Suggestions for a streamer only (I have a great DAC)


I have a dCS Paganini DAC and Paganini Clock. I’m looking for a streamer only to pair with the Paganini to stream via Tidal.  That’s it, I don’t need a streamer/DAC/etc.  I don’t want to extra for pay for redundancy.  Any good suggestions on a streamer only  that you have paired to a high end DAC with good results would be appreciated. 

 

PLEASE no “try some at home on your system” responses …. that’s the reason I came here, for some recommendations. Price range $1500-$5000.

 

Thanks!

naperaudio

OP, 

Yes, today a top notch streamer is at or above the level of a high end CD player.  In fact my streamer performs at the level of my vinyl rig (also not shabby, see my UserID).

We are taking about full wide and deep soundstage. Instruments suspended I’d space, mid-range bloom, incredible detail with dead quiet background… low noice floor. But with a nearly infinite music library. But like all other pieces of high end audio, you want performance you have to pay. Alternatively you could go the N10 route. About half the price. But given the quality of your DAC you should mate it with something appropriate or streaming will just be a way to find music to then purchase a CD. When you could be experiencing as good or better sound all the time.

Lightning DS is not great but functional for music genres except classical. Roon is better but still not great on listing classical albums. Only Idagio comes close but it is solely classical. On balance there are worse apps than Lightning DS and from my experience not that many better - most are about on par.

I heard Wolf with a T+A DAC today at the Florida Audio expo, sounded pretty good to me!

but at home I have NAD M50.2

I'm going to be 'that' guy who tells you that you can WAY over pay for a pure streamer (no DAC). Streamers don't follow some audio myth like cables where people tell you to spend a certain % of your overall system cost on cables as if that directly improves your sound. It's a law of big diminishing returns with cables and streamers. You spent the right $$$ on your DAC but getting bits from a network stream transported to your DAC is not subject to massive qualitative differences.

I second the Bluesound Node (2021 version) recommendations as the best bang for the buck. I would suggest you do what I did and buy the Bluesound and also whatever high end streamer you think would be a big improvement on the BS. Then test them both with your system using a truly blind testing method to see if you can really hear a difference consistently. I have a nice system that is very resolving and I could not. So I sent the more expensive streamer back and kept the BS. I use a quality USB cable into my Holo Audio May KTE DAC and it is fantastic. If you actually want a qualitative improvement then feed your BS output into HQPlayer upscaling. But that is a project for a different time once you've made your decision. Good luck.