streamer for PWD DAC mkII - tired of a computer and complicated connectivity!

arafiq,

1. you're right, but all my music is 16/44.1 - good enough for me.  Most of music comes as 16/44.1 while a lot of higher rate music is the same upsampled 16/44.1 - not sounding any better (My DAC upsamples anyway)
2. I have no experience with Apple TV but I have read a few posts on this forum claiming detectable sound difference.
3. 258ps of jitter is not a lot but might be audible.  Jitter is basically addition of noise that is proportional to signal level and undetectable without music.  Pretty much every DAC has jitter suppression either in form of PLL or asynchronous rate converter (that suppresses better). Placing reclocker in front of the DAC is always helpful.  Once you get rid of jitter at the end nothing else affects the sound.  I'm so far happy with my setup but in your situation I would investigate Sonos, Bluesound etc.  More people today switch to computer server for convenience, therefore more bridge devices will become available - perhaps Apple TV with multiple output rates?

The Bluesound Node is not a storage device, only the Vault is the storage device. I have the Vault 2 and a Node 2 currently. 

 "SO, mahler, how do you like the bluesound?"

  I was holding off answering this until I got a little more experience using it.  In general, I like it, but it is far from perfect.
  In answer to some of the questions posed since my post of mid january, I don't think that one can use any of the components unless you get the Vault.  The Vault is the only part of the system that can store music and controls the GUI, among other things.  I knew that going in, so that isn't a problem, but I do think the ads are misleading in that department.
  The sound is great.  I did a few comparisons with CDs that I had ripped to the Vault and playing them from my Oppo 105 and the differences are trivial at best.
   One problem is the App, which isn't quite ready for Prime Time.  It works a lot better at identifying albums than i tunes, but that is a low bar to step over.  It doesn't do the best job of organizing and finding albums compared to some other apps out there.  It is somewhat counterintuitive and difficult to make plays lists with.  It also frequently gets updated, which might be a good thing but which crashes the whole app and requires a reboot of the the components.
This also happens when Apple updates the iPad or the Android updates occur.  It isn't the hassle free panacea that I had been seeking compared to doing a Mac and Dac.  Nothing for me will beat popping in a disc and hitting play.
  It is an improvement over iTunes, but it could be so much more.

Mahler, if you ever get the itch to move on from the Bluesound, know that the Bridge II for your PWD is much more stable than the BI.  I put in a BII last week to replace a Squeezebox touch, and I am _floored_ by the increase in sound quality.  I did not imagine that a source upgrade (basically a transport upgrade) could make so much difference in any system.

Hello All, so I decided to keep the PWDII and I actually just replaced the bridge with the Bridge 2.  I figured that had to be done.  I also recently discovered Roon & Tidal, which I adore.  So now I am playing the music via Roon and hard drive, connected via USB.  As soon as Roon & PS Audio combine forces, which I expect to happen this year (hopefully sooner than later!) I will be able to move my mac mini and hard drive off the audio shelf, back into a closet, and connect via ethernet.  At that point I will give the Bridge 2 its proper listen.  For now, I cannot imagine using JRiver again.  Utterly crap user interface and functionality compared to Roon.  I'll be in touch...