2. digital
  3. 144301-74203

Need DAC/Streaming Advice

I currently own a Bryston BDP-2 digital player that I run through a Bryston DAC.  As far as playing high resolution files via a thumb drive or other external drive, the BDP-2 sounds great.  The streaming part leaves a lot to be desired.  I can stream Tidal but it is extremely slow and the IPad controller is pretty lousy.  I can listen to Sonos through the DAC into my main system but obviously there is no hi-Rez via Sonos. I would like to find a better solution and am willing to start over (I can move the Bryston components to my secondary system).  What I would like to find is a higher end streamer for my main system that would allow me to stream Tidal, Spotify and Deezer if possible while also playing digital files via thumb drive etc. I have no idea if that can be done in a one box solution or if I would need a separate streamer and DAC.  I would very much appreciate any and all thoughts.  Thanks in advance.
Ag insider logo xs@2xpuppyt
mahler123
3,332 posts
 
Thanks for posting that, mgrif
In the past, I didn’t think that there was much difference between Bluesound as a transport when I compared it with my Oppo 105 and my MacAir using Audirvana + when all played into the same DAC.  They didn’t sound identical, but I thought they were more or less equivalent.  After not using Bluesound for over a month due to connectivity issues, and now using it again, I do think that it is just a slight bit less transparent than the other two options I currently have for controlling my NAS.  My 0.03 on SQ
ghulamr's avatar
ghulamr
104 posts
 
Really trying to understand why audiophiles prefer AirPlay? 
nekoaudio's avatar
nekoaudio
489 posts
 
@puppyt we carry both Bryston and Lumin, and I would recommend looking at Lumin if you're interested in a change in the user experience coming from the Bryston and Manic Moose. Although as others have mentioned fronting the Bryston with Roon is also a good option.

@ghulamr AirPlay will resample any streamed music to 16-bit/48kHz which may be undesirable to some. Most of the higher-end dedicated audio streamers support native bit-perfect playback of multiple different audio codecs and containers, which can be beneficial. Particularly if your DAC sounds different depending on what it's playing back.
twoch
429 posts
 
 listen to the man  @lalitk
 
seedubchris's avatar
seedubchris
1 posts
 
I am most happy streaming tidal from my Astell and kern AK320 via optical to the Chord Hugo 2 TT. Works great . Sounds fantastic. Might upgrade to an aurelec Aries but for now the little player works very well for me . Sounds better than streaming from the tidal desktop app by a big margin . The new Hugo 2 is amazing . 
More to discover