@audphile1 - Good points. I thought I heard Aurender was, or was soon to be, Roon ready. I unintentionally left Lumin out. What would be the the appropriate Lumin product (streamer only, $5-10K)?
Roon Endpoint Streamers - Direct Comparisons between Current Offerings?
Have any of you directly compared sound quality between any of the current offerings of streamers when used solely as a Roon endpoint/streamer? This assumes Roon core and any local music file storage is being operated on a separate device (i.e., a separate server).
I have listed several of the current options below and while a few of those offer additional features, such as server capabilities, hosting of local file storage, or operating players unique to their manufacturers (i.e., other than Roon), I am interested in their performance solely as a Roon endpoint/streamer. Other suggestions not listed below are welcome, but please consider a $5K -$10K price range.
Streamers
- Sonore Signature Rendu SE optical v3.0 - $5,350
- Auralic Aries G2.2 - $6,099
- Innuos Pulsar - $7,999
Server/Streamers
- Aurender N200 - $6,300
- Antipodes K22 - $9,000
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- 51 posts total
@mitch2 the Lumin U2 streamer only or the previous U1. |
FWIW: When I first delved into ROON. Th core was iMAC hosted with a BDP pi endpoint. The ROON soundstage was pancake flat vs the BDP/MPD standalone stream of Qobuz and RadioParadise @Redbook resolution. Then I Made a few improvements to the network and cabling but the big move was re-hosting the Core on SGC i5 running the Sonic Orbiter OS (Fedora Linux). Game changer now ROON sounds as good as the BDP/MPD streamer sans the most critical listening. The Signature Rendu SE is based on the Sonic Orbiter OS. So +1 for the Sonore. |
After looking a bit closer, the streamer market seems fluid with manufacturers revamping line-ups, frequently upgrading models, and increasing prices. This may not be the time to put money into a newest model streamer. In the Lumin line-up, the U2 at $5,000 would fit the range while the U1X at $9,200 seems to be the former U1 with a better outboard LPS. Auralic continues to upgrade streamer models with the Aries G2.2 (that recently upgraded the G2.1) apparently being upgraded to a G3 at $10,899. |
I have compared my SOnore Optical Rendu and the Lumin X1 using fibre directly from my network switch. Both sound different and are equally good. However, I also have a PlayBack Designs Streamer-IF that I bought for $2k. I am only using it with SPDIF out and Ethernet into the streamer (no fibre). I do not know what Andreas K. has done inside that unit but that streamer sounds amazing. Sort of in-between the sound of the smooth and refined Sonore with the loud and brash X1. I plan on eventually getting the PlayBack Designs Dream DAC and then use the fibre stream out of the Streamer-IF. That should be even better. My Streamer-IF is the previous streamer model PBD sells. I think the new streamers they sell can be used with many more output types, including USB. I would look at them even though they are seriously expensive. Playback Designs | the finest audio playback in the world I would think this streamer would work well even connected directly to a noisy computer given the reputation of the designer.
BTW - the Lumin U1X seems to me the internals of the Lumin X1 streamer (what I owned)
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- 51 posts total