Server vs. DAC - How you split your funds between the two?

[Young Skywalker]

That is a very naive statement.

Thanks for such a valuable contribution. You don't know me but hey, opinions are like arseholes, we all have one.

 

[F208Frank]

I used to think 70 percent dac 30 percent server/streamer but after some more time and experiences, I would say 40 server/streamer 60 dac.

With that said, I have the N50 on the way to me so I am no longer following the ratio I propose.

I currently use the mpd8 with the mpsx via Plink.

Summary:
Aurender n50
Mpsx
Mpd8

 

[F208Frank]

98% to the DAC and 2% to the component that sends music to it over my home network. I should qualify this by saying that if I didn’t have the galvanic isolation of the MSB Reference Digital Director, I would allocate more financial resources towards minimising noise from the digital “transport”. I expect that devotees of single-bit DACs would enjoy the same isolation advantages with the Playback Designs DAC and matching transport via their fibre optical connection.

Just sharing my experience, even with the plink to my mpd8 dac via the mpsx streamer, a dedicated streamer prior in the chain still did improve my overall sound by quite a bit so the 98 to dac and 2 percent to streamer if having the galvanic isolation does make sense, it was not true for my case.