Entry level or not, my Bluesound Vault 2i sounds damn fine using the built-in DAC. As far as the cumbersome software, I can agree to a point, Which is why I run mine using Roon on an Intel NUC running the ROCK OS. Works flawlessly and the Roon architecture kicks SQ up considerably.
Need DAC/Streaming Advice
I currently own a Bryston BDP-2 digital player that I run through a Bryston DAC. As far as playing high resolution files via a thumb drive or other external drive, the BDP-2 sounds great. The streaming part leaves a lot to be desired. I can stream Tidal but it is extremely slow and the IPad controller is pretty lousy. I can listen to Sonos through the DAC into my main system but obviously there is no hi-Rez via Sonos. I would like to find a better solution and am willing to start over (I can move the Bryston components to my secondary system). What I would like to find is a higher end streamer for my main system that would allow me to stream Tidal, Spotify and Deezer if possible while also playing digital files via thumb drive etc. I have no idea if that can be done in a one box solution or if I would need a separate streamer and DAC. I would very much appreciate any and all thoughts. Thanks in advance.