Another, Help spend my money post
 

I have been itching for an upgrade but I’m not sure what the next one should be. Budget is $6k. My system is outlined below. I listen to vinyl, CDs and Spotify via the MD50 most of the time. Turntable jumped to my mind or maybe a new digital front end that’s better then the MB50 and could replace the Mac. Speakers or Preamp could also be in the cards. Lets hear what other members thoughts are. Is there something I’m missing or haven’t thought of? If we go above the $6k, I would have to sell the current equipment to help fund the higher priced replacement. Thanks for the input.

If you primary listen to digital I would replace the Mac mini with an Aurender N100H or one of Aurender’s other models.

I went from a Mac mini to an Aurender N100H with a significant improvement.

I’d agree if your primary listening is digital, I would consider swapping both the MB50 and the MAC mini for a great server/streamer combo, like an Aurender or Lumin.

Also agree on upgrading the digital end. If you need the storage provided by the Mac Mini then I would look at the Aurender A10, Innuous Zenith Mk. III or the Auralic Aries G2.

Ok, so if I go w upgrading the digital side, does Auralic or Aurendrer play Apple lossless? I have all my music stored that way via iTunes on an external hard drive. Do they both stream Spotify as well? It looked like the A10 was only a server and dac. Ideally I would like internal storage so I could just transfer the music from the external drive and then connect it back to my mini. Right now I don’t listen as often to my stored albums as I’m not fond of the workflow. Also, how does the Aurendrer and Auralic compare to the Esoteric N-05? I love my Esoteric SACD player so thought I would ask.

This might be a good solution. Thanks for the input. I was leaning towards a TT upgrade.

They will both play Apple lossless. Most servers like this will have a usb input so you could just hook up your external drive, but the A10 has 4Tb of onboard storage so you can also transfer your music to the A10. I don’t know if it handles Spotify.

The Auralic G1 does handle Spotify, but it doesn’t have onboard storage. Not sure if you can connect a usb drive to it, but you can feed it over the network from your pc.

The G1 doesn't have internal storage but you can hook up external HD. The G2 does have internal storage.

The internal storage of the G2 is optional.

That's true and it allows you to purchase the size and type drive of your choice and plug it in. I did the same with the Aries Mini. Much cheaper option than paying the manufacturer for the drive.

So it looks like I would have to use my Esoteric as the DAC with the G2. Is anyone using their Esoteric SACD player as the DAC w a G2? How well does it work and interface?