For those that have separate Streamers & DACS

by reputation:

innuos

lumin

auralic

aurender (already mentioned)

sonore (i use the optical rendu and roon)

sotm

ifi zenstream is recent candidate for high value solution...

The iFi Zen was a little kludgey for initial setup but it sounds far better than I expected. At a $399 price point I wasn’t expecting much and I’m still pleasantly surprised.

The Zen stream was an interim purchase for me as my previous streamer had died and I needed something quick. I assumed I’d be trading up within a few months of finding my next streamer.

Maybe not though. I’m still really enjoying the heck out of the iFi zen. And I’ve got a Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2 on the way to serve as an I2S converter between the USB iFi Zen and the I2S interface on the DAC.

put a decent 12v lps into the zs and it takes another meaningful step up in sq - for the $ just crazy crazy good... people over-use the term ’giant killer’ but i think it can apply here... or at least ’giant-matcher’...

note: my use is in roon-mode, with cleansed ethernet feed into the z-s, with sotm 12v lps - i won't purport to say it beats much more expensive ones in other modes

The all in one unit will have been optimally integrated with clocks and power supplies, result, likely less noise and jitter than mixing and matching various components from different manufacturers.

i think this is an important advantage of combined units... the interface can be managed using two separate units, clocking, cabling etc but a well engineered single unit would lock in a high quality solution

@hilde45

@tcotruvo I have a Node and upgraded the power supply by swapping in this board. Found the power supply for a fraction of MSRP on ebay. Sounds wonderful.

is your modded node a 2i or a ’3/n130’? do they have that polish ps mod card for the new one now?  also, pls check your links... are they correct?

also are you using the analog outs or digital output?

hope you have been well dave

other terrific (and i do mean terrific) low cost streamer option is the ifi zen stream, with an add on linear power supply, ideally at 12v dc, total cost about $600

@hilde45 

i always assumed the pd creative ps upgrade for 2i node improved the analog out much more than the rca spdif digital out, as ps improvement tends to make the analog sound purer whereas digital bitstream benefits most from superior clocking (not affected by the p-s mod) and digital noise suppression (only somewhat affected) ... did you feel the rca digital out sounded noticeably better with the added mods to your 2i?

just as another data point, i have had no problems with the network connection and visibility with my m1 se using network card