A quick question on what streamers to consider.......


Hello fellow Audiogoners - a quick question as I have noted above on streamers. I am looking for a steamer only,  no DAC,  that would be easy to use. I don't want to worry about any updates and would prefer a US made product if at all possible. I have a WiFi service coming into my home so that would be how I would be getting my music. I would like it simple to use and without any hassles. I would be using it in the summer providing music to my back dec, or when cooking or entertaining inside. I would looking in the price range say of ; $2,000 to $5,000 used or new. Thank you in advance and look forward to suggestions on what to buy based on what I have outlined above. Thank you in advance and please stay safe and well.....        

garebear

OP

 

your first post says you will be listening on your back deck (apparently from your living room speakers-not exactly the sweet spot) or while cooking in your kitchen (background music) or while entertaining guests.
When I have guests over, unless we are expressly listening to music as the main activity (a very rare event), my wife is usually dialing the background music into the inaudible range because the main purpose of being with our guests is conversation.

Likewise a quality component is going to be wasted on the patio, or competing with cooking noises. I mean, it’s your money, but most of the finer points other posters are making here about the differences in SQ between different streamers are beside the point for your application.

I use a CA CXN60 in my living room. The app works great, it sounds so good that I use one as a transport into a better DAC in my main system, it’s great with podcasts and internet radio ( which are excellent background listening choices while cooking). It has Chromecast and Apple AirPlay, which our guests use when they want to play us music from their phones, and I use for streaming Apple Music. It will natively play Tidal and Qobuz.

The Bluesound Node will fill your needs as well at half the price of the CA

I went with IFI Zen Stream, their upgraded power supply, and their LAN Silencer.  Total was less than $600.  Very satisfied.

Added Roon, and QOBUZ subscriptions.

Hesitated to reply, because of OP's desire for ease of implementation.  IMO, the setup instructions to use the Zen Stream in dedicated Roon mode were poor.  Took too much effort to find answers to setup questions in internet forums.  But, once it was setup, I use it with a laptop and the Roon software - very easy to use to listen to my ripped CDs or Qobuz content.

@garebear, my music server/streamer is a simple Roon Nucleus that I use to stream music to wifi speakers, my dedicated headphone setup which is hard wired of course, and other Roon Ready devices that we have all around our condo, from our patio deck to the bedrooms, the living room, the kitchen dining area, an upstairs loft, and to our basement, all at the same time if we so desire. All you need is a wired Ethernet connection for the Nucleus, but after that it’s super simple to use WiFi through the Roon app. 
 

 I learned about the Nucleus from my stereo guy who uses one at his store so that his customers can demo several audio systems simultaneously by just using an iPad. He regularly puts together high end audio systems in giant McHomes for rich folks who think nothing of dropping $250K and more on audio gear so their homes have music in every room. Yes it requires a Roon subscription. But the cost breaks down to about $0.50 a day, which to me is pretty cheap. 

@tommyr1963 
I have the same streaming setup.  iFi Zen Stream, iFi LAN Silencer and the iFi iPower Elite power supply.  I think it works quite well.  Do you find that Qobuz sounds better using Roon than, say, the mconnectHD app?

Have only used Qobuz via Roon.  I find myself choosing Hi-Res versions of albums and songs from Qobuz over my CD rips.