DAC to connect with and improve sound quality of CXN V2

[sachinchavan 15865]

And I remember many months back you had purchased and posted about cxn v2 and it was a hot topic at that time. But later i also observed that you had not posted much about the sound quality. That had given me a feeling that you were still missing something. And thereafter similar posts of streamers were there with (from other memers, eg blue sound node2i, audiolab, et,) and then declining enthusiasm or no updates in sound.

Don't worry i am also in similar boat.

It’s the Honeymoon phenomenon? I think many of us have gone through this with new audio acquisitions, expectations and excitement. Sometimes it works, other times not so much after extended periods of listening.

It’s possible that there’s an euphoria about a new acquisition which subsides with time. Also initially a ‘different’ sound feels ‘better’ to most of us (unless it is obviously bad).

But one also evolves as a listener as one puts years into the hobby. And more importantly, discovers what kind of sound one prefers (as against what’s popular or highly-reviewed).

It could be a combination of all of these. In the first year of the pandemic I listened a lot to my system, as well as experimented with it. And at the same time benefited from some mentoring from a senior FM in ‘listening right’. In the process as I developed ‘my own ear’ (so I think), I could see what was missing and more importantly, what was unnecessarily added in the sound my system produced. Out went a number of accessories (even costly ones) as well as the tube pre. The resultant simplification helped me better identify what was missing - it was the soul. Note that this was clearer only once I’d given up chasing refinement. The vintage DAC brought back some of the soul. Of course, this is all subjective. Another person might journey exactly in the opposite direction. But I actually felt what Amit wrote below:

The beauty is it surely transports us to that same day when we had heard the song for the first time in our life.

I’d felt similarly when I’d tried a borrowed vintage Sony ES CD player in my system years ago. No wonder as that too was based on a Philips TDA chip (though another, and costlier one).

I guess the journey doesn’t end till we come back ‘home’. It’s true about this journey too, like every journey we make in life, even figuratively.

 

[sjith]

I have recently sold my CXN v2 having moved on to lumin P1.

I absolutely would recommend using the XLR output from CXN v2. I used its internal DAC[playing via Roon] into a Parasound Halo P6 Pre Amp into their Balanced Inputs.
The power cables upgrade and streaming Via roon were by far the biggest upgrades. I definitely felt a substantial improvement in Sound quality when using its XLR output into Parasound XLR inputs(think its because of higher Gain).

I tried using it as a streamer into another Parasound as well, but the DAC on Halo had too much Sound stage for my liking and never used it again.

For me the Upgrade were Roon, XLR and Power Cable in that order. The DAC was fine. I never liked their native app playback even half as much as how roon sounded.

I am also considering xlr pre like parasound p6, vincent sa32, emotiva, adcom gfp750 with xlr or a pre-owned hegel with xlr in

 

[sjith]

Based on the inputs, I am sticking to cxn's dac and going for pre amp with xlr input and output

As my pre power is adcom, looking for a adcom pre gfp 750 with xlr/parasound p6/vincent sa32/emotiva or a used hegel integrated with xlr as next step

 

[Mtslesse]

I have cxn v 2 .I'm using it just as a streamer .it's connected to auralic Vega dac with preamp through vo axial connection.it sounds good.

Hi I have a topping d90 se MQA and would like to connect to my cnxv2 streamer what is best way to do this. Thanks