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

I've heard the Bacch and it was impressive (I did not know it could work as a streamer, they showed it as a dac) but especially with their own 3D processing. You need to decide if that is something you want. As you already have a good dac it seems to be a waste of money otherwise.

A streamer I did not see mentioned yet is Métronome. For example their Métronome DSS.

My main worry with streamers is that they are basically computers and uses a lot of software. This may have to be updated in the future to work with later things. This means a stable company or brand is probably especially important for streamers. Or just go with a computer and install Roon Rock.
 

 

Forgot to say that Métronome basically split into two brands. They have Kalista also and the Kalista Dreamplay Stream is a good streamer but much more expensive.

 

When I was in your position looking for a streamer to change up from using my laptop, the biggest thing aside from sound quality was the user interface. As I had to have it connected over wifi that reduced the list of components I could look at. I finally settled on Auralic and I use their Lightning DS app. I have no idea why some people don’t like it as it’s incredibly intuitive and seamlessly integrates Qobuz, Tidal and Amazon Music. You can organise your music into playlists and access music on hard drive or NAS if so inclined although it doesn’t sound like you are.

I have never had a problem with the software and you don’t need a computer to set the streamer and software up, only an iPad which may be a deal breaker for you. I say all this just to give my positive experience with Lightning DS as an option.

My advice then is to work out whether you need wifi or can it be hard wired, if hard wired you have more options. Once you know that I would strongly recommend choosing a product that has an excellent app. I know everyone seems to love roon, but there are great apps now that do the same job and reduce the expense of paying for roon. Innuos has their own app and I watched their hour presentation on it, it seems superb with excellent functionality and a great intuitive user interface. By all accounts people also love the lumin app, aurender app and the bluOS app, so there are plenty of choices.

Narrow those questions down and you’ll have a group of options that you can read reviews on to narrow down to 1 or 2 and then it’s demo time.

 

The Bryston BDP-3 is also worth a look.    Software interface is a bit spartan but it works and the product support is good and their SQ and right up there with the best.

If you do consider Roon , which gets you a super nice interface on your iPAD, I would also look at Small Green Computer (SGC) as previously suggested.   It just takes some knowledge and patience to get it all dial in but you wont be dissappointed.