I have a Vivaldi dac without whole stack, I use Aurender N30SA as a streamer, and Esoteric K-01xd as a CD transport (it also plays SACD). The reason I don’t have a Vivaldi stack is that I had other devices first and Vivaldi last, It’s hard to going back to have the stack. I think I can still have one more Vivaldi device in my system which is the clock. Now Aurender came out a new clock MC20 which not only have 4 OCXO output, but also has a Rubidium module which provides 10M reference signal, I can connect to Aurender streamer and Esoteric CD transport 10M input, on paper Aurender clock is more superior than Vivaldi clock, am I wrong?
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I would add the Vivaldi Upsampler, so you make the most of your Vivaldi Dac.
You rip all your SACD, you add a NAS somewhere in your house, and stream music both on services like Qobuz or Tidal and on your NAS.
You sell some gear, to fund your dCS Upsampler…And one day, may be, you add a dCS clock…but adding the Upsampler to your dCS dac shall improve greatly the sound of your stereo…much more than any clock…That is my personal view, you will see whether or not some other forum members share it or not ?
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Hi Chris, are you suggesting that adding Vivaldi Upsmapler to Vivaldi Dac will sound much better than Aurender streamer to Vivaldi Dac? I didn’t compare both Upsampler and Aurender, do you have any comparison? Thank you!
That is precisely what I suggest.
I did not compared the exact Aurender gear you mention, but older comparisons, when I was in the same situation as you are now, led me to choose the Upsampler…Initialy as I had a Network bridge I thought the Vivaldi clock was the way to go…But eventually, when I heard it, it was obvious that I had to change my strategy and go for the Upsampler.
With the upsampler connected, you always use the DAC at the very maximum of its performances, that won’t be the case with any other gear you connect to the Dac.
That being said, I am quiet sure that with the Aurender it is quite good, as it was with the Network bridge in my case…But the Upsampler it is something else.
It doesn’t cost so much trying it, unless you have to take a plane and cross an ocean to drop in the shop of your dCS dealer 
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Also very interested to hear if anyone has the new Aurender MC20 Master Clock ( https://www.aurenderamerica.com/products/mc20).
I have an Aurender N20 and Bartok DAC. Currently clocking the N20 with the Bartok’s word clock output.
Reading about the MC20, it would seem to be a great option to clock the N20 server and the Bartok. However, at $30k, it’s quite expensive…
Any thoughts on this?
Why not opt for the Rossini Clock instead and save $20K over the price of the MC20?