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

@lalitk and all:

$118 PD Creative board

$140 Acopian linear power supply (used, via Ebay, Florida Industrial, vendor)

$258 total.

Much better deal than the Teddy Pardo option, though that looks nicer.

Here's a photo of the powersupply sitting behind my rack, Node just where it usually lives.

 

other terrific (and i do mean terrific) low cost streamer option is the ifi zen stream, with an add on linear power supply, ideally at 12v dc, total cost about $600

@hilde45 

i always assumed the pd creative ps upgrade for 2i node improved the analog out much more than the rca spdif digital out, as ps improvement tends to make the analog sound purer whereas digital bitstream benefits most from superior clocking (not affected by the p-s mod) and digital noise suppression (only somewhat affected) ... did you feel the rca digital out sounded noticeably better with the added mods to your 2i?

Lindemann Limetree Bridge with Denafrips Ares 2. Good combination for the prices paid, both discounted made it even better.  Preferred over Sonore mR that it replaced and Lumin Mini which I tried.

I like Lumin U1mini and SBooster with Schitt Yggdrasil.

I think SQ/price is hard to beat.