I am limited to WiFi, due to my router location. I would like a high quality streamer without DAC that will provide a noticeable improvement over the entry level Node.
You’ve got a really nice system there. I particularly love both Joseph Audio and Luxman. I’m an Aurender dealer, so take that into consideration, but there is a lot of love for the Aurender N200 on this forum. It retails $6,000, and while it doesn’t have wifi built in, I would encourage you to get a Netgear Orbi mesh router and satellite system for the home, which can be had for less than $1000. This would allow you to both have faster, more reliable internet around the house and be able to hardwire with a quality ethernet cable in from a satellite into the Aurender. This solution will deliver much better sonics than any unit that has wifi built in as that will be a major source or noise and interference. Aurender does also support wifi adapters with Realtek chips, but I would suggest going the mesh router / satellite route for improved sonics:
Yeah do the the mesh network thing and have a node right at your rig to plug into. I would also consider Bryston BDP and the fairly new Moon Neo Mind 2.
With that kind of budget you could also explore a ROON configuration.
if you can use a mesh system as suggested earlier than Innuos Zenith should also be a contender — you can rip cd’s and the unit can also optionally run as a Roon server. Once you get the streamer, I highly suggest a passive filter like ENO.
BTW, I also have the JA Perspective2 Graphene speakers — by far the best speaker I’ve ever owned. I used to own Luxman 590Axii and absolutely loved the combo.
I owned the Bryston and it sounded great but I got rid of it due to the software management program which ruined the whole experience. I also found the WiFi didn’t work as well as the wired, and the OP is limited to WiFi. At that budget I would be looking at Aurender or Auralic, both of which I have heard demonstrated and sounded great. Auralic may possibly be better with WiFi but I like the idea floated by @blisshifiof upgrading the WiFi, which the OP budget should allow for, and which will probably benefit any choice that he makes
Not sure you have to spend all your budget but that is a good place to be. There are several good streamers in the $5k and under price range. Biggest difference is abilty to do roon and controls. to me the big 3 are arurender, innuos and auralic. Aurender sees roon as a competitor and doesn't support roon so stay away from aurender if you want to ever use roon. If you don't use roon, then the control software on each system will be important to you. I chose Innuos. It does roon and controls from a phone ap.
after the streamer you should probably upgrade the digital system feeding it. make sure you have good quality ethernet cable from your router. For digital, i like cables with silver coated copper. Not necessarily terribly expensive. Audioquest has several levels that work for me. install an upgraded 'audiophile' switch. I used etherregen. the switch plus calbles will run you a grand or a bit more.
If you like music discovery you should really give ROON ecosystem a look, especially with a $7K budget. If you just like firing up an album and listening (Ron Popeil ,set it and forget it) then go with a one box solution.
I’d second the Innuos Zen Mk3 as, if you’re like me you can also rip whatever prized CDs you have that aren’t available to stream directly into it and have all your music available in whatever order from your chair. With the $$$ leftover in your budget I’d invest in a DDC like the Denafrips Hermes, Gaia, etc. and run an i2S connection from that to your DAC as it has those HDMI inputs. Just another option, and best of luck.
Would also suggest looking at the ultra Rendu or optical Rendu from small green computer. I have an ultra Rendu connected to my Denafrips Pontus II DAC and the combination is magical.
I bought an Aurlic Aries G2 for this reason. However, then found out that a wall wart wifi extender eliminated the problem. I switched to Aurender, having better sound quality and less hassle. My conclusion after working on streaming in one form or another for over ten years is that Aurender produces the best streamers and that the wifi connection doesn’t matter with a great streamer. For your budget you can get a great Aurender streamer.
Currently I own two Aurender streamers, a N100 and W20SE. Both run from wall wart Net gear WiFi extenders. I know of a number of +$150K systems running this way. Do not let having WiFi available in your streamer influence your decision. You can see my systems under my user ID. My streaming quality equals that of my vinyl.
Having been in a similar situation and in the position to borrow several DACless streamers from friends and stores including Moon, Naim, Aurelic, Rendu, Lumin, Stack and Lindemann. I found little to choose between them re sound quality. Of them all I preferred the Stack, with the best balance in my system of detail, soundstage and presence. It was however a disaster to setup and or update, if a Mac user just don't bother. Eventually I bought the Lindemann Limetree Bridge, which via my Denafrips Ares II sounds beautiful.
There is a new set of Innuos streamers about to be launched. With your budget I’d look at the Pulsar which includes a USB reclocker and decrapifier. InnuOS Sense App is superb.
I can strongly recommend an Auralic product. I just took possession of an Altair G1 and am very impressed with its overall performance. I think the Vega G2.1 would be a great fit for your system.
+1 @hilde45, that’s why I’d stick to a bluos node….modify it and your network from there with a linear power supply and fiber at the nodes connection. I also agree with @blisshifion a orbit mesh system. Best you can get right now. Good luck.
You should check out Baetis in Canada I have had their Revolution streamer for 2 yrs now. Great product even better customer service. You deal directly with owner.
I use his streamer with TotalDAC Dac and love the sound
I'm in the Dinov camp, you can see my streaming system details in my house of stereo system. Another HUGE variable that no one here is talking about is what device do you want to use to control your streamer. I personally want to use exclusively my android phone since it is a perfect remote. That right there eliminates auralic immediately since they don't even have an android app. Aurender and Lumin have much worse reviews about their android apps or phones than bluos. I keep hearing they are fine with a tablet, so not for me. That leaves Innuos as a potential candidate but I am so happy with the sound of my upgraded NODE 130 setup that I see no reason to move on from it. It is so good that now I listen to streaming 80% of the time vs. vinyl and CDs and those systems of mine are of excellent quality, even way more expensive, also shown in my system. How you want to control your streamer is the most important part of deciding on a streamer and I am always dumbfounded no one talks about it. Weird, it's like everyone has an ipad...
@rbsaudioshould you follow through on the mesh wifi recommendation, be sure you do not place the mesh node too close to your music rig!
By definition a mesh node, or any wifi extender for that matter, generates RF which can interfere with your system. When I acquired a mesh node for my living room I originally made the grave error of putting it in the same cabinet as my gear. My moving coil head amp was unusable! I wound up putting the node in a book case across the room and running some good quality Cat8 to my Node2. The improvement in sound quality using a cable vs wifi, even that close to the node was immediately discernible.
Maybe give that a try before $pending thou$sand$ of dollar$? 😉
+1 for LUMIN if looking for streamer only. I have a U1 and it is very reliable, firmware is updated over the net, excellent sound quality. Is Roon ready but LUMIN software is as easy to use as BluO. I prefer Roon for a variety of reasons related to search capabilities, but sound quality of LUMIN software is just as good if not slightly better to my ears
Would agree with those suggesting spending some of your budget on Ethernet wire to the LUMIN. As others have suggested, add mesh wifi at a minimum. The mesh units have an Ethernet port for the streamer. Linksys and Eero make reliable units I’ve owned.
I was Wi-Fi limited and tried extenders that sort of worked and finally ended up with the Netgear Powerline 2000. Had it about a year and it works great! Not one blip in a year!
ZyXEL Pass-Thru Ethernet Adapter AV2000 Powerline 2-port Gigabit 2-Pack [PLA54https://a.co/d/2YNtgNY
+1 @musicfan2349on keeping the mesh satellite at least a few feet away from other audio electronics, especially tube preamps, and plan to use a good quality Ethernet cable to connect from the satellite into the unit.
i think you are making a fine choice with the auralic, especially with your need to use wifi - you just need to make sure your wifi is solid, with strong signal
i would add though, in my music room i am using a mesh router satellite to deliver a ’virtual’ ethernet feed into my roon core/streamer, and it works very well -- one day i may bite the bullet, drill through and run an actual hardwire ethernet, but so far i have avoided that need with excellent performance with the mesh system
Notice to Vault users. I backed up my Vault 2i onto a 2 TB drive, plugged it into my PC and dragged and dropped a bunch of CD rips onto my Aurenders 4TB drive.
Works great, after scanning the drive the Aurender assembled the missing album art on some rips. You can also edit Metadata if some is missing
Aurender N200 is an awesome machine. You can use it with an Ethernet over AC adapter. I use one by TP Link, it works great. No noise or issues. To ensure no nasty artifacts from that scheme I use a TP Link gig switch with 2 SFP ports. That allows me to electronically decouple my Aurender and Vault via a fiber optic media converter to each one . Super black, quiet background .
I have heard Aurender will work on WiFi if you plug a specific Realtek wifi adapter into one of the accessory USB ports. I have not proven that but the Ether over AC works great for me. I had a Netgear wifi over AC unit and it injected noise. The TP Link gear is dead quiet.
i would add though, in my music room i am using a mesh router satellite to deliver a ’virtual’ ethernet feed into my roon core/streamer, and it works very well -- one day i may bite the bullet, drill through and run an actual hardwire ethernet, but so far i have avoided that need with excellent performance with the mesh system
This. I don’t even have a dedicated backhaul on my mesh (dual band) and it works fine. Thing opens up flexibility as well. Luckily my office is in the same room as the base node so I got 2 PCs, Network storage unit and an old Sonos zp90 hard wired to the base and my main rig has a Roon core host hard wired direct to a sat node . Every now and then I gotta reboot the base but its rare.
I wouldn't even want a streamer with wifi hardware inside of it.
The truth is that most folks would vouch for whatever brands they happen to own. Most have never done an extended in-home comparison between multiple brands at the same time. For example, if you’re an Aurender user, you would claim that it’s the best streamer out there. If you use Innuos (like myself), you will sing praises for Innuos. Ditto for Auralic, Lumin, etc. Also, when someone claims that they owned brand A but now own brand B which they prefer, it’s important to ask how long ago did they own brand A. Things change relatively quickly in this segment of the industry and any opinions formed based on a 3-4 year-old experience should be taken with a grain of salt.
Personally, I think all the big names -- Aurender, Auralic, Innuos, Lumin, etc. offer wonderful sound quality and reliability. There are more similarities than differences within the same price brackets. I ended up buying Innuos but I doubt I would have been any less satisfied had I bought Aurender or Auralic. If Aurender supported Roon, I probably would have bought the N10 since I really liked it. But I can tell you that I don’t find Innuos Zenith to be a lesser proposition by any means. I also know I would have been equally happy with Auralic or Lumin. Just sayin’ ...
Congrats on your decision to purchase the Auralic Aries G2.1. I’ve had mine for over 2 years and still love it. It works well over Wi-Fi, but I’m using pretty fancy ethernet cabling and audiophile network switch. The Lightning DS app is easy to use and well laid out IMO.
This morning I placed an order for the Aurender N20 and was planning to sell the Auralic. I changed my mind after streaming Rihanna’s Lift Me Up on Qobuz just now The Aries is staying and going into my bedroom system feeding my Schiit Yggy OG DAC.
I agree that most people vouch for what they have. However, how good a recommendation that is, is a reflection of their knowledge, depth of experience, rigor in their search, budget, as well as their values. It is unlikely someone would not have bought the best they could. So, one must examine evidence within their post to tease out as much of this as possible and to look at their system.
It is likely you will really appreciate your N20… it is a really great sounding streamer, based on my experience with Aurlic Aries G2, and Aurender N100, N10, and W20SE. While I liked the Aurlic, I found the Aurender to be a superior sounding streamer for the money and much more stable and better supported.
I’m sure that I’ll enjoy the N20. The design of the Aurender by isolating each part of the unit (capacitors, digital circuit board, transformer/power supplies and hard drive space) along with the extra power supply all factor in to lowering the noise floor. My dealer tells me that Aurender has it in stock, so it’ll ship soon. I received my Samsung 870 EVO (not QVO) 4TB SSD over the weekend, so I’m ready.
Regarding the Auralic, I’ve never needed to contact support. The Auralic community and information shared on their forums have been superb. The unit itself is rock solid stable. The software updates itself in the unit, and I don’t even know when it happens. It is one fantastic streamer at its price point IME.
I'm not sure but it seems to me that nobody suggested you the most obvious, natural and convenient way to go owning a PS Audio DirectStream dac: the PS Audio Bridge II card!!!
It perfectly matches your dac, it is reasonably cheap, no additional boxes, wires and AC plugs, and it sounds like your dac: very very well!!!
I owned it and I’ve let it go just to get a new toy.
But, again, it is the most obvious way to go for you...
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