For those that have separate Streamers & DACS


What are some of your favorite streamers/servers strictly from a sound quality perspective?  Please assume a stand-alone DAC.  I've read such a variety of opinions on streamers and was interested in opinions from those that have tried different streamers on with their DACs.  

badgerdms

Bricasti M5 is another streamer to consider, their M3 DAC can be configured with the built in streamer. 

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The best I have auditioned are the following two:

*Ideon Audio Absolute Streamer (using its own player, preferred over Roon)

*Taiko Extreme

To be clear I am not bashing the Innous, and others mentioned above, just my subjective top two. And no, I don;t own either of them😉

Auralic works for me. Aries G2.1 streamer feeding Vega G2.1 DAC, the DAC also benefitting from the Leo GX.1 Reference Master Clock. Excellent results. No Sirius yet 🤣🤣

Get an Aurender N20 it's the sweet spot, Aurender is a major brand with good support and resale value.

Computer based servers will have you fiddling around, forget it.

If you are positive you never want a pre-amp, I'd consider a Lumin U1.

People will try to confuse you with esoteric and exotic brands but where will they be in a few years?

An N20 is the best bang you'll get this side of 20 grand.