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Old 02-05-2022, 12:37 PM
PeterMusic PeterMusic is offline
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Hi rj--no judgments on budget from me, it's cool that your dedicated to great sound. But $1,000 is tight. Most important point of all is to take hypotheses from randos online (like me) but then test for yourself before committing.

Happily, it's easy to test Anton's suggestion that you should replace the Mac with the Node. If your local boutique dealer has a demo unit he can loan you, try that first. Or order one from Best Buy and send it back if it does not help.

Prior to doing that, check online for various ways to optimize sound from a Mac Mini, and also try out Qobuz.

While you are comparing Node to Mac, note that you can use internal Node DAC or you can use external DAC.

Personally, I think your best bet is a $1,000 DAC from Schiit in conjunction with an optimized Mac. You can try this at the same time as the Node, and return the one that makes the least improvement.

Good luck--make sure to report back on your results!
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