Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?

@dcmnto 

Thank you for the invitation to hear your system. It sounds so interesting.

I always trade-in or sell off extra equipment because my wife thinks this is a fetish rather than a hobby. We have been together for over forty years and for the first twenty perhaps she thought it was a hobby. Now I hear things that others don't (I see dead people) and pretty much everyone thinks I'm a bit off.

I am trading in my Moon 280D streamer for a Meitner MA3. I sometimes use my old McCormack UDP-1 as a transport to the streamer. Pass Labs XP-30 preamp, Pass Labs XP-25 phono preamp, Hovland Radia amp about 25 years old, and Sonus Faber Olympica Nova V speakers.

The system is very transparent tending a tad toward the warm side. I'm not a fan of dry (also called more accurate) systems. I inherited the Hovland Radia from a friend who passed away. He had Wilson Sasha speakers and I found them too dry. Accurate, yes, but I didn't warm up to them. 

Basically, the system is for me. When we have block parties I have invited in neighbors and played them unusual jazz like Pharoah Sanders and Flora Purim, all fairly dissonant, which I love. 

Here's to a glass of local wine if I ever get up your way. If you come down to L.A. you have a similar invitation.

In order to get streaming to that level you have to have a good lps power supply from router, with quality power cord ,a good line conditioner to plug into 

then a good Ethernet hub $3-4 k to get very good , lhy has a $1200 hub that decent 

ether net cables at minimum $600 from router to hub ,end point most important over $1k  also filters like stack audio and then a very good dac I have the Merason dac 2 excellent and very natural sounding your at least $16-$20 k and all power cords at least $1k each line conditioner I have a AQ niagra 3000 I will be getting the 5000 counting line conditioner over $20 k , buy a $$ dac will push you. $30-$40k , $$ is your only limiting factor. Usb cable $2500 Shunyata

I am not anywhere close to that, and my radar is not even picking that up as a faint blip in the distance. 

When I upgrade my cartridge, I will likely seriously reconsider my analog signal chain and bring those B&Ws back online.  The addition I am building will help considerably with the room accoustics as I designed it with the golden ratio in mind.

This hobby never ceases to give.  😄

I have the EMM Labs DA2i and the TXi CD transport. Fabulous DAC. As close to analogue as I have heard. The TXi extracts more from a CD than anything I have heard. Of course it is a transport only and must go through the DA2i for processing. The pair are formidable for a digital front end. 

To jaulbrich's point once you spend above a certain amount personal preference will be the driving factor for what is "Best".

@audioman58 

I don't quite understand why all that expensive electrical stuff is necessary. I do have a Shunyata Venom 16 to clean up power, but it is my understanding that digital audio is delivered in packets. Each packet is double checked. The DAC says here is what I received and the sender will send another packet if the DAC received an error. Jitter, as I understand it, is a matter of timing, and that accuracy depends upon the DAC's clocking. So, I'm not sure what all this extra electrical expense is for.