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Fairly new to streaming. Where to start?

$2k & under budget

Aralic Vega has streamer  and DAC. May be the easiest start?
Then there is Schiit...Yiggy or Gumby...which streamer?
Ladder NOS dac? Or Chip? I'm old. maybe I'll like the old school DAC?
Then there is  Benchmark DAC 3...I think it has streamer?
Then
Exasound E32
Audio Mirror?
Metrum
MHDT Orchid
Border Patrol?
Musical Paradise?
Whats a newbie to do? I am a classic rock fan with lots of FLAC & M4a files. I like detail & PRaT. Love a good bass line. I also play some 70's jazz. I have a Theta Miles CD player from the 1900's & play a lot of vinyl too. But I need to come into the 21st century.  Besides, I will probably become tired of the vinyl ritual and work at some point as I get older. I think I have done enough homework to be somewhat confused. Maybe the biggest question in light of how fast digital changes is the question of streamer with DAC or separate Streamer and DAC. One other question is the streamer & bridge the same thing? OK Thanks!! 
artemus_5
lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,638 posts
 
^^^“Weakest links in this chain?”
Pandora Basic Streaming, if you don’t want to pay then Pandora streaming quality sounds fine in your home and office system.

Pandora Audio Quality - 192 kbps AAC
Tidal Audio Quality - 1411 kbps FLAC

Anything less than 1411 kbps, you’re listening to a compressed file.

bond-san
37 posts
 
The Altair deal that uberwaltz mentioned sounds pretty good, especially since it has the optional ssd installed....one less cable to need.  Makes it a complete server.  Plus the older Altair allows for a different dac, if you like, but its internal one is excellent.  I've owned one for over two years and love it.  The Lightning DS is fine and like most other apps, gets improvements.  For myself, I like simplicity and this is a great one box solution.
cdorval1
28 posts
 
Yes, the BluOS app is available for Android phones.  It's a very good interface.  Also, the Node 2i can stream both via Ethernet and wirelessly.

Last year I was where you are--listening for many, many years to vinyl and CDs. Then I ripped most of my CDs uncompressed to computer and fed to a variety of DACS to my system.

I added the Bluesound Node 2i last year.  It's opened a whole new world, so I agree that it's a good place to start. It's feeding the internal DAC in a Devialet right now.  But I gotta say when I fed from the Bluesound internal DAC I detected no difference.  Then I tried my Bryston DAC.  No difference.  Then my Berkeley Alpha.  No difference.  Wish I could do an ABX test to hear the difference.

In any case, have fun!


daledeee1's avatar
daledeee1
610 posts
 
Got a Node 2i for 419 refurbished
Got a $30 coax cable
got a Topping D90 DAC for $630
I get good sound from this.  The functionality of the Amazon HD music ap is much better but the sound more than makes up for it.  You could save money if you want to try this out first.  I started with a $95 streamer and you could get a 300 DAC and for less than 500 you could get your feet wet.  I would skip that step because the sound of the above setup is much better and still reasonable. 
french_fries
815 posts
 
I WAS (at one time 3 years ago) going to use a MAC-MINI hooked into my (very good) CDP and use WIFI to receive HD-tracks, etc. This set-up is no longer desirable from what I gather. Still, the MAC has a 4Tb upgraded hard drive to store files. I still have all this gear but haven't tried to set it up (due to circumstances). Anyone care to comment? 
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