Hello Serge,
I'm exactly at the same step; I use Roon and Qobuz; and I used until last month 2 "streamers" : Squeezebox Touch with a separate power from Tedy Pardo and via DAC McIntosh MDA1000, and the other one is a 1500 euros Pioneer N70 AE streamer which has a ESS SABRE 9016 embedded.
I am hesitating going the way of Lumin/Auralic for exactly the same reasons then you.
I wanted to test the 13000 euros dCS Bartok, but I've procrastinated for the moment.
Last month, I bought a 550 euros Bluesound Node 2i which is able to handle the 192 kHz, and which has a very good DAC to my ears since I use it.
I did many tests comparing the 3 streamers using MDA 1000 and Pioneer's DAC, including the Bluesound DAC.
For the moment, I cannot hear a big difference, if any, between these combos.
I am very happy with the Bluesound, itself or via Pioneer's Sabre or via MDA1000.
So I stay tuned and am very interested in your experiences to come.
|