A/B Comparison On A Pair Of Moderately Priced Streamers

@cwatters0 on paper at least the Zen NEO Stream looks great, a reasonable jump from a Bluesound Node (as it should be at over twice the cost). The onboard DAC seems to offer a lot, even outputting DSD files directly to analog without first converting them to PCM.

But it still comes down to ease of use without aggravation. No matter how good the hardware is, if it isn’t easy, fun, and reliable to use, then I’d rather have a slightly lower quality sounding device that is easy, fun, and reliable to use.

When I come home from work, I want to blow off stress and listen to music. I don’t want to have to spend an hour troubleshooting devices or having to second guess software. iFi seems to have some great devices from their Zen series to now, the NEO series, but in terms of user functionality, they need to get with it.

It is beyond maddening that a cheap $99 WiiM Mini Streamer has better user interface software and better Wi-Fi connection than devices costing much more. Dumb.

I’ve had my eye on the Zen Stream since it came out, wanting to pair it with a "decent" DAC, but am waiting on some reviewers to say that "yes", the Wi-Fi connection issues have been fixed.

Till then, the seemingly best low cost solution is to buy an easy to use, easy to love Bluesound Node and never use its onboard DAC, but rather feed an external one that is demonstrably better, maybe the Denafrips Ares II or a Schuman Ladder (if you want better bass). Pity.

My budget for a streamer and DAC or a streamer/DAC is capped around $2500. I’m 64, my hearing rolls off at 13,000 Hz and have a touch of 8000 Hz tinnitus, so I tap out at that level of quality and can call it a day. More power to those who have better ears and deeper wallets. Enjoy.

@rudyb - Thank you for sharing the link of the NPR site.  Great web link they have created for listening test.  I listen using my headphone (as always recommended for this purpose, good one) and, I got to admit, I could hardly discern the differences.  Maybe my ears need to be tuned / trained.  I had similar experience in listening with the compressed files such as AAC streamed from Youtube against the hi-rez. flac 16/44.1, 24/96 or even 24/192 files.  

I understood you are just sharing / exchanging the information in this platform.  Appreciated.  Don't be intimidated with or bothered / discouraged by some unkind words.  We could agree to disagree while keeping good manners ...

@temmple what DAC did you end up pairing with the Zen Stream? To your ears does the Zen Stream feeding that DAC sound better than the Node feeding the same DAC? How would you characterize the sonic difference?  Does it have something to do with the noise floor? Thanks. 

I have owned/own Aurender, Innuos ZenMini, and Nucleus+.  Aurender sounds very good for the money "out of the box".  ZenMini and Nucleus both must have external Linear Power Supplies added but then both of them sound excellent.  All 3 in this configuration offer excellent sound and value for the money.  

My issue with the Aurender are the limits of the Conductor app.  Backup and editing of Meta data are challenging at best as well as integration with external NAS.  The Aurender Sense App is similar in functionality to the Conductor app but backup and Meta data editing are a breeze as is integration with external NAS or additional hardrives.  

I find Roon to be exceptional and best setup uses a Nucleus(or Nucleus +) as the "core" with an internal SSD hard-drive feeding Innuos as a Roon endpoint.  In fact Innuos has released a line of streamers (Pulse) setup for this specific configuration and though I have not yet auditioned the Pulse, I expect that it will excel as the rest of the Innuos line.

I have not yet updated my network switch but others I respect have found this is critical to getting the best out of any of these systems.  

Solely because of the integration with Roon, external play, editing and backup considerations, I would highly recommend ZenMini. It is a bonus that you can add the LPSU separately to break up the cost.

Good luck! 

The Innuos Sense App is fantastic.