That’s not even a close contest. When I was buying my first streamer in early 2016 I had both the Node and the Aries Mini in house at the same time and in my system the Mini at $499 won handily. The Lumin and Teac are solid steps above either one. The Lumin with it’s Wolfson chipset is slightly warmer in presentation and all the Lumin’s with Wolfson DAC’s were favorites of vinyl lovers trying streaming for the first time. The AKM 4497 chipset in the Teac is more detail oriented but not to the point of the Sabre based DACs. As the Teac Reference line is more widely distributed in the EU the pricing may be better than in the US where it is spotty at best. Lumin prices are pretty tightly controlled.
The point I was trying to make is that the PSA DirectStream Sr. DAC does not decode/unfold MQA files that are fed to it unless the MQA-encoded file is input via the PSA Bridge II Ethernet (network) card. I am pretty sure your understanding is incorrect. For example, the DS Sr, product page notes:
“MQA and Tidal ready with optional Bridge II”
Typically the DS DAC can be had for around 4K without too much trouble. With Bridge maybe another 6 or $700. Yes even at around 5k it would be better then any else in your system but I assume you knew that when you considered spending 6k and were planning to build around the DS.
If you want to remain in the PSA family, I recommend buying a used NuWave DSD. It will make lossy streaming sound excellent and they can be found for $500 - $800.
Yes. It would be odd to have a $7K DAC in a system utilizing $3K main speakers. The other way around would be more sensible.
In the extreme setting, you get 320kbps.
And what’s your point? OGG Vorbis at 320kbps is quite good actually. Much better than MP3 at the same bitrate. Compared to lossless 16/44.1 you get extremely close to the same audio quality. It’s only when you lower the bitrate will there be easily noticeable differences. If you don’t believe me you can take this listening test:
Even with my $30,000 2-channel system (though admittedly a modest system to some), I need to listen extremely careful to spot the difference between the lossless and 320kb/s audio samples. Yes, there is a small difference, but it’s only something I can tell if I am giving it all of my attention.
People should worry more about the quality of how the music was recorded and mastered more than the type of format they’re listening to it in. The former matters much more than the latter. I’m not insinuating lossless or high-res audio is useless, but rather that the amount of music available today that has a noticeable benefit in those formats is few and far inbetween. Lossy 320kb/s OGG Vorbis is going to get you 95% of the way there to lossless quality for 99.9% of digital music available today.
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@insoc: FWIW, I respectfully disagree with this declaration by Brodric – to the extent it is such a sweeping generalization (but maybe I misunderstood the point). I am sure there are plenty of $3,000/pair speakers that would benefit greatly from a source as exceptional as the PSA DSD Sr. DAC. Echoing what others have said, I recommend that you beg, borrow or buy a DS Sr. for a trial in your system. It will be worth your time to audition it and I am pretty confident that you will not be disappointed. Its the only way that you will “know” its a good choice for you. Happy Hunting!
I meant, odd in the proportions of the financials allocated to the different bits and pieces. The speakers are the single most important piece in the whole shooting match. Having a DAC that is twice the price of the speakers is just very odd.
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10-4. I agree that, next to the room, the centerpiece of a system (to build upon) is the best speakers you can afford that push your aural buttons. Given the quality and value of some of today’s available kit, I would have to change the hypothetical to something like $500 dollar speakers and a $5,000 DAC before I would say that one necessarily has their priorities bass ackwards. But I suppose I am quibbling a bit. Cheers.
I auditioned a $30K pair of speakers yesterday and they were rubbish. So a $7K DAC with those speakers would be a sensible allocation of the total investment, but the result would sure to be disappointment. So there are exceptions to “rules” when deciding how much to spend on what.
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Thank you. Actually my KEF R7 were $4k and my amp was $3k but anyway I got the idea. Something that’s quite difficult to test without having a store near you are speakers. My Kef speakers came in huge boxes that I just can’t imagine me testing it and the send it back to USA. In fact I visit the dealer three different days with different music and tests to finally make my choice. In the very few hi fi stores I visit last month on a recent trip to Miami I didn’t see speakers costing more than 15k actually so I guess me to listen how a 50k speaker might sound should be in a nyc store with a previous appointment !
I will try to test the DS but also would look for the other alternatives I’ve seen in this forum. Thanks again
Oh by the way I live in Costa Rica. Greetings to all!
What city? I go there every year for business.
So very true. This point seems to be ignored all too often.
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I live in Escazu and work (lawyer) in Sabana. In Costa Rica there are only TWO “audiophile” stores. One sells KEF and Klipsch speakers and Onkyo and Parasound equipment and the other one, Magnepan and Polk Audio speakers and Marantz and Denon equipment. That’s it. All the others with good reputation sell Sonos speakers/systems / Bose / Yamaha and the VAST rest of the stores, the traditional brands like Sony, LG, Panasonic, etc.
Nevertheless there are quite a few amongst the immense majority that don’t give a damn about audio, that are into vinyl but they don’t care most about the quality of the sound but about the “coolness” of being different and buying used records in small stores…
I travel to San Jose for coffee every year. I am very intrigued by your post and what is available (audio) in Costa Rica. I have been there many times but never knew anyone there that was into high end audio, so I had no clue what was available. Thanks for the insight.
What type of law do you practice?
I’ll stick with Tidal and Qobuz, thanks. Glad that works for you!
I use Tidal and Qobuz too. Let’s try and keep the snobbery down to a more modest level.
Snobbery? Because I don’t want to listen to Spotify, I’m a snob? Take a look in the mirror!