Streamer suggestions with both wireless and wired connections
There are necessary components in our systems like speakers and amplifiers, which are to be bought. At the same time, since one can use a computer to stream 0s and 1s, is it justified to invert 5k or > on a streamer?
I am using a Blue sound Nide 2i streamer (not as a dac though) for already several years, sometimes I use my computer and actually I note no essential difference in sound quality. Some of you claim a night and day difference between SQ of different streamers. So I want to find out if I am really streaming constantly at night. I have no convenient Ethernet connection close to my audio system, besides would like to compare the defferences in SQ with wireless and wired connections.
Please help to create daylight in my streaming environment
With your experience, care to estimate the appropriate importance of streamer relative to rest of the system? I assume Speaker + Amp far more important, then the DAC, then streamer. So would that make streamer worthy of 1/3 your speaker investment?
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If you do your research and buy best of class then Streamer ~= DAC ~= Preamp ~= amp. Over time for me again and again my end system after an upgrade ends there. Typically my speakers will be the more expensive than my components. I’ll put 35% investment for component / speakers into speakers. I don’t include interconnects… I blow my whole budget… then as I learn about the sound of my new system and as my finances recover I start purchasing cables. My objective is to reach the maximum sound quality for my system so I can happily stay there for 7 to 10 years. So for my headphone system my streamer $3.5K, DAC $4K, amp $5K. Main system: Streamer $22K, DAC $17K, Preamp $17K, amp $22K. I tried a $13K streamer… definitely lost a lot… I tried a $22K DAC and it was a tiny bit better, but a tiny less musical. So, it is only a rough guide.
But it also makes sense to me because another of my rules of thumb are that it takes 2x careful investment to make a “wow” that is a lot better. I find the high end audio industry is pretty competitive and if your component doesn’t outperform lessor ones, then your not in the running. |
This begs the question, what music service are you using and what’s in the rest of your system because this flies far in the face of the experience of the vast majority of members here. Put another way and more directly, something seems really amiss here. The more info you provide here the better and more meaningful help and recommendations you’ll receive, so please share more if you’re willing. |
Greatly appreciated @ghdprentice, I expected DAC ~= Preamp, but didn't expect Streamer to be equal. |
I owned the Node and the Vault and thought that they both sounded better wired. I had used computers for streaming prior to that and thought that the Bluesound sounded roughly equivalent, but I enjoyed having the computer out of the system and Bluesound made Internet Radio so much easier. Better streamers are out there and I don’t think $5K is required. My Cambridge Audio CXN 60 sounds better than Bluesound at roughly twice the Node price. I would definitely go wired. For a few hundred dollars you should be able to hire an IT installer for 1-2 hours to wire your dwelling. Once done you should never need to repeat. Think of it as part of the cost of the streamer. You could try this with the Node first |
