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

@kennyc 

It’s a give and take with spouses. I doubt that anyone on this thread can afford the system they would buy if they had unlimited money. I did inherit some money from my sister and that went to the speakers and Moon 280D. In my wife’s mind, the money for the streamer is also. But if I had unlimited money I would definitely test out the $70,00 dollar Sonus Faber which are the same size as the ones I have now and would fit in the room. I’d probably listen to Magico, too. Pass Labs has a preamp the size of mine for around $50K. And I’m still talking chicken feed for unlimited money. I’m sure someone has a better audio imagination than I do for the ideal system they will never be able to afford. Let me know how you like the Meitner.

@kennyc I also find lower to mid tier dCS Apex models to be a bit too analytical (it’s actually not sharp, just doesn’t sound natural and over processed, almost like too much contrast and saturation dial) However, Vivaldi and presumably Varèse do not have this issue. I have spent a lot of time with Vivaldi stack (dac, upsampler and clock) and I think it competes very well with DA2i (perhaps it should be the other way around). Same naturalness, great tonal weight, amazing soundstage, holographic soundscape without being harsh or analytical. The jump from Rossini to Vivaldi was very obvious and I couldn’t even listen to Rossini having heard Vivaldi.

@audio-b-dog MA3i is about 80% of DA2i which IMO is itself fairly close (trades blows) with Vivaldi stack. I would have to assume Varèse has to be at least 10% better than Vivaldi.  So the jump from MA3i to Varèse should be immediately obvious on even mid-tier equipment. So essentially 30% improvement for 3000% increase in price. Not for me, but could make sense for some people :) 

@kennyc @audphile1 @chesebert 

I think we’re always compromising, dollars and room size versus sound perfection. One thing we need to remember, though, is that what is in our heads is also a big factor regarding music enjoyment. Most people simply don’t have heads that enjoy music. My wife (so ironically) enjoys silence. Of course, we’ve had to compromise. 

For my budget, room size, and wife acceptance factor, I think I’ve done pretty well. An audiophile perfectionist would want all kinds of tuning done to my room. Not gonna happen. Other people sometimes inhabit my music room. 

@audio-b-dog  FWIW if you are looking to lower the noise floor once and for all I have some experience with that. I have tried the Eno system from Network Acoustics, I’ve tried the Ifi Lan isolator and I’ve tried the $500 LHY EFI. All helped. But, when I finally got the LHY SW10 Pro they all were left in the dust. The noise floor is VERY low now, spooky, esp with a good PC. I have my ether net coming in from the modem to a  Decco Router, into a inexpensive switch powered by a LPS (The DECO is too) that switch feeds all stuff to the rest of the house and a 35 foot run of CAT8 to my LHY SW10 Pro. I have a Revelations Audio Lab RJ45 from LHY to my Aurender streamer. That’s it. No filters. The LHY has the isolation built in. https://www.vinshine.audio/product-page/vinshine-x-sw-10pro

@fthompson251 thanks! 
But even though I trust your ears and believe you it works, I can’t spend that much on a network switch. The voice inside my head says no. Lol

I would 100% use the $2800 towards a new cartridge though. But that switch is a hard no for me. 

To add, I know we think the noise floor of a component is low until we actually get to hear it lowered by either better power or better signal. But in the case of the Meitner MA3i, I absolutely can’t detect any smearing or a hint of noise impacting sound quality. I don’t even use a power conditioner. Dedicated lines, furutech gtx-d NCF rhodium outlets or shunyata outlets. I alternate once in a while to get a slightly different sound.