Move to the next level


I would appreciate opinions. In the past two years I have put together a modest system that has tremendously increased my appreciation of music. I have legacy collections of vinyl and cds, about 500 of each, but what has really excited me is streaming because of the way it lets you roam through time and genre virtually unrestricted. Currently I am listening to a Yamaha wxc50 connected to a Rogue Sphinx which feeds into a pair of KEF LS50s and a Syzygy SLF850 sub. I also have a Mac mini running Audirvana that hosts my ripped collection of CDs in the Apple lossless format and that runs into the Sphinx through a Topping D50s DAC.I am at the point where I'm ready to make a major investment in a quality source for my system to move to the next level of sound quality. I’m thinking of a budget of about $5000 for which I’d like a streamer/server with quality power supplies and preferably the DAC, along with, if within budget,  Roon. Candidates so far are the Aurilac Aries G2, Innuous Zenith Mk II, SOTM SMS200-ultra, and Lumin D2. What do you think fellow sound addicts?
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Showing 2 responses by artemus_5

@bruce19 No, I have not heard the exasound. I live in flyover country where hifi sales don't really exist. I do a lot of reading and have put a pretty good system together without hearing it first. This is what the internet has brought us w/ online sales. Plus any have 30 day $$$ back which is helpful.

That sauid, one of my worst buys was heard prior in the hifi store. Sounded great. Then I took it home where I hated it for a year and sold it. That was back in the mid 80's. So I don't worry about auditions anymore.
Are you looking for "chip" DACS or R2R DACS? Or does it matter? I have little experience in streaming and find myself in the same position as you, so I will follow along for education. I can say that ExaSound  has become an interest. Good reviews but they are R2R. Same with Metrum & Schiit Yiggy which are also interesting.