2. digital
  3. 179080-171520

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.

cowhorn
badgerdms
158 posts
 

@tksteingraber  Out of curiosity, what did you have before the M5?

seanheis1
623 posts
 

Why do you never read about Streamer A vs Streamer B ? Cause noboby

can hear a difference.

this is overly simplistic, and incorrect

different streamers sound different because they manage noise, clocking, power supply, and physical isolation differently - the sonic difference can be quite noticeable to quite subtle to insignificant... depending on the network, cabling, and of course the quality of system downstream to resolve those differences

Does a Mac Mini sound better than a Dell? Does a Dell sound better than a HP? They are all streamers so lots of possible comparisons. 

ghasley
2,487 posts
 

In general, yes a Mac Mini sounds better than Dell and HP. A good dedicated streamer sounds better than a Mac Mini. 

ejr1953
912 posts
 

I've been enjoying a Roon Nucleus Plus server, USB into my PS Audio DirectStream DAC now for several years and highly recommend the Roon branded server.  Besides the sound quality, the server's Roon software is installed at the factory and I don't do much of anything from the time I did the basic setup (my Roon login credentials, setup the paths for my purchased music and where to store the Roon backups, etc.)  I have a USB connected external hard drive for my purchased music and the Roon backups and periodically shut down the Roon server and connect the hard drive to a Dell laptop to back it up to the cloud...for safe keeping.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,436 posts
 

“Does a Mac Mini sound better than a Dell? Does a Dell sound better than a HP? They are all streamers so lots of possible comparisons. ”

@seanheis1

You got this wrong bud! They all are consumer grade computers not designed and optimized for streaming audio. You get streaming functionality but they sound nothing like a dedicated streamer, not even remotely close.

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