Streamer question

No experience here with either.  Do they include DACs, or are you pretty set in that department?
  I love my Melco N 100, which is a great streamer and NAS with a 2 TB HD.  No DAC included and you need to supply a CD ripper if you are going to convert a CD collection.  Price ranges around $2K.
  My worry with new boutique companies is support.  Streamers are a different animal than other components.  They are basically networking computers in audio casework.  If you have ever had a problem getting a recalcitrant printer and PC to talk to each other, or have your IT server crash at work, you can imagine what might happen.  They might be great companies with fantastic support, but even so they might not be in business 3 years from now.
  My Melco has simply worked from the get go, no support required. They are the audiophile branch of a long standing computer peripheral company if that means anything.  No, I have no affiliation, just a satisfied consumer

streamers are dedicated computers designed to produce a pure low noise bitstream, and they rely on software to work and interface with the user and a menagerie of streamed music sources

the software aspect, and the integration of the software with a changing set of streamed music sources is a key variable... for example tidal connect is a form of service-to-streamer coupling software that must be properly coded into a streamer... i would be reluctant to rely on small makers to forever keep up to date on the ever changing streaming world and have their user interface and operating software fully up to snuff

“i would be reluctant to rely on small makers to forever keep up to date on the ever changing streaming world and have their user interface and operating software fully up to snuff.”


@jjss49 makes an excellent point. I would look at offerings from Aurender or Lumin. Even a Node paired with an external DAC gives you much more robust platform and SQ to stream music from vast variety of streaming services.

what @ jjss49 said.  Even Bryston a respected hardware supplier of streaming devices , IMO, struggles with the software side of their streaming devices.  Having said that their streaming  devices sound great.  On the flips side look a Sonos; midfi hardware at best but have captured a large segment of the streaming market by focusing a producing superior software.