Streaming Curious

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.