I have got the same illness as you’ve got ! But with shoes 
I have much too many pairs, my wife says I should go to a psychiatrist !
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Went a similar path to currently the Lina Stack. I am extremely happy with DCS products
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Originally, Bryston BDA-3 fed by their BDP-2. I replaced my ARC LS 27preamp with Macintosh C2700 using the internal DAC 2 fed by Roon Nucleus (and streamer.). Now I have just put into play a Lina DAC (using its streamer) using Cardas Clear Balanced cables into my Mac. Amazing!! I still use Roon as core with Qobuz.
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Great comments, I could not agree more
Happy for you. I started out with Lina when it was introduced. Loved it “The Butt” curse in the hobby. If this sounds this good , wow what else don’t I know about that’s even better? Went around, tried a few set ups like most but the “But” did not go away…in the end I a right back with my full Lina stack. Many great things have been said by owners and more for sure all true. However for me, its kind of saying just from its looks, this is serious for headphone, it compact, built like a tank, has great functionality and synergy , dead silent amp…no noise…and it sound as good and most better than anything else I tried some at even higher cost? So when you reach and end game , my advice is to try and accept it!! stop searching for while because what you have in the LINA Stack something that is TOTL end game choice for many. INHO just was suggesting to save some of the $$$$$ I spent finding this out to come to my conclusion… enjoy!!!
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My first standalone DAC was a Chord Hugo II for head-fi listening. I then got a Naim NDX2 with XPS power supply for combined streaming and DAC. That was followed by a Linn Selekt DSM with Katalyst DAC, which was replaced by a T+A DAC 200. Now own a Bartók.
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I basically started backwards. Bought a cable I liked and then looked for a DAC that would match the sound of it. That‘s how I ended up at dCS from the Violectric 590 PRO Mk2 which I kept because it’s a great HP amp. The only standalone DAC I owned before was the AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt. Kept that one, too, because it sounds great with an iPad mini and is fantastic when on a train with IEMs.
Would you say that every time you changed it was for better ? I ask the question because your Naim and Linn gear were supposed to be excellent hifi dac/streamer already !
I had a Simaudio 380 (I think that was the #) before I bought my Bartok and Rossini clock. I have since moved up to a Rossini Apex. Sounds great!
Hi ChrisK, what we want out of systems changes over time. Different houses / rooms and different needs. It had been a while where I didn’t have HiFi gear before I bought the Naim gear. The Naim system (300DR / 252 + Supercap / + NDX2 + XPS) was more about the forums and the hobby than it was about the music. Buying kit, upgrading, tweaking and ultimately being unsatisfied because I was listening to the system not the music. The Linn gear was about rejecting complexity and going toward a fully active DSP controlled system and returning to the music. Then I moved house, with a different room construction / size etc. This current system is about listening to music not the system. It’s quite basic but has everything I am looking for from it.
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Switched from a bare Naim NDX2 to dCS Lina network dac and couldn’t be happier.
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Lots of ex-Naimies here it seems. I started writing a post but realised it should probably be a separate topic so I started one here.
Naim ND5 XS2 into Chord mScaler/Qutest
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