Your DAC has an I2s in. You should find a streamer with I2s output. Ps Audio is coming out with the AirLens in October for $2K. It will galvanically isolate from the wired ethernet..not sure about wifi..but personally I prefer wired if I can get rid of ethernet noise and that will be what the AirLens does..then I2s out and that should go directly into your DAC and since I2s carries all clock information, the DAC doesn't have to reconstruct the streamer's output.
Need recommendations for a streamer
I would like to upgrade from a Bluesound Node to a higher quality streamer.
The Node sounds fine with my current system, but I am making a second system for my wife, and the Node is going to that new system. I thought I would take the opportunity to upgrade my streamer at this time.
My criteria are that it be a streamer only (no DAC/storage/CD player, etc), be able to hook into wi-fi/cloud without a physical wire/connection, have balanced outputs to go to my DAC, and cost less than 2,500 USD. Can anybody think of a streamer that fits this bill?
The rest of my system:
DAC: Terminator II
Preamp: Schiit Freya+
Amps: PS Audio M1200 x 2
Speakers: Thiel CS 2.3
Thanks.
- ...
- 88 posts total
@jasonbourne52 and inexpensive.
|
Streamers without DACs sound broadly similar in my experience. However you do need a good interface to access your music which you lose by abandoning Bluesound. I recommend Roon - it is even better than Bluos and will revolutionize your listening. You would need a 'roon-ready’ streamer. I recommend Pro-Ject Stream box S2 ultra as a good wifi or wired streamer (no dac). Or the Auralic Aries G1. The latter is a lot more expensive but in my a/b testing was no better in sound quality. |
You already have Terminator 2 as a DAC. If you have node as well, buy Denafrips Gaia. Digital to Digital converter which will improve all the problems of Node before sending signal to Terminator 2, you get significant improvement without extra 5K. Gaia is $1800. If source is not gonna be combined DAC, don’t waste your money with more expensive servers, at the end all sends 0 and 1s to DAC. |
- 88 posts total