Good Streamer with WiFi Connectivity

Auralic considers the G2 their best streamer. I've not heard the G2 (I own the G1), but I would expect the G2 to have the edge in an Auralic system where you could use their proprietary Lightning Link bus. How big an edge is open to debate.

Reviews that mention both are quite careful in what they say; but reading between the lines, it seems the units are very close in sound.

If one is only interested in streaming, i.e. no need to connect to NAS services, ripping, local storage, AND already has a decent DAC, what are your options? Bluesound Node 2i is fairly reasonable. Other than that, I just can't seem to convince myself that spending more than $1000 purely for streaming capabilities is worth the money.

BTW, I have tried using Apple TV and Chromecast Audio as streamers, and the Bluesound Node is considerably better even as a standalone streamer hooked into another DAC.

Jeepers , I think you will be extremely happy with either the U1 or G2, and doubt there is much of a discernible difference in sound quality.  Hans Beekhuyzen on YouTube has some informative reviews on streamers that might be helpful to you.

I’m using the AURALiC Aries G1 with the Chord Qutest DAC. WiFi. No complaints. Great sound quality and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. It does Tidal and Spotify Connect, although I haven’t tried these (I have a Qobuz subscription). The G1 sounds super streaming from Qobuz or playing the AIFF files from the hard drive.