@soix I have two other systems with Bluesound Streamers in them, and am thinking of adding an LPS to one of them.  I was not aware of an LPS option for the Vault.  Were you thinking of Node, or are you aware of LPS for Vault?

The mediocrity of my system is a valid point here.  If even a $12k Streamer would not provide benefit, I have no problem with eating humble pie and going the DDC route.  Agree?  Thanks everyone.

FYI - Schiit just came out with a balanced Mesh DAC with EQ and Preamp. Up to 32 bits/384 using USB input. Other inputs are 24/192. It has an optical input. 

Very few times will anyone (me, included) ever offer up a audio component that actually saves money, but here it is...

$349 with Forkbeard (software that enables control of devices using phone app)

Schiit came to fame via the popularity of their DAC's. I have owned BiFrost and currently use the Yggdrasil. Heck, my Yggy can't do 32/384.

I have not heard this product, but considering it's price and lineage, it amounts to near zero risk in trying it out.

@audiostick 
 

I actually asked that question and was told probably not and no by the 2 Arunder people I spoke with.

Will there never be temptation to convert to i2s?

I much prefer the Harmony with Denafrips Gaia via I2S, this vs. optimized usb feed. Issue is many streamers don't provide I2S which isn't any great loss assuming most streamer I2S interfaces probably not of great quality, which means implementing a DDC for highest quality I2S.

@audiostick May be over your budget, but this is way I'd go in your situation.  Get Sonore Optical Rendu for your Roon Endpoint, keep the Bluesound, this will be Roon Core, you'll also need Sonore OpticalModule or generic optical conversion just in front of OpticalRendu. This serves three purposes, one is the OpticaRendu is superior streamer to Bluesound, two. you'll now have optical conversion which totally isolates noise from entering the streamer, three, Roon has superior sound quality with Core and Endpoint on two different devices. Now if you go a bit above budget, get the Denafrips Hermes or Gaia for the I2S to Harmony. I guarantee you this will be a significant upgrade to present setup, and for a very reasonable price.

Not for nothing but...I don't know of any high end DACs that rely on or optimized for I2S.  The top brands have some new connection technologies in development and none of them are I2S.