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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!! 
128x128artemus_5
midareff1
182 posts
 
Recently added a Cambridge CXN (V2) streamer to my system.  It's not quite my Sony XA 5400 ES CD player but it's close and the Sony is running balanced and Cambridge single ended.  Good power cord and interconnects are required and it needs to burn about 600-700 hours.
nickttt
4 posts
 
I'm interested in the CXN V2 - it looks like it's in my sweet spot price and feature-wise (including the balanced outputs) but I wonder about the lack of MQA (which the Node 2i has, but no XLR either.)

big_greg
6,655 posts
 
I meant to mention earlier that if you want to stream over wireless and are looking at a device that doesn't have wireless capability, it's really easy and inexpensive to set up a wireless access point.  It's like a wireless receiver that you can connect an ethernet cable to.  Here's the device I use. 

https://www.newegg.com/tp-link-tl-wa801nd/p/N82E16833704052 

I have it connected to an ethernet switch that my streamer, roku, TV, Oppo bluray player, and home theater processor are all connected to.  Works great!

Many recommend a direct wired connection, but that's not practical for everyone.
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bruce19
262 posts
 
@whatsthatbuzzI found this book, "File Based Audio" by Hans Beekhuysen answer a lot of the questions you pose.
drhamp's avatar
drhamp
20 posts
 

I use Roon and have been streaming for several years. I stream both Tidal and more recently Qobuz as well as music from my local NAS.

My primary streaming setup is a Schiit Yggdrasil DAC and a Metrum Ambre streamer. They work very well together and are seamless with Roon. Music quality is excellent. The downside for many people is cost as these two units together run $3000 to $3500. Don’t get me wrong, I love them and for me they are absolutely worth it.

A few months back I was watching a “Darko” youtube video about a Raspberry Pi music dac/streamer combo from Allo called the Boss Player. It’s a Roon ready dac/streamer in one box and costs $169. You need to add $25 or so to power it, but Darko gave it rave reviews – so I had to try it.

When it arrived, it took about 20 min to assemble it and get it on my network. I had decided to use Ropieee software and it is also seamless when interfacing with Roon.

When streaming HiRes music through Roon I cannot detect a difference in quality between the two approaches – maybe hard to believe, but true.

Doing some further research into the Metrum Ambre, I found that it is also running Raspberry Pi internally and Ropieee software. Without question, the Ambre is a solid, well built unit and has considerably more interface options, but the heart of it is the same.

My recommendation for anyone who wants to try streaming without spending a great deal of money should try the Raspberry Pi route – then they could move up to more expensive solutions when they wish.


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