Sonore Rendu Streamer & Unplugging CD5xs from the NDAC

I went through several options before settling on my current streaming set up: a Sonore Rendu "renderer" via NDAC into my NaitXS. The Rendu is an ethernet streamer to SPIDF, without a DAC. The Rendu is a great UPNP streamer and I can heartily recommend it for someone looking for a dac-less streaming solution.

With CD quality music, I can barely tell the difference between the digital out on the CD5xs and the Rendu.

The CD and Rendu sound so similar that I've unplugged the CDP from the DAC - both because that's easier for my family to play CDs through (CD button = CD), and it gives a different presentation. The NDAC does improve the bass control and speed considerably over the CD5xs + Flatcap analogue out, but I loved the original XS range sound and still do. I may give up the CDP entirely, but can't quite bring myself to do that yet.

Originally, I started with an NDAC because it seemed like a good upgrade to my CD5xs as well as a Dac for computer audio.  My first streaming source was a Mac Powerbook running Audirvana via a Halide USB>SPDIF bridge.  This source was finicky, mostly due to the laptop falling asleep and flaky connection between Audirvana and by NAS drive. The Rendu stays on, always works, and sounds much better.

In retrospect, the ND5 was probably the way to go - for the same net cost as a used NDAC + the Rendu - but I already had an old computer sitting around and wanted to experiment with an upgrade to the CDP. 

one step forward, one step sideways, money spent, fun had, system sounds great.