late to streaming, recommendations?


Vinyl and tubes guy here but I recently got my act together and figured out how to do loseless spotify into my system using a dedicated computer, usb to Cambridge Audio DacMagic100 and then rca into my tube preamp.  sampling rate is 192 (whatever that means).  was a definite improvement over what I was doing before and streaming finally sounds pretty good to me.  Now I'm starting to use it a lot and wondering, well, how could it be better?  What would be the logical and most worth it bang-for-the-buck upgrade path for me?  

argonsteele

ghdprentice +++1

Definitely will see an improvement with Qobuz vs Spotify.

The other site has a used (dealer owned) Aurender N100 which is well in your budget at $1195. I think that would be a reasonable start. It has been replaced by the N150, so likely why good prices are available. 

The danger would be once you hear how great streaming sounds through a quality system, you may get the upgrade itch. That's how I ended up with the N20 lol

Very nice looking system. Is that a modem / router on top of the rack on the right?
 

@ghdprentice that looks like a Sony PlayStation 5. 

If I was starting from scratch with your budget I'd by a Bluesound Node ICON and a Qobuz or Tidal subscription.

If you have SXM radio in your car, the BluOS has native integration which is free and  is great for casual/background listening.

Wait a year and when the warranty runs out add a Teddy Pardo linear power supply.

IMHO this will get you a long way, with a neat and tidy one-box solution with a good app.

You'll need to spend 3-5x for the next upgrade.

I just demoed the ICON in my system. See my mini-review here if your are interested. 

I strongly recommend ethernet rather than WiFi with the ICON.

Good luck.

Cambridge CXN v2 has been discontinued and available at great prices. I own one. Many prefer it to the model that replaced it. WiiM makes great, easy to use and set up models.