Upgrade streamer

[al2813]

Yesterday I spent two hours in a fantastic audio store. It's about one hour from my house, so did not ask if I could take equipment for testing Instead, I brought my entire setup there. Except of course the speakers (KEF LS50) which luckily he had. I tried 2-3 different amps as well as speakers. I ended up parting with a pair of Audel Sonika MK2 speakers. Compared to my LS50 it was - to my ears - a real step up in SQ. I also realized that my Hypex dual mono NC-250MP amp is better than I thought. It stood up pretty well againstmuch more expensive amps. 

 

The last part of the session I was offered to switch streamers. My streamer is a combo of Allo USbridge Signature / Allo Revoluion DAC both powered by Nirvana power supplies. Instead, the store owner connected a single Wattson Emerson Analogue DAC/Streamer. I have to admit SQ improved and by a clear margin. Now the Wattson costs more than double the amount I paid for my combo (about 1500 EUR). In addition, the owner had high quality cabling connected, but the same (except power) was also used for my equipment. 

 

So open question here - Although the Revolution is a good DAC (it costs 300 EUR, but outperforms by a margin the Topping D50s), would swapping a DAC bring me this upgrade or do I need to consider a change on both the DAC and the source? Otherwise asked, did anyone compare the USBridge signature connected to a top notch DAC with a 2000 EUR DAC/Streamer? 

[al2813]

By the way I regret I did not try to do the experiment yesterday in the store, although not sure of the owner had any good DACs in stock. 

[jventer]

The Wattson is still very new on the market and there are many streamers and dacs available. I would suggest that you go back to the shop and listen for yourself.   (May I add that whilst there are sometimes "giant killers" out there as well as products that are just too expensive IMO you have to listen to the various products and how they work together and then make a decision based on your budget.)