Reducing the number of mushrooms in your next pot of tea might be a good idea by the look of things.
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Don’t be ridiculous.
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What did you get in the end?
I never got around to buying a new DAC. The Pi based stuff was nicked by the kids and a mate from work so I bought a Lumin D1 with a foo LPS for not very much money on eBay. It is Roon-ready (and MQA compliant - not that I give a toss) so it does the job currently. I’ll wait until after Xmas and then go do some demos in the new year.
I’d like to give one of these a test drive if there was a UK distributer:
Details here
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That’s a lovely looking bit of kit (reminds me of some of Pathos’ stuff), though I thought SABRE chips were generally not admired?
Isn’t the D1 just a streamer? Didn’t think it had a DAC in it.
It is a streamer. I thought ‘renderer’ was the description for a DAC-less streamer like my old SimAudio MiND180. The Lumin is connected to my line stage via xlr cables using the internal DAC in the streamer.
Ah right. I love how in some of these product descriptions they mention the DAC, in others (like that I saw of the D1) they omit all mention. It gets quite confusing for an ignoramus like myself.
Would the Auralic Aries G1/G2 be an example of a renderer then? They call it a ‘Streaming transport’. If so, I’m curious to know how the G2 is better for £2000 more. The extra cost probably goes some way towards offsetting the cost for the copywriter who came up with the enormous amount of guff in the product description.
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No idea. I’m not sure I’ve ever listened to any Auralic kit other than the Vega which I liked.
The Vega is very good but the AN 2.1 Sig much betterer.
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Yeah but have you heard the Vega G2 which apparently offers a ‘we’re not in Kansas anymore’
(Chris Martens’ words) experience over the original?
I don’t read or take any notice of wanky reviews, I doubt if the G2 would be better than the AN but either way the 2.1 Sig has been on my bucket list so will be staying for a good long while (at least until I can afford the 4)
I did like the sound of their 2.1 cd player when I had one on loan once. I presume it has a similar sound. If the 3/4 models are a step above they must sound great. How much is the DAC 4? Their non pricing display principle isn’t very helpful.
I’ve got a price list at home but think it is around £8000
I managed to get my 2.1 Sig as a “cancelled order” from PQ for much less than the list price but a 4 is well out of my range for a while even at 50% off list 
Wow, you were really lucky, that’s so unusual 
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I keep asking him for an “ex demo” Io Gold but the response is fuck off.
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It’s £2,000 more because people will pay it.
Is that to you, or just your suggestion of an IO Gold? 
Going back to the OP, I don’t know if it’s still for sale but I saw an AR DAC 9 for sale on PF from everyone’s favourite dealer.
This gets very good reviews. Sounds like an interesting possibility.
I was going to suggest that. He’s recently reduced it from £4,400. Its been on there for months. £3,500 might well get it.