15k for streamer and dac....how much on each?

@audiocanada, do you have a trusted audio gear dealer somewhat near where you live? Because if you do that’s where I’d start my search instead of throwing out open ended queries here on Audiogon while dangling $15K as a teaser. As the old saying goes “a fool and his money are soon parted”. Sometimes to me it seems as if half of the contributors on these forums are audio gear retailers themselves and would love for everyone to buy multi-thousand dollar streamers. If you think you need a 30lbs shiny milled aluminum electrified box sitting in your house just to play tunes off of the internet then more power to you. 
 

 But if you’re really serious about putting together a system that lets you simply enjoy listening to the music that you like instead of wondering what piece of expensive audio kit “sounds better”, then you should start with some basic questions first. What kind of music do you enjoy? Are you going to be using speakers in a dedicated listening room, and do you use headphones only or a combination of the two? Because certain DACs in my experience make different speakers and headphones sound better than others. Which is my way of saying that getting the best DAC that suits your musical preferences is far more important than buying the latest server/streamer on today’s market. What DACs have you been able to demo for yourself? 

@adasdad

clearly.... you're THAT guy

*shakes head*

Personally would never spend more than $2k on a dac. Unless you’re so wealthy this is chump change. Dac tech changes so fast that DACs lose value faster than any other part of your system. Additional, the newer DACs crush the older DACs. I’d take a $600 smsl dac from 2024 over a $10000 dac from 2018 all day long.

I do not see DACs changing that fast. I think once jitter was tamed, DAC designs seemed to have plateaued. Maybe the only exception is FPGA based DAC which are easy to update for the manufacturer.

That $2k threshold for an excellent DAC is something I agree on. My Benchmark DAC3B is less than $2k. While not the greatest DAC it can be made to sound very nice on a warm system. My other DAC is the $2400 Schitt Yggi+ LIM and that DAC is amazing. I really have no complaints about that one.

As I said earlier in a post, no need to spend a lot on a streamer, especially if you use fibre optic just before the DAC.

Buy a used Lumin X1 DAC/Streamer for around $6k used and you have a very good DAC and a tremendous streamer. Best of all you have Fibre Optic as streaming option on the X1. I owned that DAC, and it was really good, I like the new Yggi+ LIM a bit more than the X1, but the X1 comes with that amazing fibre streamer.

You can get a network switch with fibre support for $100 - $200. One of my network switches cost me about $120 when new. Today, it is selling for $500 - $600, I think because audiophiles wanted it. It sounds the same as my other $75 network switch with fibre. Point is that you do not need to spend too much to get the highest quality streaming.

BTW - for me the streaming section of the X1 is worth the $6k you see on the used market. That thing is so useful if you have a few DACs or something like the PeachTree GAN1 unit which needs SPDIF with volume.

if by “streamer” you just mean streamer, then I’d go no more than 10% on streamer.  ($7500 on a streamer is a complete waste of $.)  If you mean server and streamer, Maybe as much as, but no more than, 20-25%.  In the former case, there are also a number of really good all in one streamer/dacs so you do not have to make that decision.  For example, the Simaudio DACs are really fine streamers as well.  It would be helpful if you gave more info about your use case.  How do you stream now?  Do you use Roon?  What’s your current DAC?

It’s always fascinating to read through these threads. 

A number of posters have stated it’s a waste to spend money on a streamer. I’d be curious as to how many better quality streamers they’ve actually tried in their own system. 

To some of us, investing in a quality streamer was more beneficial than upgrading the DAC. In my search for a new DAC, I auditioned the Simaudio 680 DAC (very nice unit, BTW - with built in streaming function).

I had been planning on getting an all in one DAC/streamer and figured I would sell my streamer, saving me some money, cables, boxes.

I then auditioned that same DAC but with my Auralic G2 streamer sourcing it - just to compare. The dealer doesn’t carry Auralic - so he was certainly not biased in favor of it. He was as surprised as me at how much better the DAC sounded when sourced by the outboard streamer as opposed to the Simaudio built in streaming function. (As an aside, he started working on picking up the line). 

This is but one example I can share. Those looking to improve the performance of their DAC should strongly consider exploring improving the source feeding the DAC. You just might be surprised at the results. Streamers can make a very significant difference for the better if you choose well. 

It’s certainly worth auditioning one instead of dismissing it.