New streamer needed

oh, btw, totally disagree with @ghdprentice regarding the long-term prospects of Roon (keeping in mind what I’ve already said, which is that I’m a fan).  Roon very powerfully integrates your cd collection, burned on a NAS and/or residing on a dedicated server, with whatever your streaming service is.  But the really brilliant differentiator for Roon is their software works with almost everybody else’s hardware.  This is particularly useful if you have multiple systems - you can mix and match and change your streamers and dacs to your heart’s delight.  Finally, the Harman acquisition secures Roon’s future, and hegemony, for a long time, IMHO. Most of their higher-cost competitors are small, specialty companies.  

I’ve been in kind of a similar situation relative to price range. Only that I’m looking to upgrade my current streamer. Which sounds great, but tends to be quite glitchy (Pi2 design Mercury). Within that contending field - Volumio Rivo, Lumin U2 Mini, used Aurelic or Aurender etc. But why not Eversolo DMP A6 Masters edition or even the A8? The A8 is a kind of all in one. Not the direction I’d prefer to go, but is supposed to be so good in its components and design to be worth it.

The British Audiophile did some nice comparisons between the A8 and and (I think) Aurelic streamer: 

Thanks for all the suggestions of brands and models. Not sure about the Eversolo, but the Volumio Rivo seems to match very will with the Merason Frerot. However, I prefer a streamer with the option of adding an internal 4tb ssd card. And then, of course, is the question is how it will natch with the rest of my system (Audible Illusions Modulus 3A, Belles SA-100, Audio Physic Caldera. Still some work to do to find this out...

mdalton, indeed there are many threads on the topic. However, my initial question about this was related to the fact that my current (older) streamer broke down and I then connected my (older) Accuphase transport to my DAC, which sound blew me away. What should I invest, and which ones to check, to keep me blown away :-)

WiiM Pro Plus…it’s good…