Clock vs Streamer advice


Hi,

My current system is/was

Aurender N100H>Bricasti MC1>ARC Ref6 Pre>PS BHK 300 monos>B&W 803 D3

I sold the Aurender to try a different streamer and am temporarily using a MacBook to run Roon straight the the DAC through USB. I currently don’t have a huge budget. I emailed a local shop that has a used Melco N1Z to demo at home. I am going to try it out. I also want to try the Bricasti M5 streamer to see if there is synergy with my DAC.

I also came across the Mutec MC3+USB and Mutec Ref10 Nano combination in a similar price point, but I won’t be able to demo this.

If I have to pick between using a mac>Multec MC3+USB and Ref10 Nano>dac and the Melco>DAC option, which do you think will improve sound more. I’m still pretty new to this hobby and can’t currently afford the Melco and Multec combo.

zpatenaude37

@OP. Melco's app is not great either. As you have a quality DAC, and I'm working on the premise that it is USB equipped, you do have the potential to run Roon straight into that DAC. However, you need a purpose built computer to get the best results.

I have had an Innuos Zen Mini and it’s LPS since 2019. I cannot compare it to any other streamers since it is my first and only. Innuos Sense, the on board streaming platform, is pretty darn good. I use Qobuz as a streaming service that feeds seamlessly into Sense. I also have many hundreds of CDs that I ripped into the Zen Mini’s hard drive. Good luck!

+1 for the Innuos products. The Innuos products are easy to use, sound great and the Innuos Sense app is rock solid and very user friendly. Roon is also supported, but the Innuos Sense app is just as good and IMHO sounds better than Roon.  As you go up the Innuos product line, the power supplies and noise isolation improve to concur with the on point comments from @blisshifi regarding the importance of power supply quality and noise. Ditch the computer!

OP @zpatenaude37  mentioned he currently uses Roon. I love Roon. And that is why I didn't get Aurender. I have been playing around with squeeze and yes it sounds a wee bit better than Roon, but it is not nice to deal with- frustrating compared to Roon. Almost begs the question if I am going to futz with this squeeze app everytime I want to change a song etc. I might as well have put all this streaming money into a turntable setup and got up and changed records. Maybe sense is much better, I have't tried it. But eventually squeeze could get better, and Aurender could get Roon, one day.