Suggestions for a streamer only (I have a great DAC)

@loxo, I also use a Roon Nucleus with an aftermarket LPS(linear power supply), except mine is an Sbooster, which I’ve found to work quite nicely in my system. I’m often amazed at the number of folks who not only recommend to others music servers that cost $10,000 and more, but have also bought one themselves when all they’re doing is using Roon to run Tidal and Qobuz. 

The miniDSP SHD Studio is a Streaming High Definition digital audio processor that combines:

• Dirac Live®, full version with perpetual license
• Roon Ready certified
• Powerful DSP processor and ultra flexible tuning capability
• Volumio high-performance network streaming

The SHD Studio’s powerful but user-friendly DSP audio tuning software provides 10-band parametric EQ per channel, crossovers up to 48dB/octave, compressor / limiter and a 2 x 4 matrix mixer. The system allows for powerful audio system tuning in applications ranging from integrating a single subwoofer to a two-way active speaker.

Volumio network streaming provides access to music files from many sources including USB drives, NAS (network area storage devices), Roon, TIDAL, Qobuz Spotify, JRiver, internet radio and more.

Three digital inputs and USB Audio enable the SHD Studio to fit into any modern audio system, while processed outputs are available as unbalanced and balanced digital.

Dirac Live combines frequency response correction as well as impulse response correction. SHD Studio includes a full perpetual license and updates of Dirac Live. 

Deer Creek Audio is an authorized miniDSP dealer.  Feel free to contact us for more information on the SHD Studio.

You can build a perfectly good streamer from a Raspberry Pi for under $100. It will send bit perfect data to your DAC. Any decent DAC is immune from jitter on the data stream. Anyone who thinks the streamer makes a sound quality difference ought to do some real testing. They are probably imagining  things.

Unbelievable!  What is it with audiophiles that they feel they  have to spend crazy amounts of money on such simple things?  

Any decent laptop PC can do all the streaming you want.  Pick one up for $300 off of Craigslist and then spend the rest of you budget on...   Well you don't need to spend it.

I've been running low cost laptop PCs running Ubuntu Linux feeding a USB line into a Peachtree DAC for years now.   Sounds great.  I can stream from an Internet service, or from my sizable collection of ripped CDs.   I also do location recording, so I use it to play back the recordings I make.

Hi Naperaudio,

My suggestion would be to get an ifi Zen Stream (only $300 or so), and an upgraded power supply. I recently upgraded from a Bluesound Node 2i to the Zen stream, paired with a linear power supply from McRU (around $350). Beats the pants off of what I had before, and costs far less than most streamers (and probably sounds just as good, though I haven’t heard others like Auralic. In any case, I’m using the Zen Stream to stream from Tidal using Tidal connect and it works and sounds great! 

Rasberry pis are for nerds :)

Josh