Do I need a streamer?

The key to good quality streaming from a general purpose computer is keep the “noisy” computer physically well away from the hifi gear by using a long wire to connect. Mine is a good 8 feet or so away connected by a long good quality USB wire and the results are very good, competitive with using the hifi streamer as the source. Also be sure to use a driver on the computer capable of doing higher res streaming. Default driver on a PC for example may not be up to the task.

As much as I read about music servers and streamers, I am still bewildered how they fit in my system which includes:

Don Sachs preamp & KT88 amp; Willsenton 300b; Wells Audio Innamora,VTV EVO1200 

Spatial Audio M4 Triode Masters

So the streamer does not have the noise that a computer does?  Does a Micro-Rendu clean up that computer noise?

I have ripped all my music to my external HD which has nearly 8TB of music on it.  Would my HD connect to a streamer?  I am unaware of any streamers or music servers that have that much internal storage, or do streamers not even have storage?

I currently control music on my iMac with Audirvana so how to I control the music if I have a streamer?   Do I still use Audirvana if use a streamer?

Thanks for your information. 

The OP is absolutely correct.  He is currently streaming.  Streamers are just networking computers made to look like audio components.  Audirvana is a program that enhances the computers ability to stream music.

  Why get a dedicated streamer?  They tend to sound better and not be affected by issues that computers have, such as the need to constantly re update the OS for reasons that are unrelated to playing music.  For example I was using an older MacAir with Audirvana for a while, but periodically Apple would force me to do an update that “bricked” my DAC.  I would have to call Apple support, they would blame the DAC manufacturer, and a few days later all would be well, but I never had that issue with a dedicated streamer.

  If you like the sound of your setup, and you don’t mind having your computer unavailable to you while listening to music, and you aren’t having networking issues, you don’t necessarily need a dedicated streamer.

@mahler123 

You make a good argument to not pursue a dedicated streamer. However, there are many here who were in OP position and believed what they heard sounded great until they made a switch to dedicated streamer and freely acknowledged the improvements from a dedicated streamer or server. Simply put, the proof is in the pudding. 

I say this to @whitestix If you have the funds then a streamer like Aurender N200 will definitely sound better than the iMac. A well appointed system like yours especially with LaVoce DAC can greatly benefit from a dedicated streamer. And N200 allows up to two 8TB SSDs storage for your music. Let N200 will be the only source for your stored music and streaming from Tidal or Qobuz. Just keep the external HD around as your back up. 

If you get a dedicated streamer like N200 then you need an iPad to navigate / browse music from Tidal and stored music. As long as both your N200 and iPad on same network, iPad is going to communicate with N200 wirelessly. N200 has its own proprietary iOS app called Conductor. I am including a link below for Conductor app so can see for yourself, the layout and functionality, 

https://www.notion.so/Conductor-App-Manual-V3-a78b4ddbe61440bc988fce52e34d0dfb

I do not want to muddy the waters by mentioning ROON here as you’re still trying to process all the information. A dedicated streamer like Aurender or Lumin would be the way go given your excellent system. 

@lalitk, @fuzztone ​​@mapman +1 on getting a dedicated streamer.

Per @lalitk :

"However, there are many here who were in OP position and believed what they heard sounded great until they made a switch to dedicated streamer and freely acknowledged the improvements from a dedicated streamer or server. Simply put, the proof is in the pudding."

So true.  Each time I thought my streaming sounded great: 1) using my Mac Mini. 2) using the internal streamer in PS Audio DS, Auralic Vega and finally MM Tambaqui.  But then I added a dedicated streamer (Auralic Aries G2.1) and it sounded WAY better.  Good Pudding!