STREAMER - WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

Hey @mgrif104 

While I’m also considering the Pink Faun Ultra and Antipodes Oladra, those two are significantly more expensive though absolutely worth a look if your budget allows.

If you are in that neighborhood, take a look at Taiko Extreme. 

If one has the budget put the Olympus on your radar- this is the future: 

We have all heard that USB is flawed, AES has limitations, linear power supplies are lethargic, and switch mode power supplies are noisy, so get rid of all of that and start fresh. And mount the conversion internally. True one box source. This is stellar engineering 101. 

I imagine we will see this technology trickle down to future "streamer" boxes in the future, at lower prices I hope: 

https://www.audiodrom.net/en/special-edition-reviews/189-taiko-olympus-server-olympus-i-o-xdmi-system

https://www.monoandstereo.com/taiko-audio-olympus-music-server-and-i-o-review/

Taiko approaches conversion distinctly: whereas others focus on improving their clocks, Taiko removes them. In a typical Olympus/I/O XDMI setup, four clocks would be present; Taiko Audio pushed things further by designing replacement technology so that those four clocks—and thus any DAC or interface clock—become unnecessary.

Y'all might find of interest this post comparing the Aurender N150 to Esoteric N-05XD and Lumin U-2 mini and this post comparing the N150 to Bluesound Vault 2.

Also, this thread on the value of the Berkeley Alpha USB digital-to-digital convertor in combination with the Aurender N150, which is limited to USB output.

@patrickalston 

I just went through this same process a few months ago.  My analog chain is near perfect (relatively speaking) and wanted to get the digital chain to a similar level.  I use a DMP A6 and wanted better.  I added a Denafrips Venus II 12th (Used) and a SMSL PL200 T CD transport.  Used I2S from the CD and USB from the A6 to the Venus.  Stunning results.  Invest your money in the best DAC you can afford and then let it process all the Ones and Zeros.

Hey @mclinnguy 

good to chat with you again. 

yeah - I considered the Taiko extreme but decided the others are likely better options even though I haven’t auditioned one, I have reason to believe that the others under consideration compare favorably and involve far less “hassle”.

While I’m very intrigued by the Olympus, the price is out of budget. I understand Taiko is working on a v2 of their analog output card which I would expect to be quite good. You’re probably right - this might be the future. But I haven’t heard the MSB Cascade (or Sentinel) yet… 😳

I have come to believe that the streamer and network ahead of the DAC matter more than the DAC. Can't believe I'm saying that, but after hundreds of hours of experimentation that's where I'm at. 

Starting with Tambaqui connected over Ethernet, driven by Roon. This is Tambaqui installed in the Makua, arguably better than stand alone. The Makua is a terrific pre, btw. 

I was ... underwhelmed. Tred a holo audio red feeding dac via AES on Sablon cable. Enormous difference. I was flabbergasted. Shouldn't make a difference like this, doesn't make sense. 

Then I tried my stand alone dac, a very modified Orchid. Much more to my liking. USB is not allowed in my system, have never found this to be better than spdif, even with some very nice cables. 

Then I tried changing the operating system on the holo from stock to Gentooplayer ... another nice step up, more subtle, but still way more than makes any sense to me. 

Then Magna Mano with Gentooplayer which I'm told is quite close to the MU1, which is clearly the best streamer on the market imho. Sure Tailo might have something but I've never heard or talked to anyone who has. Either way Grimm is I think hard to beat for the money. 

Wow, even better. Love the unit. 

Then I added EtherRegen between Mano and my network switch. Another step forward. Then an external clock and LPS for the Etherregen, and between these two this may have been the biggest improvement of all. I don't think it should, but it definitely does in my system. Now comparing running fiber vs Ethernet between switch and etherregen, and while fiber should sound better in theory, Ethernet seems better to me so far, and this is after experimenting with SFP and AIO connections. 

Anyway, after working years on my dac and trying the Tambaqui and all of these experiments, I think we have a lot to learn still about the digital chain ahead of the DAC. 

If you're not using roon, really explore the software of the unit you consider. Some of them are dreadful, and while Roon isn't perfect many folks seem to like it.