Best Dedicated Streamer

After being bitten by the streaming bug I purchased a Node as almost everyone does. While I don't have the budget for the higher end brands nor way up a specific brands line-up's.

So I purchased what I could afford, a Lumin U1 Mini (U2 Mini is now the current model and U1's are starting to show up preowned). The only thing the Node has in common with the Lumin is they are both classified as streamers lol.

Every element of my SQ improved dramatically! 

The issue with streamers is like computers, they are/will outdate themselves faster than any other HiFi component.

And I agree, Roon is a must. I have demoed Tidal (with an MQA ready DAC), Qobuz and Amazon HD... All stand alone and in Audirvana (not for Amazon).

So, for me I dispelled my curiosity with MQA. 24/96 & 24/192 sound superior to me IMHO.

Roon/Qobuz is a clear winner in SQ.... 

Hi, has anyone compared Melco S10 to Nordost Qnet with the Qsource power supply ? Thank you!

I have physically had the Grimm vs Antipodes.  Grimm is lovely but has limited outputs (AES only) and is at its best upscaling.  I don’t know the Canary DAC well.  If it is best with a bit perfect signal that is not upscaled, Grimm is a poor choice.  If it is a DAC that does well with upscaling like the Holo May, it is superb.

if you have a DAC that is best with a simple, bit perfect signal that has not been up scaled, Antipodes is maybe your best bet.  The K50 would be spot on your price range and had many more output options.  Because of the dual computers (one for server, one for player) it outperforms many other units with Roon.

+1 @charles1dad , absolutely correct

My contention is that both the DAC and streamer are important and require equal attention and consideration.