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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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jbuhl's avatar
jbuhl
878 posts
 
I been running a Wyred4Sound modded Sonos for years to a Wadia 321. I wanted to move up so I could stream 24/96Khz and above on Qobuz. I found a Bryston Pi used for half price. Took a few weeks to get it sorted but the improvement is there. Manic Moose interface is spartan compared to apps but having a browser interface has its advantages. It also came with a Radioparadise FLAC 16/48 capability but alas it does not work. It is Roon Ready. But the only services it appears to support are Tidal and Qobuz. I like that fact it has an external power supply. It mounted an external drive with some tracks I bought off of HDtracks and sorted those and plays seamlessly. Small, light weight and good looking piece of hardware. https://bryston.com/digital-audio/bdppi/.
If I had $5K to spend I would be considering BDP-3 and BDA-2 combo. If you need DSD you have to shell out more $$
But there is a BDA-3 here that looks interesting.  https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649565689-bryston-bda-3-silver-with-blue-lights-dealer-demo-piec...
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bruce19 OP
212 posts
 
@jbuhl, I studied the Bryston  Pi and the other Bryston items. Have you seen this review of the B-pi by Hans Beekhuysen?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4FU1tqZdeUI like him a lot and found it enlightening. But its not the direction I want to go. The Bryston player and dac are more in that direction but if I was going that high for hardware I think another Canadian offering, the NAD 50.2 would be a strong competitior. Especially since I have previous good experience with NAD products and the dealers are easier to find in my neighborhood. BTW that BDA-3 dac you pointed me to resides right down the road from me in New Jersey. I think it is more DAC than I want right now but I may go take a look. Thanks!
artemus_5's avatar
artemus_5
1,911 posts
 
@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.
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jazzman7
334 posts
 
What I’m running with right now in my system would fall within your budget. Roon Nucleus feeding Chord Qutest DAC via Curious USB Cable. The Nucleus has a bay which can be fitted with an SSD or HDD such that it could function as your server.
At full retail:
Roon Nucleus $1399
Lifetime Roon Member ship
                         $699
Chord Qutest  $1695
Curious USB    $350
==================
Total                $4143
Still leaves room within your budget to purchase SSD and upgraded power supplies if so desired for Nucleus and/or Qutest.
I’m currently utilizing Small Green Computer 5v LPS ($160) with my Qutest and stock power supply with my Nucleus.
The key to all this is using Roon Nucleus as your Server, functioning as Roon Core Server and Player. You can substitute the DAC and USB Cable of your choice. I find that this setup works very well.


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bruce19 OP
212 posts
 
@artemus_5 , you would think being in NJ I'd have lots of choices but perhaps it has to do with the death of retail but I have found that usually when you get to a dealer they may not have the model I am interested in, making it a "special order" and if they do it is connected to equipment that is so different from what I own that the listening test is meaningless.

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