Auralic Aries

FWIW, the Pro-ject Stream Box sounds quite good. I haven't listened to too many higher priced streamers, but I listened to a $7500 Naim NDX 2 as a streamer feeding my Pontus II DAC and without comparing head-to-head, I'm not sure I could confidently say whether the Pro-ject or the Naim is better sounding. I do like for a budget component that the decision was made to not include costly features such as a built-in DAC or LCD screen & that effort was focused on reducing sources of electrical noise. Some details about the design of the Pro-ject from the designer are in this thread:

https://www.avforums.com/threads/why-is-pro-ject-stream-box-ultra-s2-so-expensive-700euro-for-an-r-p...

@ghdprentice I totally agree with you. The only other forum I’ve spent time on caters to vintage Vespa enthusiasts, and is populated by a group of genuinely helpful folks, where abusive posting will very quickly get one banned. When I first came over here I was rather shocked at some of the posts I saw.

@ghosthouse school of hard knocks indeed. Other than the Klipsch RF-5’s I bought a few years ago that were so bright it was like someone was pounding a piccolo into my ear canal with a hammer, I’ve been rather fortunate in having not made any bad mistakes in my system. In this hobby screwing up can be both expensive and demoralizing.

@calvinandhobbes yeah I looked at the pro-ject, but I’d heard mixed reviews of Volumio, and felt the price was steep for a tricked out Raspberry Pi. Ended up paying less for my used Auralic, and their Lightning DS app is incredibly intuitive. 

Been hearing nothing but great stuff about the Auralic.  Their Vega 2.1 DAC is on my very short list right now.

I’ve got an Aries and despite having a strong and consistent wi fi signal it’s always been unreliable in terms of staying connected to the wi fi network. I had the wi fi module replaced (apparently to a better one) but the issues persist.
I won’t be buying another streamer from this manufacturer for that reason. 

That's too bad.  I always have wifi issues with TV and everything else in the house, lol.  I use an ethernet connection, because my homes wifi sucks (I need to get a new router and am lazy), lol.  That's for a streamer though and I'm all set there.  I have spoken to a couple of long time dealers and they said their newest stuff is amazing and built well.  Neither have had issues with the Vega G2 DAC's (I'm only interested in the G2.1)