Streamer Recommendations

A word of advice. In order of criticality - speakers, amp, dac and streamer. 
 

As to a $2000 streamer - older model Lumin U1 may be? Aurender N150, Auralic Aries G1? 

@audphile1 I feel like  I have some decent equipment.  I do need a DAC and Streamer.  I have a few DAC's in mind. Does Lumin update the models but still keep the same model numbers?  Like you said an older model U1.  I have listed my equipment so far.

GR Research NX-Otica 

GR Research OB triple subs

SMc DNA .5 GT24 amp and SMc TLC2 GT 24 preamp

For that system I would suggest getting an all in one. Something like one of the hifi rosebunits used or eversolo for example. Start there on a used market. Upgrade when you are ready.

This used Innuos Zen would be a great choice at your budget level. It’s a very good streamer and comes with their outstanding Sense app that is arguably the best in the industry (and yes, the app matters a lot), and it also has onboard storage and disc drive so you can load your CDs into it and have all your music available at your fingertips. Pair this with a DAC that delivers the sound characteristics you’re looking for and you’ll be in great shape. Best of luck.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650163113-innuos-zen-mk3-2tb/

I would recommend a used Aurender. I still have an Aurender N100 in my headphone system. Excellent software, excellent build quality and first rate audiophile sound quality, as well as great service. I also own a Aurender W20SE ($22K) and have tried a number of streamers between $500 new to $20K in my system. Aurender is one of the premier audiophile brands and their flagships are typically used in high end audio shows as streaming source. 

Very soon the Bluesound Node Icon will be available. The software and dedicated customer service is really top notch. It is a balanced dual channel, dual DAC design and they have added a touchscreen for those who want it. It would be a great addition to an already established hi-fi system. I have a Vault, Node, Node2 and Node X. They have all performed far above my expectations. IMHO

@brbrock take a quick read on this thread https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-i-sold-my-aurender-n200

I'd suggest a dac with built-in streamer. Doesn't have to be a Bricasti there are many great combo units too choose. I'm sure some of the ones ghdprentice has noted are excellent but most are out of the average audiophiles budget. (Including mine)

I just bought an iFi Stream to use with Audirvana, a Bricasti DAC, and USB input. Works and sounds great. Fired-up first time when I pressed the on button, but I did watch setup videos.

@rsf507 there are too many variables to come to this conclusion. You can see my responses in that thread. So I wouldn’t run to dump dedicated streamers in favor of the inbuilt network renderer in DACs. Quick A/B, not being able to hear the difference, using Roon as a source I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference either.
Room sound quality is inferior to most native apps n higher end streamers including Lumin. It’s just that the Lumin app is so user unfriendly that you would opt for Roon simply for the sake of not being aggravated. But let’s not pop the cork yet. Careful listening proves a dedicated streamer is almost always a better option at least to my ears.

To add, Roon is absolutely amazing to use as it has the best UI available today. But I can’t say the same for its sound quality. Do Roon right with Grimm, Merging, etc and you’ll be in better shape but now we’re taking $15,000 - $30,000. 

I have tried Bluesound, Aurrender, and Innuos.

I ended with Innuos due to it being able to use Roon. I felt the Aurrender is a bit limited with what streaming apps you can use.

Though, sound wise, I think the Aurrender and Innuos are pretty close. Esp. in their lower end models.

Bob

I love my Innuos Zenith MK-3. It has a great interface 

it for sure sounds better then Roon 

if you want to rip any cd it has a excellent Teac drive a Solidstate drive under that 

and it has 3 independant Linear Power Supplies, the whole chassis,drives and even feet are built for vibration isolation  the less expensive Zen still has dual LPS power supplies  and Mundorfs best MLytic capacitors ,plus Nichicon and very good quality build throughout .some complain it is slightly warmer then neutral 

I am using the Exceptional Tubulus digital cables throughout , many digital records are not the best  with this combination Digital- Analog sound and still very good detail . Anthony at Perrotta consultants  excellent service as well as pricing.

Get an Innuos Pulse and be done with it.

No one mentioned the impressions with an Eversolo DMP-A8. I can do it for you. A double power unit, great DAC with AKMs, works with digital and analog outs, but it has its own great DAC. Beautiful large display! I have hooked it directly to the Benchmark AHB2 and power Focals Aria 948s. Great listening to Qobuz or Tidal.

The eversolo a 10 is out now 3600$ have not heard it yet but I like my a8.they are a great bang for the buck.fairly easy to use.enjoy the hunt.my a8 was 1800$  and I thought worth it 

When I got an external streamer 8 years ago (instead of using Pure Music and Audirvana), I auditioned Auralic, Aurender, and Lumin, and bought the Auralic Aries with the Lightning DS software. SQ was better and the Lightning DS software was far superior. Since I had a very good external dac, I used the usb interface and started buying all the usb tweaks/gimmicks to make it sound better, some did, most didn’t.

Fast forward and bought a top tier dac that uses Ethernet and I2S with both superior to USB and i2s being the best. Since I’m not a fan of using a server that runs Roon or audirvana in my audio room (runs in another part of the house), I use a streamer that accepts data from the server thru the network, and galvanic isolates the signal going out i2s to the dac, that’s its only function I life.

The software that reads the files is the main contributor to how good the music sounds and it’s the software that allows how easy it is to navigate thru your music. Audirvana still holds the lead IMO, which is a little bit better than Roon. But since Roon offers a better interface plus now Roon ARC so I can stream to our cars so I got rid of Sirius/xm, I use Roon.

@rbstehno can you explain how use use Roon and stream in your car then not require SiriusXM? That seems like a nice savings. 👌

I own an Auralic Aries S1 streamer with separate PSU. It seems to sound very good to me, connected to a Chord MScaler + TT2. Has anyone else tried it?

I love my Aurrender N100 and pair it with a DCS Debussy. 

You might take a look at Magna HiFi's Mano MKIii.5 with it's matching Farad power supply. I have one on order so can't speak to it's performance yet but I have high hopes. The reviewer Hans B likes his and the company offers several optional upgrades and software choices.. Worth a look and in your budget. 

Look at a few reviews of the Cambridge Audio CXN v2 or CXN100 (its successor).  My first streamer was the CXN v2 and it was delightful.  I ran the Streamagic software on iPhone 11.  You could save about 1/2 of your $2K budget!  I only went with Innuos Zen Mk3 for CD ripping, and the Sense software supports desktop MS Windows 10.  The Innuos Zen Mk3 is excellent but may extend a bit beyond your $2K budget.

Eversolo support is non existent.     You are screwed if there is a FW bug.   The fix is reverting to the previous FW and turn off auto updates.   Essentially you are stuck at that FW level if they don't correct it.   Not a good value at $4k.   

I recently purchased a Moon 280 D, the least expensive streamer in the Moon line at $4K. I compared it against my computer running Tidal into a Chord Qutest. I immeditately heard that the Moon was livlier, not nearly as dark as the computer Qutest combo.

I think the Qutest is a great DAC for the money. The dealer talked about the USB interface between the computer and the DAC being an inferior way of connecting a streamer to a DAC. Jitter, etc. Since the Moon ran Tidal or Qubuz on the streamer, the cable interface was not a problem, minimizing jitter.

The dealer then compared the Moon 280 D to a $9K Linn. I could not hear the difference and I have a decent ear. I probably could have heard some differences if I'd had the patience to sit around for a half hour or more listening carefully. It wasn't worth the extra $5K to me. 

I'm very happy with the Moon 280 D. It has an excellent interface called Mind 2 that runs on a phone or iPad. When I type in an artist or composer, a visual list (showing album covers) of all the albums for Mozart (or whomever) is dispalyed. Tap on the album and hit play, and that's about it. 

I don't know how long Moon is going to keep selling this relatively inexpensive streamer, but I highly recommend it.

Moon 280d is a nice DAC.  Enjoy

I had the Auralic Aries years ago. I preferred the Aries to the Lumin and aurender unit at the time. Lightning DS and the Lumin software was used for the Aries. The major drawback in using the Ari’s was the limitations of its outputs. I used usb to an external dac and with many gimmicks/tweaks to usb, it still sucked. Sold the Aries and the external dac and went with Roon and a dac that had Ethernet and i2s inputs. Went the Ethernet route for years until a streamer was built that used i2s so I switched to i2s now. 

In support of @cmrbkk 's note above re Magna Mano Ultra:  I've been using a MkII for about 4 years now and am very pleased with its reliability and sound quality, and Magna HiFi customer support is the best there is. 

If you wish to stream Pandora at max res this is one of very few options, which one of the members here clued me into.

Denafrips Arce. Great value and sound quality, though it does not have a proprietary software app or user interface. I use it with Roon and sometimes AirPlay, which provide the user interface.