Streamers rabbit hole

Do you have experience or a sense of how much better it might be to use a good streamer like Innuos or others at a price point somewhere maybe $5K-$8K?

@rtilden  If I were you I’d buy a used Innuos Pulsar or Aurender N200 and if they don’t provide a significant upgrade you can sell for little loss if you buy well.  I’d bet you’d hear a very meaningful improvement at that level as you should for the price.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650243740-innuos-pulsar/

https://www.audiogon.com/listings/lisbfbg4-aurender-n200-music-servers-docks

@soix -  Hard to argue with your suggestion.  I try hard to make good moves and avoid mistakes and having to sell gear....but, I'm afraid you're right that I simply won't know for myself until I do that.  

The new Innuos streamers are surprisingly expensive, which leads back to your suggestion.  I'd like to read some reviews on how the Pulsar stacks up against these newer Innuos streamers. That would probably make me most confident.  Thanks again for your thoughts and comments!

Bits is bits.  The DAC doesn't care where the bits come from.  All of those expensive streamers are just Linux boxes running custom software.  No end of suckers in audio.

Start out with a WIIM Pro outputting to external DAC, or if you are into fiddling with configurations, try a Raspberry 4 or higher with HAT for sp/dif output.

Then if you want to consider spending a ton more money, try more expensive streamers from a dealer with a good return policy, and A/B the streamers.

I bet a paycheck you could never hear a difference between the streamers unless you compare one with DSP vs. no DSP.

Russbutton. Bits are bits is true. The DAC doesn’t care where the bits came from. DACs don’t have feelings like humans do. All of those streamers just use Linux boxes, blah, blah, blah. I have owned many streamers like many here and our experience tells us there are differences in sound and quality of sound. They don’t all sound the same. Better parts, better power supply and better isolation and better design will give a better product in just about everything we buy. No end for suckers in audio. True. No end to “know it all blowhards” too.