Sorry posted too soon

Denon DNP720 (around £200)

Vortexbox - cat5e into small switch 

DNP720 - cat53 into small switch

DNP720 via Supernova 6 into Naim DAC 

Guido - how does the denon compare to say a Touch through an external DAC?

Not much difference in my view as they are both low jitter feeds in to the DAC. 

The Naim DAC is one of the best at jitter reduction.

So both are excellent combinations. 

The Duet is not as good as the Touch in this respect (according to measurements).

Of course, you need a good optical cable ... and the Supernova 6 is my ubiquitous recommendation - just seems better than almost any other cable I've tried (the one that matched it is no longer available from TCI). 

I wouldn't recommend the VB as a player, it is much more of a music server unless you go for the high end ones with Lynx cards in them. So I'd sooner add a player like the Denon or Touch to it than a USB/S-PDIF convertor. For a great music player I'd always go for the Mac Mini + Naim DAC (which I did, of course). 

I use a Touch into a DAC with the VB serving to it. Touch and DAC connected by digital coax.

Can you get hi res content out of the squeezebox touch?

My plan was to go with an ND5xs, but there are a lot of 2nd hand naim dacs out there for less....

16 and 24 bits and for 44.1K, 88.2K, and 96KHz ... same as my Mac Mini. 

So it looks like getting a steaming product is the way forward, and use that as a digital transport then, to feed a digital signal into the DAC. I'll do this using wired connections for my music collection, and via wifi for internet radio. is it possible to have a spotify account on a streamer product? 

I want to use a tablet as a controller, so its just a question of which streaming product offers the best combination of Sound quality and controls. you read the reviews and almost all of them are judged on their analogue outputs, rather than a dedicated streamer digital transport product.

Do you think, that spending more, really matters here?

there must be some difference, the Denon product for £200 ish compared to the Bryston transport at £2k+

If you wish to pay £2 K plus for a Bryston transport thats up to you.

I wouldn't.

When you can pick up Meridians that are better for around £200 or less on the SH market.

If you need a very good CDP that becomes a great transport when you connect it to the DAC via optical or Coax the Rega Apollo-R is hard to better for the money.

The Denon Network Audio Player has only just come down in price, it started off at around £500 or more when it first came out and now is a bargain at around £200 new,It also has a FM&Dab tuner in it.

I use one through my n/DAC with a vortex box and Macs its great value for money and imo sounds better than any Touch i have heard.

Its also not that shabby when connected with a Chord RCA to DIN cable into the Nac.

Stu.

My CD Transport sounds good through the DAC, I just want to move away from CD's to selecting and storing my music on HDD.

Looks like my Vortex box, via the Denon is the way forward then.

just realised it only has an optical digital out, I'd want a coax out, to use my Black Rhodium cable.

The Marantz NA7004, looks like a better bet, but not sure what the controlling software is like.

Might be worth checking out what Sony offer, with their huge R&D budget

£1,800 is the difference

Seriously though they are very different products - the Bryston is not really a streamer, but more of a device for getting data off USB devices including hard disks. It will have exemplary build quality and and superb warranty. 

In my view the DAC and what comes after play the major role in SQ. If you have a Naim DAC/555PS into Naim 552/300 then I'd look at the transport section ... of course, this is my opinion. 

My reasoning is the Naim DAC has a buffer and the transport just puts bit of data in it. The Naim DAC plays the music from its buffer. A well built transport with low noise will do the trick especially with a good quality optical interface. Yes if the transport introduces RFI or jitter then this is not helpful - so not all transports sound the same, but you don't have to spend a fortune for a good transport and the Denon and SB Touch are both good transports as is the Mac Mini ... Meridian makes some excellent transports too .... I'm also sure the Bryston is first class. 

I liked the original MF V-Link, but not the new version. This is because it does not isolate the computer from DAC and forces you to use an electrical connection. Unless you have a higher-end  VB than me then I'd suggest it needs isolation.  Unless MF has revised the design it does not provide galvanic isolation ...

I prefer optical connections to electrical ones ... try a Supernova 6.

I'd be surprised if it it didn't sound better than than Coax.

So I believe the Denon is perfectly adequate transport ... you could use any remaining funds on the DAC and what comes after. 

Go to a dealer and get a demo (or even a hi-fi show) ... Denon and Marantz are the same stable these days. The only way to know if the controller meets your needs is to have a player.

If you want the best controller then that is Sonos, but no hi-res .... 

The Meridian Sooloos is rather nice (for lottery winners)

Good luck ... 

Guido

Do you think, besides 24/96 , there is a difference between Sonos and SBT.  I'm not sure what the difference is between a transport vs streamer vs music player but....

The Sonos has fairly high jitter ... it sounds good, but not as good as a low jitter transport. Mine is Wired 4 Sound and I regard it as excellent if high resolution is not a concern. Ironically after the mod it up-samples to 88.2, so it is not bit perfect, but it sounds very good to me. 

In theory the Naim DAC should be immune to the jitter, but in practice I find the low jitter sources I've tried sound better than ones that are not ... Mac Mini sounds better than my old Macbook Pro for example. 

I would expect the SBT to sound better than the vanilla Sonos in an AB comparison, but never heard the two side by side. Sonos interface is superb though, and it is dead easy to keep up to date.