Educate me on music streamers, please.


I just recently started a trial of Roon, Audirvana, Tidal, Deezer, Qobuz and Spotify.  In the past, I just played FLACs on Foobar or streamed on Google Play.  

Roon and Audirvana are pretty cool and I like that you can add Tidal and Qobuz but you can't add Deezer (I really like Deezer's Flow).   I don't like that I can't stream Deezer to my Raspberry Pi with RopieeeXL.  

So, I was thinking that maybe a music streamer that has all of these services would be a good idea.  Anyone have one they like?  Do they have their own "sound"?  I have a DAC  - so would the DAC sound change whatever comes out of the streamer?

Sorry for the basic questions.  I appreciate any help.


soundchasr
soundchasr OP

Congratulations!  I just switched over from analog to digital streaming a few months ago (good timing, that).   I dipped my toes in the water with a Bluesound Node 2i, using only Qobuz, and enjoyed it immensely.  I upgraded to the PowerNode 2i because we planned to have the streamer in the living room of our new place and my wife was happier with the smaller footprint.  For such a small unit, and a low price point, both the Node 2i and PowerNode 2i are a phenomenal value and a great intro to streaming.  BTW, if you are into home theater, the PowerNode 2i has HDMI inputs.
I communicated with the international service supervisor of Innuos and he said they can add Deezer to be available on my device.  I did a demo of a mini mk III and loved it!  Its sound is outstanding . I have Deezer which I want to keep.  If you want a roon core server it will do that too along with burning up to 1TB of CD's.  I was sold once he said I could have my Dezzer.
@veroguy -

I ended up returning the Node 2i.  Even though it could play Deezer I wasn't able to get all the functionality that I could get from the app on my laptop.  

I'm starting to look at the options you mentioned before (and my willingness to spend more has increased a bit)

  • DCS Network Bridge
  • NAD M50.2
  • SimAudio Moon Mind2
Still want Deezer support so beginning the research again.  Someone mentioned Innuos too. 

Why can't there be something that supports all the services?!

Still searching for the perfect streamer.....






@soundchasr   I have the Moon ACE with MiND2. It does not support Deezer, but it does support Roon. Good luck with your search for a perfect streamer!