Streamer/DAC - Where did I go wrong ?

[DeepsleepUK]

I upgraded to the following front-end setup (~£11,000) following guidance from dealers* and forums*:

Auralic Aries G1 Music Streamer
Audioquest Coffee USB cable
Chord MScaler with SBooster Ultra BOTW Linear PSU
Wave Stream Dual BNC cable
Chord Hugo TT2 DAC

After coming over for a listening session one evening my friend said he wasn't overly impressed given the cost of the setup and the marketing spiel associated with each of the components.

My friend brought his Naim ND5 XS2 all-in-one box (£2400) to try at my house the next day and I was amazed by it's performance (no premium cables, no LPSU, no multiple boxes).

I tried my usual test tracks from Tidal and my setup did not have a significant price/performance improvement.

I thought it can't be right that this one box costing over a quarter of the price can sound this good.

I was gutted !

Where did I go wrong ?

 

[DeepsleepUK]

He had the same cable in his demo equipment when I went to audition at his shop.

I didn't expect to end up with all this kit.
I originally bought just the DAC to use with my Macbook and then it all started from there with the dealer suggesting extra bits afterwards (try this, try that, reduce RF noise etc).

I agree it is foolishness on my part "Saw-you-coming".

If I knew back then that I needed a streamer/DAC then I would have auditioned such units rather than plain DACs (and avoided this dealer).