Looking for High Quality Streamer Only Options (NO DAC)?

@jbhiller: re: Auralic Aries Mini as Roon endpoint… when it first came to market (almost a decade ago), I don’t think it was yet certified as “Roon Ready” so older documentation may not indicate it can run as an endpoint. However, with firmware upgrades, it did get the capability to run as a Roon endpoint. I’m streaming Roon through mine as I type. 

As a side note, I think Aries Mini was a device before its time. Not sure why Auralic took it out of production (though they’re still supporting it and occasionally updating firmware). Perhaps they couldn’t compete with Sonos, Bluesound, etc. However, as Wiim has so successfully made inroads into affordable streamers, I think the Aries Mini could more than hold its own in that realm. It lacks any DSP other than four filters & resampling, but it can send hi res audio out via USB. 

@jbhiller there’s a used Aurender N200 on USAM. Great streamer with excellent UI and customer service. It made a huge difference in my system going from Lumin U1 Mini and my DAC’s network renderer as streamer to this unit.

I have no affiliation with this seller so if you’re interested you will need to do all the due diligence to ensure a smooth transaction.
https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650156639-aurender-n200/

Bricasti M3

I’d be careful about Bricasti for a streamer.  I’ve created a database on streamer specs from Hifi News reviews over the last few years.  Why?  Because Paul Miller does “Lab Reports” at the end of every one of them, and he does the most objective, consistent measurements of streamers in the industry.  Anyway, the jitter measurements for the streamer board of the M3 are the worst I’ve ever seen.  The M5 has been around for years, I think, so if they’re using the same tech, not good.  By way of example, his measurements for the Pro-ject and the Volumio are multitudes better, comparable to the high priced Aurenders et al. 

Bricasti M3 is an excellent DAC but the network renderer is just not great. Use it as DAC only.

Well my global takeaways are that: in general you get what you pay for. The specifics vary between brands and investment levels. But in general the background noise (except on PCs not usually heard directly... not shhhh but the noise floor... allowing you to hear deeply into the music) drops as investment increases. The amount of detail can be good in budget gear, but the overall representation of the audio spectrum gets more continuous. By that I mean on really cheap gear you get treble and bass and little fleshed out in between... thin sounding. Hardening of treble also disappears with better quality streamers. The rhythm and pace, typically absent in budget gear gets better and better except in designs attempting maximum detail.

If you want to look at the two things that most consistently are the biggest thing it is the noise floor and natural nature of the sound. The noise is suppressed through highly refined power conditioning, physical isolation, and vibration suppression. Hence, high quality streamers are heavy... all this stuff weighs a lot. Also, lots of folks attempt to make budget streamer sound good by adding linear power supplies or playing with their routers, and network infrastructure. A, high quality streamer will clean up the incoming signal without the need to clean up your entire network and incoming power supply. The second is the how natural the sound is. The DAC is critical here as well... so if your DAC isn’t great, then a great streamer is not going to shine through.