Advice for Streaming Newbies - Best Bang for Our Bucks

Rose rs250 $2500 or Rose rs150 $5000. They have an internal DAC. You get internet streaming stations from all over the world. The 250 is half the size and half the money and sounds just like the 150. I haven't heard the others mentioned so probably good idea to audition as many as possible.

I like the Rose 150B. It has everything I’d want in a streamer, except I don’t need the DAC (I’d get it anyway because that screen is hard to say no to (outside of all the other benefits).

Can someone explain to me like I’m 5 what the benefits of adding a switch to the Internet router supplied by the service provider can do? Assuming the clocks are good in my streamers (Audiolab 6000N and an NAD M50.2) and are galvanically isolated, what will the switch/router provide?

Also, I’m at the point where I have 3 systems. One uses PlayFi and the other uses BlueOS. I need to buy a 3rd streamer. I like the Aurender stuff, but don’t feel like dropping that much coin just so I can have the same interface. Leaning towards a Node (each system has a separate DAC). Has anyone else run into this problem, or am I an outlier?

Boy oh boy, am I glad I have not gotten infected with the DIGITAL bug. Audiophiles have ALWAYS been pretty crazy dumping truckloads of money down a (perceived) 'making it better' path (they DID sell speaker cable for $100/ft even back then). 

But DIGITAL brings the craze to a whole new level. Reading the 'atom splitting' (hair splitting was a thing of the analog times) discussions, aren't we 'missing the boat', 'barking up the wrong tree', 'not seeing the big picture'?

Granted, my 'listening ear' (i.e. critical skill level to judge performance) is not even close to what it was 40 years when we going down the deep end of audio performance improvements, but even with my current limited skill level, I am convinced that you get 10x the improvement for every Dollar spent on the ANALOG side of the sound chain (for example speaker, room, etc). 

So if 'bang for buck' is in the discussion: think analog improvements first. 

For me the absolutely unsurpassed, blow everything else out of the water streamer is a BlueSound Node.

(Full disclosure: I'm deaf and have to listen to all my music using braille).

No doubt streaming is big rabbit hole, so many variables!. But the more I experiment the more I become convinced simpler is better. This has certainly proven to be true on network side of thing, although I continue with two computer setup, separate server and dedicated streamer.

Most insightful experiments have been with the beginning stages of network starting at feed from ISP into the house. Locating modem close to system, extend coax cable vs long runs of ethernet. Broadcom chip based modem vs Intel chip modem, Broadcom less jitter, also modem with external power supply so can use LPS on modem.

Now experimenting with removing wifi from audio streaming chain, already disconnected antenna from server. Two ways to go here, present experiment with enterprise level router (no wifi) will have feed that serves audio system only, another bridged feed goes to Netgear wifi/router for wireless devices throughout rest of house. Point is to get wifi and all it's attendant emi/rfi out of audio chain. The other way would be to forego wifi altogether, simply use audiophile switch in place of wifi/router. Point here is wifi/routers are likely the noisiest device in most streaming chains, getting out of audio chain should pay off in lower noise floor and jitter. Seems to me adding audiophile switches to chains while maintaining wifi/router upstream is a band aid at best. What's upstream of these switches is entirely critical to streaming performance, one can never get back what they lost with long runs of ethernet, bad modems and wifi/routers.