Another post about a streamer upgrade


Hello

I’ve read a lot of the threads here about streamers and moving up the chain.

However, it seems there’s not a ton of info for relatively modestly priced streamers … most threads focus on the Bluesound / Ifi Zen range or the Aurender N200 range.

I have an Ifi Zen Stream with an LPS fronted by an Ether Regen and would like to move on to something better… mainly from a usability and app standpoint but would like to spend significantly less than $2k.

I think the writing is on the wall with the Innuos Pulse Mini but curious if others have a suggestion that would be a sq improvement from the Ifi and a much better user experience for around $1500 give or take.

I currently use the JPLAY app to access Qobuz to stream DLNA to the Ifi but it’s frustrating and connectivity isn’t great. 
 

I don’t use Roon so the Sense app from Innuos is probably the best bet from what I gather.   I’d also be interested in the Aurender system but according to many the N200 is where to start there and that’s significant higher priced than where I want to go at this point.

Are there any other options with great usability and sound that I’m not thinking of.

I typically run Spdif coax out to my dacs but could also run usb.

thanks in advance 

j_andrews

@mdalton no. The steamer is what is connected to the DAC.
The Mac Mini in my example is just a Roon core that sends the data feed to the streamer, via network. The streamer is connected to the DAC.
For the mac mini to be considered a streamer it would have to be connected to the DAC directly via USB without a dedicated streamer in between. Not sure where the gap is in this communication. The review you’re linking to talks about testing roon nucleus as a streamer via its USB out. But that’s not my configuration. 

@audphile1 

Again, I apologize for any confusion but isn’t the data stream from a Roon core to a streamer (or dac) a digital data stream?  And if it is, isn’t that a potential source of jitter?  You’re right that the link I included had a different setup from yours, but the point was that the data stream from the Nucleus included jitter, but at a substantially lower level than if a pc (e.g., a Mac Mini) had been used.  And that is completely consistent with a huge number of comments I’ve read from Roon users, and I believe Roon itself - that they hear a “substantial” improvement in sound quality between using Roon on a pc vs a dedicated core (e.g., Nucleus, or, in my case, a Small Green Computer). 

In summary, I was trying to (gently) suggest that perhaps your test between Auralic and Roon was a test where the Roon side was decidedly suboptimal.  No offense intended, and of course, I could be completely misguided.

Ok. Everything is a streamer - your ISP, your router, your mesh network if that’s what you’re using, your roon core and your streamer.
You’re 100% correct. And jitter exists between each of these communication points.

I hereby (gently) invalidate the test that I had conducted. 😂

I would also like to add a DAC, well At least the section that takes the input and streams that data to the DAC chip. At which point, once it reaches the analog section it ceases to be a streamer because it passes the analog signal to the output RCA or XLR that feed the amplifier. 

Oh one additional detail..,Auralic Aries G1 wasn’t hardwired to network.