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"Need" Roon, Bluesound Node, or or other streamer?

I am thinking about adding a streamer, and have hopelessly confused myself, and hoping you all can straighten me out with some advice/options here.

All I want to do is stream my Tidal with MQA quality, Quboz, new Apple tier, Amazon, and my ripped CDs, all with as much sound quality as possible (with a budget of $1200 maxish).   Integrated playlist capability, and ideally with full MQA for the Tidal (but low priority in the scheme of things).   I do not need wireless, multizone, etc. 

Currently my Macbook Pro is the "streamer" using Tidal, Quboz & Apple supplied apps.  I USB out to my DAC.

-- If I buy the Bluesound Node, I lose full MQA if I connect my external DAC.  They tell me I have to use their internal DAC.  Otherwise I can connect my external at a lower "quality".  Yet, many people here trash their DAC...
-- Trial of Audirvana Studio is a train wreck so far... 

 Questions: For my situation, in you all's opinion:

  • Buy the Node, and call it a day? I could switch between Internal Node Dac for MQA and external DAC...
  • Buy a Cambridge or other streamer and call it a day? Are they worth the extra $$ especially if I would ideally like to stick with my external DAC?
  • Buy into Roon solution and either build a NUC server or go Little Green or Nucleus?  OR use one of my old Mac laptops maybe?
  • What the hell is the difference between Roon and the Bluesound Node anyway?

Sorry, all over the place here, but evidence of my frustration...

Any advice is greatly appreciated!






bogbeat
ho249's avatar
ho249
77 posts
 
Instead of a component streamer, can one achieve comparable results using a Windows laptop computer or home theater PC for streaming? Any disadvantages to this approach with regard to sound quality, available music sources or ease of use? This is my first post, appreciate your input!
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,379 posts
 
Not easily. PCs, especially in the same room and connected to the audio system generate noise. There are many ways to try to overcome it, like external linear power supplies, dual-headed cables that separate signal from power, etc. All the background processes supporting other stuff your computer does are something to overcome. Low power dedicated devices with more of the parts cost dedicated to what affects audio has generally proven a more cost-effective approach. 
Let alone the UX impact of OS updates messing with music software on PC or Mac. 
Many of us had PC or Mac based rigs and moved away from them as better alternatives became available. the majority of posts on computerlifestyle (formerly computeraudiophile) address many subtopics that apply. Cheers,
Spencer 
ghdprentice
7,093 posts
 
@sbank.  +1

Generic PCs do not make good streamers. They just sound good on paper. My streaming systems did not start getting into High quality sound until I got a dedicated streamer. They are highly shielded with quiet power supplies. There are many high quality streamers available. I am very partial to Aurender. They have offerings at many price points with different functions.
danager's avatar
danager
955 posts
 
I can’t disagree more. An inexpensive fanless windows I5 PC running Fidelizer, Foobar2000 to a USB MHDt Orchid Dac sounds incredible. Using Remote PC (free in Windows) you can control it from your listening chair using a tablet, phone or laptop.

It sounds much better than a Rasberry PI with a Allo digi one interface hat. I haven’t tried the digi one signature and I see no reason to ever go back. It generates no noise and costs under $250.

The Orchid USB driver and Fidelizer match really well together on a dedicated device but Fidelizer takes over the computer and pretty much makes it a single purpose machine.


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