2-Channel Stereo pursuit (Getting the very best out of digital streaming)

[jbm_2021]

Folks,

My first post here. My AV journey has been primarily on serious Home Theater, and only recently I started pursuing the dream of getting the best out of digital audio. It was an interesting journey with many different speakers, DACs, amplifiers etc and here is the snap shot of what I have today and I have a follow up question on the next upgrade. I will skip the HT part completely as it may not be relevant right now

 

Streamer: Orbi router -> SoTM sNH-10G-> NUC running roon core & SotM SMS Ultra Neo -> Sotm tx-usbultr

Pre-amp DAC: Chord Mscaler -> Chord TT2 -> amps

Power supply:  Sotm LPS for ultra new, tx-usbultra and the snH-10G

Speakers: Von Schweikert VR5 anniversary

Amp: Line magnetic Single Ended Triode amp for Mid+ high module in VR5

Solid state amp: NAD C298 for bottom module in VR5

Power conditioner: Balanced Power Technology to replaced by Jena Labs this week

Cables are from Jena labs and analysis plus

 

The biggest step going in 2-ch listening came from the following

 

1. Chord TT2 + Mscaler (Tried PS Audio DSD, Matrix audio etc)

2. tx usb ultra and Sotm sms-ultra 

 

Switch would have made a difference but I have not done extensive listening yet. I am considering the following upgrade path

 

Option 1:  Getting the external clock to run the Sotm SMS-ultra neo, switch and tx usb-ultra

Option 2: Sotm SMS-1000 and sotm lan cables for the motorola modem, Orbi router, Sotm switch and SMS-200 ultra and LPS for router, modem and sms-1000

 

Since both of the above are significantly expensive, I am thinking only one of the above for now, listen for a while and then think of the other. I am leaning towards option 2 as I have read that having the roon core and output renderer in same box as in option 2 bypasses some layers as compared to option 1 where the core is in the NUC and the output renderer is the sms-ultra.

 

Any thoughts on option 1 vs option 2? Is there any other option I should consider? I appreciate your help and guidance. 

Thanks,

Jai

 

 

 

[Anonamemouse]

Room treatment? 

[jbm_2021]

5 hours ago, Anonamemouse said:

Room treatment? 

Yes. I have some basic treatment from Gik. Room treatment will be the very final touch. For 2-ch I don't use EQ like DiracLive. Tried it, never sounded as good. Works great for HT.