Streamers and software

@daledeee1 

With any software, implementation and hardware are the key to a worry free operation. Out of all the apps being mentioned here, Sense (Innuous) and Conductor (Aurender) are the least likely to experience problems due to their proprietary operating systems. Initial investment is high but you get worry free operation, stellar sound quality and customer support. 

Any offerings from Aurender or Innuous would be a step up from BS Node in a decent system, IMHO. 

I have tried so many streamers and ditched them, not so much for the sound quality but because of the software. Many people like Aurender (Conductor) but I didn't as it was useless for cataloguing classical music and I lost many albums when connecting. I tried Roon and while Ok it was not IMHP worth the money. I have finally bought an Antipodes streamer which provides excellent sound quality and the choice of using Squeeze or a form of Qobuz native software. Neither is perfect but for my purposes as good as Roon. A final plus for Antipodes is the incredible customer service. If you have any connection issues they will do it for you.

Watch for someone here who does not own either Streamer W or Streamer I but keeps criticizing W while praising I. This type of biased comment should be banned here to avoid misleading audiogoners.

Just playing devil’s advocate here. Your post made it sound like you were happy with the Node’s sound just fine, especially after installing a LPS, and it was working perfectly with all your Favorites on Amazon, but for some reason you switched to Qobuz from Amazon. Why? Does Qobuz REALLY sound significantly (not marginally) better than Amazon? If it is Qobuz that is buggy, why not simply switch back to Amazon and save yourself $2000 to $4000, or are you just itching for a new toy? Nothing wrong with wanting something better, and yes, maybe the DACs in some of the ones you are considering will be better than your external TOPPING D90 AKM.

There seems to be a significant number of people on this forum who want a great streamer without any DAC built-in whatsoever, not even a marginal "convenience" DAC. They'd rather use an external DAC of their own choosing. 

I’m just wondering if you’d get more bang for your bucks by switching back to something that was working fine, and instead, spend the bucks to upgrade your DAC.

  I recently purchased a used Innuos Pulse Mini with a Teradak  LPS in excellent condition for $950. I paired it with a Schiit Yiggy DAC and am pleased with the sound quality. I use the Innuos app to stream Tidal, Qbuzz and Radio Paradise. The Innuos app imported all my saved favorites, albums and song lists from my Tidal and Qbuzz accounts without issue. After a few days it wouldn’t recognize the Yiggy via USB. I contacted Innuos customer support and explained USB not recognized but SPDIF was fine. Their support said it was a failing USB card in my Yiggy and to contact Schiit. Now that’s customer support. I plan on upgrading to the Pulse this spring. Regards, Mike B.