Best budget streamer on the market now?

Some Bluesound dealers seem to have access to refurbish units, try that path... stereo unlimited in San Diego

both the node and Aries mini have pretty good SQ

my aspiration is to give TMR a run for the money!!!!

Some fairly priced older nodes on eBay.
Although the first ones have a "unique" look for sure.....

Tbh I had thought some aspiring manufacturer might have come up with competition for the Bluesound products by now.

I did see a product by Yamaha, a wxc50.
Anybody know anything about it?

If this isn't for critical listening, would a 1st get Sonos Connect work for you?

Lol Uber I should have remembered and why did you get rid of it if I may ask? Oh wait let me guess you got bored and wanted to try something new? :-p

I strongly 2nd the Aries Mini recommendation with the external LPS.
I own several of the Auralic products and they are the only Chi-Fi I've found worth owning.I regularly use the Mini and swap between UPnP & Lightning DS modes with ease and have never had the BubbleUPnP app or the iOS DS app crash (on LG and Samsung phones or iPad).  Even though the Mini supports an internal SSD, I prefer to connect it externally with a USB->Sata cable and a Samsung 1Tb SSD.  The advantage of going external is that I can easily swap it to my iMac to manage the content where file transfer is wicked fast.  In contrast to the internal SSD which is accessed via a shared folder and is painfully slow.
There have been just a few occasions where I needed to use the Mini internal DAC and it was super convenient to have that option.
I don't use the Roon support but it's a bonus to know it's available.
I sent an email to Auralic support recently, about the Mini, and they answered the same day with a thorough response.
I paid $450 for the Mini & LPS about 15 months ago and would do it again today if I were in need of another.  I've yet to find a downside to owning it.