2. digital
  3. 159167-147315

Can anyone recommend a good streamer/DAC?

I have tried streaming on an Astell& Kern Kann Cube and love it. Now looking for a streamer DAC combo (or  both integrated in one box) to put on the rack with my living room system. I have read good things about the Cambridge Audio 851n and their CXN v2; $1,500 and $1,100, respectively. Also about the Bryston BDA-3.14, at $4,200. I am willing to pay for good quality sound and at the same time I worry that the technology may be moving fast enough that as with computers and HDTVs there will be a much better version available soon for a lot less money. Anybody know if Cambridge Audio or Bryston has anything new in the works for streamer/DACs? All recommendations will be much appreciated.
kevin1956
markum01
125 posts
 
Any Lumin streamer will work well for streaming only. They only have DAC that serves the streamer itself with no auxiliary inputs for a CD transport .
Happy Listening
Mark
bosssound's avatar
bosssound
122 posts
 
+1 sbayne
meh03
18 posts
 
To the OP. I two systems. I have the cxn v2 and the bluesound 2i. I have compared them both in both systems so I may be able to help. 

My only complaint on the cxn is it doesn’t play MQA. Of course the bluesound does. If I did it over again I would have bought the upper Cambridge model that does play MQA. However I actually prefer the sound of the cxn playing cd quality over the bluesound playing MQA. The cxn just has a pleasent sound signature. 

With that said I recently added a Hegel HD25 dac after the bluesound and it sounds great so you may want to consider looking into that route. 

Hope this helps, lots of choices. 
kevin1956 OP
12 posts
 
Any thoughts on the differences between the Naïm ND5XS2 and the Lumin T2, which are similarly priced?
kevin1956 OP
12 posts
 
My main source of streamed music will be Qobuz (as opposed to Tidal) so MQA is probably not as big a factor for me.
More to discover