Under $3K streaming dac suggestions, Roon Ready?

Firststone guy, we think you are defending us, so if you are thank you.

As mentioned previously we have 13 and one time 15 out of the recommended dac streamers on Audiostreams list which does give us a pretty good idea on the sound of many components and comparisons of one vs the other. 

Personally we are not surprised with the OP's findings on the Bel Canto the specs on that particular piece were not too mind blowning and yes there is more to a dac then just the chip set, but overall we had our doubts on that one.  The dac on the Aries Mini was more for convenience so no suprises there, 

We don't understand why the OP didn't just move to the Brooklyn Bridge which sounds better than the Liberty will doing the streaming natively?

We are thinking more strongly about the Gold Note as that piece may be a very nice dac streamer with inputs. the Lumin D2 sounds fantastic but is only a streamer, the Mytek is awesome but the sound of the Mytek is a bit on the clean clear side and sometimes people want a warmer sounding piece. 

We love the sound of the Ifi DSD pro and feature set, the only issue with that one is the Roon endpoint is taking forever to get, although you can stream Tidal directly. 

So Firstone guy we actually  don't get a lot of people ordering from us.

 The reason we post is that we do have great experience with a lot of dacs and streamers as computer audio/streaming is a passion for us.

While we do sell analog systems, our passion is the future which is digital and sreaming and not tape decks, reell to reel, or records.

We also don't deny analog  can sound great but analog lacks the spontanousness  of having instant music and a never ending supply of new artists not to mention the ability to make playlists.

Dave and Troy
Audio Doctor NJ 

Well..

Bel Canto is being returned, and I'm still in the 30-day window obviously, so no shipping or restocking fees, phew!

I am going with the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, and yes @audiotroy you were right.

Originally I didn't want to go with the Brooklyn Bridge - only because I didn't need all the extra features it provides, but now I think that it'll come in handy later on, if I decide to change my system (which I do frequently).  I'm sure the BB would make a decent preamp if I wanted to upgrade to a separate amp, instead of using the integrated.

That's a whole new thread though..

Good luck with the Brooklyn Bridge. I like it’s DAC, but had nothing but problems with the streamer. I could not get it to connect over Wi-fi. My Wi-Fi has the same network names for both 2.4 and 5ghz. Mytek says to connect to 2.4, but both show up with no way to know which is which. And no matter which one I selected it did not work. The USB flash drive ability was useless. It stuttered and stopped even with fast USB 3.0 sticks. Their only recommended flash drive is not sold in the US. Ethernet streaming stalls and stutters and sounds lousy. I hooked up a micro-rendu to the usb in and used the same Ethernet cable and everything worked perfectly. Mytek support was useless. Both my dealer and I contacted them. The dealer is exchanging the Brooklyn Bridge for the Brooklyn DAC and refunding the difference.  Maybe I just got a dud. I kept saying to the dealer and Mytek that probably all it needs is a firmware update, but I was tired of being an unpaid beta tester.

+1 on the Mytek.  I used a Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ in my main system for quite some time before swapping in a PS Audio DirecStream DAC.  I still use the Mytek in a secondary system.  It is a very clean sounding DAC with lots of useful functionality that is easy to access and understand.  The built in headphone amp is very good and it also is a very capable preamp if you don't have a ton of devices.  It is still one of my all time favorites.  Cheers.

Well a few things have changed, but I did receive the Brooklyn Bridge. As expected, it outperforms the Bel Canto easily.

I had the Bridge connected to my integrated (Yamaha A-S2100) initially, but knew I could use it as a preamp too, so took the integrated out and hooked it up to my back up amp, NuForce STA200. This took the SQ up a notch which was surprising, to say the least. $499 amp vs. $3500 integrated.

As a preamp, the detail & clarity was much better, wider soundstage too. The Yamaha is much warmer sounding that the NuForce, which usually isn’t a problem/issue but it was just too much for my taste. My Spendor A4s are on the warm side of neutral, but this was never an issue when I was using the Mytek Liberty with the Yamaha. Strange is all I can say. I assumed both Mytek Dacs would have the same signature.

The STA200 did lack in the bottom end though, compared to the Yamaha, so I found a good deal on a used Wyred4Sound ST-1000 MKII amp, and the bottom end is back to where I like it! The W4S is also much more quiet than the NuForce and Yamaha (and more powerful too).

Really loving the Bridge w/ W4S combo, which on paper, most would assume to be too clinical sounding, but it’s a great match with the Spendors.

Anyways - I found the right streaming DAC for me, but also made some unexpected changes along the way too. That’s hardly a surprise for those of you who know me :)