[docmd2010]

I'm not sure I fully understand your question. The advantage of the Esoteric DAC is I can separate out the left and right channels when streaming high rez music via dual aes/ebu.

This leads to a low noise floor and allows the Esoteric DAC to do what it's best at.

If you're having the notion that you may upgrade from a future N10 to a W20, then I would just jump to the W20 straight up, way cheaper that way.

Esoteric does in fact make a streamer, it's called the N01. It was just recently released. It has a very high quality DAC in it, and it's a one box solution.

I prefer a separate outboard DAC as I have multiple units that I plug into it (my P02X) for example which take full advantage of the D02X capabilities.

I hope this helps.