Higher End DACs

I use Bluesound Node2i for network streamer connected (optical) to the new version of the RME ADI-2 DAC FS. $550 + $1,100. IMO *any* competent network streamer would do. Competent: passing on FLAC bits w/o errors, and having a good user interface. Similarly, you don't need to spend more than 10 bucks on optical or coaxial connection (if they transmit the bits w/o errors). The heart of the system will be the DAC itself. The ADI-2 plays wonderfully for me and I am not sure if it can be beaten by DACs costing more. More important will be your amplifier, speakers, room acoustics. If the amplifier has balanced input: even better -- use it. My CD player has a digital output which I now feed into the RME DAC w/ a coaxial cable. CDs have never sounded better! I mostly listen to Qobuz HiRes, but I have some CDs they don't have.

Its a bit more coin, but the Emm Labs DA2 v2 gets a lot of review accolades for being one of the most analog sounding DACs in the market. 

@mikelavigne Thanks for your responses.

Let me clarify because there is an important distinction to be made and I want to make sure you and others understand my earlier post.

My question is regarding SERVERS. The Taiko Extreme is both Server and Renderer.

My position, is that the RENDERING functionality is the greater differentiator.

Mike, given my clarification, is your position the same or does it change?

It is something I will eventually test, however the current time frame for my ongoing audition will not allow for it. Should I purchase the unit I’m evaluating, I will be able to do so.

Here is a straightforward "definition" provided on the Antipodes website:

"SERVER – The Server organises your music, and displays your library, streaming services and radio stations on the Remote Control’s screen. When told to play a file, the Server pushes the music file to a Renderer.

RENDERER – The Renderer turns the music file into a digital audio signal to send to your DAC."

Here are ’denser’ definitions (of Server and Renderer) from the Absolute Sound:

"Some companies refer to their products as a “server” (or “music server” or “media server”). The term comes from computer science. A server is half of a so-called “client-server architecture.” This architecture partitions tasks between a server and a client, which typically communicate over a network. A server does nothing until it receives a request from a client to perform a service. NAS is a familiar example of a server. It receives requests from other devices on the network to provide the contents of files that it stores. Only a few of the products in Table 2 called servers are actually servers. A network bridge or network player is actually a client. Neither a direct bridge nor a direct player is a server because they do not respond to requests for samples; they simply present a stream of samples to a DAC (either internal or external) and assume that the DAC can digest them.

“Media renderer” is a term from the UPnP AV protocol, which specifies how devices connected to a LAN can cooperate to play a media file stored on one device (a “media server”) on another device (a “media renderer”). Although we are dealing with architectures in which devices are connected directly as well as ones in which they are connected over a network, it might have made sense to extend terminology meant for the network scenario if the terminology were brilliant. Unfortunately, it is not. “Rendering” is a term borrowed from computer graphics, where it refers to the process of generating an image from a model (e.g., a wireframe sketch). The samples that we want to convey to the DAC to produce the desired analog output are not a model of an analog signal; they are a digital representation of the signal. “Media converter” would have been a better description of the device. Note that this defect applies to video as well, so even in the context of UPnP, “renderer” was a bad choice. The term is also very techy, or as Neil Gader said in a recent review [TAS 248], “just a bit too Black Ops creepy.”"

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/understanding-digital-music-systems-1/?page=2

[Note: Mike, are you using your MSB Select II with a rendering module? Taiko as server only or MSB as DAC only? Thanks]

The SGM Extreme  doesn't  even have a DAC for $20K and no DAC I don't  know. I read the thread posted on it and from what I gather he built the thing as overkill. The reasoning is this computer which could run a midsize  company  basically  runs in idle. Streaming music from your library which you're encouraged to move to the server or from Tidal or whatever  streaming services you use doesn't  even cause this machine to use 10% of it's power. The reason given is it cuts down on noise that is inherent in typical computer  systems and I am sure that's  true. Whether noise is actually  a problem in lesser priced solutions I saw no measurements  to back that up just subjective listening tests. I would have to think long and hard before I spent $20K on a massive computer with no DAC and software that will probably  be outdated in 4 or 5 more years. 

1--i have the MSB v2 Renderer module for my Select II, and when i first got it it was marginally superior to the USB. i could quickly switch back and forth and it was close. this was with using the 2015 SGM server as the Roon end point. but understand a renderer is a CPU inside your dac, so it brings with it noise.

2--then i got the new Extreme server, which was a huge step up in performance. and MSB introduced the Pro USB module, which inserted a fiber optic interface between the USB and the Select II. this clearly boosted the performance with USB beyond the Renderer. and removing my ’now idle’ Renderer module from my Select II slightly lowered the noise, since it’s a CPU.

3--then further i upgraded my USB cable to the Gobel Lachorde USB, another step up, and added fibre optic to my LAN which was another step up.

4--i moved my files from a NAS on my LAN to 32 tb of PCIe drives inside the Extreme. GAME OVER.

much more detail is on that very long thread.

the Extreme is not for everyone, and i’m not qualified to answer questions in detail about this stuff. but there is no doubt that the Extreme is better than other servers by a wider margin than the difference in dacs in the middle range of price. so get a decent dac and an Extreme instead on doing the dac upgrade merry-go-round. it’s a streaming world out there and servers do the heavy lifting in it. your dac can only be as good as what it's fed. the server performance is a limitation to that.