[benjammin79]

Just stopped in to a local HiFi shop, and asked what DACs they sold and he told me all they sell is all-in-one network streamers, ie to pay Spotify, Apple Music, or Tidal from your phone....
I've seen this a lot lately. They still sell top notch speakers and amps and cabling, but when it comes to the digital source, they completely ignore users with hard drives filled with high resolution files.
Kind of weird. To spend $20,000 on a system to play Spotify from your phone....

 

[Spareribs]

I think some streamers have a hard drive storage. That way you can store your CD files and then the streamer has a toshlink or coaxial out to connect to your DAC.

If you’re going to buy high end DACs at a high fi store, I think you would probably have to visit Asia. It seems like the best retail shopping is in Asia for specific specialty items.

 

[Spareribs]

I can agree with some of the criticisms of streaming …….However, I don’t have a desire to listen to my old CDs and have little desire to rip them. I prefer the excitement of discovering new music or exploring old music I’m not familiar with. So streaming from Tidal, YouTube , etc… makes it easier.

 

[theveterans]

I think some streamers have a hard drive storage. That way you can store your CD files and then the streamer has a toshlink or coaxial out to connect to your DAC.

If you’re going to buy high end DACs at a high fi store, I think you would probably have to visit Asia. It seems like the best retail shopping is in Asia for specific specialty items.

They're called music servers. Taiko Extreme is considered one of the best ones currently in the market.

I think people these days focus on Vinyl for the ultimate hands-on experience and Music Servers for digital instead of CDs