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Moving up from a Node 2i

I want to keep it between 1K and 1500.00, closer to a grand if at all possible. I don't care about onboard DACs, since I have a keen liking for mine. What is out there for a streamer, new or used, that will sound better than the Node when outputting to an external DAC? I like the functionality of the Node, don't want something with a sketchy user interface. But honestly, I think my old Allo Digione (Raspberry Pi) might have sounded a little more organic and fleshed out than the Node.

What say ye, Audiogon?

Oz



128x128ozzy62
m1k3
23 posts
 
Application wise it seems very old school and in need of a redesign, I’ve decided not to use it and use Roon as the front end.

It is a bit of a non-standard interface, and no arguing that Roon is far superior, but for non-Roon users, despite its quirks, the app does a number of things better than BluOS. Here are some:

—Lumin app updates TIDAL and Qobuz favorites on any refresh. BluOS takes forever to show things I’ve added via the native apps in my favorites, whether it’s artists, albums, playlist updates, etc. So I can curate and discover on the native apps while playing anything newly added on the Lumin right away via the Lumin app.

—Lumin app will show bit depth and sample rate of the track playing. BluOS refuses to add this data (read their forums) and instead insist that the user wants to have that info simplified to just some icons that show HR or CD or the squiggly MQA logo; in fairness, some like the icons better than numbers, but I wish they made it an option to show us the actual bit-depth/SR that is being streamed.

Cheers,

Mike


highpeakrider
43 posts
 
I keep using it just to ensure I know how it works, i've only took a year subscription to Roon, I'm not really into the metadata but really like I can select a track and use the music feature for it to select and play music based on that selection.

At the minute i'm then saving these selections as playlists after a few hours for future use.

It also make it easy to select my Sonos speakers.

Maybe at the end of the year i'll swap back to Lumin, although Roon is good its an additional cost.

But i really like my D2 

Cheers Phil
m1k3
23 posts
 
@highpeakrider I agree with everything you say about Roon to include the ease you can select other endpoints. The Roon radio and new music discovery features look very useful too. I’m removing the computer and NAS completely from my audio chain so Roon is out for me without a “core”. That’s why I’ve been trying these streamers and their apps. I sort of reproduce your method of saving related-song selections as playlists by saving TIDAL’s “My Mix” playlists (which are list of related songs I should like based on my playing and favoriting history) and duplicating the songs I like/fav to Qobuz. I’m thinking about trying Soundiiz Premium and doing that “sync” automatically across multiple services.
highpeakrider
43 posts
 
I also have Apple Music and prefer its playlists over the Tidal ones, i'm also using Soundiiz to transfer from AM to Tidal which then flow into Roon.
chilehed's avatar
chilehed
200 posts
 
Just did a test at a local dealer between the Vault 2 which is my current streamer and the Innuos Zenith mk3. The dealer set up a system consisting of DCS Bartok DAC, Gryphon integrated and Rockport Atria 2 speakers. There was a difference in signal path as the Vault was connected to the DAC via SPDIF and Zenith connected via USB. After listening to 3 well known tracks on the Zenith then switching over and listening to the same 3 tracks on the Vault, it was not hard to hear the difference. The Zenith is bigger with better defined / separated images in comparison to the Vault which sounds slightly muted in comparison. I also like Innuos's integration with Roon and being able to configure the Zenith as a core. Lastly, the potential to improve SQ down the road with their newly released Phoenix re-clocker (which I did not hear) is also interesting. I purchased the Zenith but you have to hand it to Bluesound, their price / performance is outstanding.
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