Streaming Curious

I'd like to renew the discussion a bit and focus more on where I'd want to look to get similar SQ to my vinyl setup.

For analog sound, I agree you're going to have to spend more and look a little farther afield. Adding this component makes it no longer an effort to dip your toe in the water to see if you enjoy the streaming experience, and now an effort to replicate the sound characteristics you like given a digital source.

You will need to look at combining a streamer with an analog-sounding DAC (e.g. my Neko Audio D100), or a streamer + DAC that provides that sound character (e.g. the Lumin X1) or that can simulate that sound (e.g. Weiss Roon-Ready DACs with vinyl DSP).

I bought a NIB Bluesound Vault 2i for $700.

It sounds amazing streaming most any service.

The real beauty is that I can store my CD’s on its internal drive as FLAC files or a combination of several other formats.

MSRP of $1399 won’t break the bank. 

Definitely a separate DAC. For about $1,000 a Denafrips Ares 12th, but really would recommend moving up one notch to the Denafrips Pontus II 12th. It punches WAY above it's weight, and for about $1,800 is good enough for a later upgrade to your streamer. I have had one for over 2 years, and adore it. Being an R2R ladder DAC, it is more laid back  and not in your face.....more analog sounding, warm, inviting, vocals fleshed out, really involving.

I also added a Denafrips Iris DDC for about $500, and run I2S to the Pontus II....and that really upped the ante.....several here have done the same.

…”So what is your current vinyl rig and phonostage?”

As I said my vinyl rig sounds the same as my digital… on purpose, and coincidentally they cost about the same..

@fburkeen 

I own a Node 130 and a system that is near-state-of-the-art as of the late 1980s.  My turntable is a SOTA Star Sapphire with an ET-2 tonearm and Monster Cable Alpha Genesis 1000 cartridge.  Using hi-res files from Qobuz, there is virtually no difference between the SQ from the Node and my turntable (I have compared the same album this way--a first pressing of David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name, an LP on Harry Pearson's recommended list in The Absolute Sound .)

I did add an Denafrips Ares II DAC, but I don't think I could distinguish it from the Node alone in a blind test.  I have about 40 years experience comparing audio products and producing/mixing/mastering recordings, so I have a well-trained ear, although admittedly some hearing loss from playing in live bands.  I can still hear the difference between some cables and between CD-quality files and high res or LPs.

I enjoy the Node/Ares combination enough that I rarely listen to other sources.