For those that have separate Streamers & DACS

So, the Bricasti M5 is a player/renderer and lacks support for streaming services like Tidal or Qobuz.  It needs a server to pair with it to work.  This can be a computer, Roon Nucleus or a myriad of other servers.  
 

The Antipodes S30 will serve as a server and player.  It is not my first choice for that duty.  It is good as a Roon server assuming you aren’t running any DSD files but is best when paired with a player like the M5.  
 

if you were to opt for the Bricasti M3, best option is to get the network card.  It is a $1000 upgrade and is literally the same card that is in the M5.  That with a Nucleus, Nucleus+ Or Antipodes S30 or S40 (Nucleus + or S40 is necessary for DSD) will be your best performing options.  The M3 with network card from an S30 would be VERY nice.  
 

I believe the Merason and Ideon don’t have player options.  Assuming the same $4k cap, I would look at a Roon Nucleus with an M5.  This is a better combo than you would think and I know will outperform the S30 on its own.  
 

For what it is worth , I am currently using a Roon Nucleus with Bricasti M5 as Roon endpoint in my main rig, and can very much vouch for it.  Real happy with the M5 since acquiring it back in March of this year.  Considerable jump up in sound quality vs using Roon Nucleus as a server/streamer.  Best streamer solution I have used in my room.  Other solutions have included Bluesound Node N100 (the original cube), Node 2i, and Melco N1A.  Current DAC (since 2019) has been Chord Qutest.  Prior to that DAC was Bryston BDA1. 

put a decent 12v lps into the zs and it takes another meaningful step up in sq - for the $ just crazy crazy good... people over-use the term ’giant killer’ but i think it can apply here... or at least ’giant-matcher’...

note: my use is in roon-mode, with cleansed ethernet feed into the z-s, with sotm 12v lps - i won’t purport to say it beats much more expensive ones in other modes

@jjss49 Thank you for the advice, I’ll add the LPS to my upgrade plan. FWIW, my Roon Core is a SonicTransporter i5, which appears to also be a candidate for an LPS.

looks like this moderator doesn't like me commenting on audio Troy trying to push his stuff on here, this section is for comments about different subjects it's not for selling items there's a total different area of audiogon where you can do that, I guess audio Troy must be paying off the moderators cuz I haven't said anything wrong or violated any rules.

And then the question becomes what is more important....the DAC or Server.  This topic has been discussed many times on Audiogon.  I had Lumin X-1 which is a DAC / Streamer tied to a Synology NAS.  I now have a Lampizator Pacific with a Lucas Audio Music Server.  In my case, the Lampi Pacific did not lite up until I added the Lucas Audio LDMS.  I absolutely love the sound improvements provided by the LDMS.  Lucas Domansky is a computer genius and his customer service is 24/7.  I live in Arizona and he set up my LDMS including loading 7 tbs of music on the server remotely from the UK.  The SQ compared to my past systems is incredible.