What is your favorite budget streamer?


Looking for a bedroom streamer. I have a DAC and headphone amp and don't need to connect speakers or even need a DAC. Your ideas for a budget streamer at $350 or less? Experience is welcome here.

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2x2psyop

For my 2-ch system, I have BS N130, NAD C658, and NAD M12 streamers (all in their boxes), while I use my wife's (broken screen) Samsung phone running DeX to stream anything through a DeX dock and HDMI audio stripper to Coax S/PDIF output. Connect the Coax (or Toslink) to a DAC (volume controlled with the phone). DeX allows wireless keyboard control, and/or voice. Works great, sounds great, cost very little, practically invisible, and if you use a monitor (as I do) - then the phone and dock can be completely out of sight (as I have mine).

MNX10, it does it all and it's simple, has good software, supports all the streaming services nativity. When I was looking to add a budget streamer to my vintage system, this one ticked all the boxes for me. 

My only issue is, got the silver one, like 6 months after they came out in black. 

@deep_333 , re: streamers Asynchronous output. Very interesting as I just picked up an Ayre QB9TWENTY.  I'm absolutely loving it, just using with a laptop so far. Very special dac! I've wondered as I explore streamer options to pair how important it be that the streamer outputs in an Asynchronous path?? Sounds like it's vital. Is wimm one of the only ones?  I would certainly upgrade to Lumin or Auralic's new S1 but didn't want to immediately disregard the ultra... The feature set looks fantastic for the price.  And what about the new mac mini m4 optimized as streamer?
Appreciate any thoughts from you and the group, as you're the only one who has mentioned this "not so insignificant point"
 

@tenpop  If a dac is taking an asynhronous input (USB) from a streamer's output, it does not rely on a clocking device inside the streamer. With other inputs, you have unnecessarily turned a streamer from just a rendering device into something else and created problems. 

You could empty your wallet, 20k, 30k on a streamer just to fix a problem that never had to be created (in the first place),.