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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
woodsworld
22 posts
 

I’m using, quite successfully a SMSL SD-9 streamer connected to a Musician Pegasus DAC. I’m getting Tidal MQA which the MQA is decoded by the SMSL streamer, and the decoded signal feed to my DAC which doesn’t support MQA. I’m controlling the streamer with BubbleUPNP which supports access to Tidal and Qobuz. The SMSL Streamer only costs 399, and has excellent sound quality. Further downstream is a Wyred4Sound STI-500;integrated amplifier and Magnepan LRS speakers. Overall a great sounding system.

verdantaudio's avatar
verdantaudio
1,469 posts
 

What I find funny is no one asked what DAC you have.  The best solution can vary depending on the DAC and what is the best input.  Many devices use USB.  This may or may not be the best input on your DAC.  

Also, you have not mentioned a budget.  These things range from $600 (Bluesound Node) to $47K (Pink Faun Double Ultras) that I am aware of.  Best I have heard have been Taiko, Pink Faun and Antipodes but they tend to be pricier.   

The point is there are are lots of brilliant solutions.  What DAC do you have?  Do you have a budget in mind? 

Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,656 posts
 

lordmelton

Everytime someone mentions Aurender you feel the need to chirp in with your "bad experience".

Not so. What I was really doing here was praising the Raspberry Pi and the Bryston players. I had excellent results using a hat on the Pi to get a digital out and the Bryston is fantastic, so it’s unclear why you’d focus on my mention of Aurender.

Well if you’d bought it via a dealer or responsible seller then you wouldn’t have had the issues you did.

I bought my Aurender brand new from an authorized dealer, the same dealer where I buy my ARC gear. That's also where I bought the Bryston BDP-3.

dman1974's avatar
dman1974
33 posts
 

Started with Bluesound, moved to Lumin D2. Currently using the Lumin U1 mini with Exasound DAC. Moving to the Lumin T2 all in one solution. Best sounding streamer/DAC I’ve ever heard in my system. Don’t let anyone tell you a Bluesound is good enough for a streamer. It simply isn’t true. I’ve done the upgrade journey and a Bluesound doesn’t even come close to what these high end streamers are doing.

jonwolfpell
342 posts
 

Another vote for Innuos Zenith Mark III. Simple, solid, easy to use w/ their iPad app, rips CD’s quickly & most importantly, sounds excellent! Sounds very close to my very good Basis turntable, Vector arm & Hana cartridge set up !

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