Streamer Upgrade


I have a modified Bluesound Node 2i with an upgraded power supply board and Terry Pardo power supply. While I am happy with it, I have the upgrade itch! I'm curious if anyone has upgraded from a modded Bluesound Node and what your thoughts are/were? On the TP website, they claim this upgrade brings "it very close to the level of network streamers costing twice as much" which makes me curious as to how big of a jump others experienced. I'm looking at streamer only as I am not interested in units with onboard DAC's. I currently use Roon with a Mac Mini as my Core. My DAC is the Schiit Gungnir MB. 

Thanks!

-Will

128x128willg1985

@jazzman7  thanks for sending this. This unit looks awesome but the wife wouldn’t be happy without Spotify connect. I love TMR too. 

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@willg1985 

With respect to supporting Spotify.  I understand.  That is why I maintain an old Bluesound N100 (the original cube) in my main rig, just so that when my son is in town he can access Spotify.  

Sonore makes a line of music streamers and the ultraRendu is a good one. It's only $999 and sounds much better then Bluesound.

 

I find that using a streamer lets your DAC sound it's best. The streamer dosn't change your DACs sound it just eliminates all the noise that keeps your DAC from it's true sound.

I have an Auralic Aries G1 and am quite happy with it's performance. I stream exclusively through WiFi and have never had an issue with it dropping out or sounding compromised by a poor connection. Auralic states that they dedicated a lot of focus on performance over WiFi matching direct ethernet wiring. 

I sent a question into Auralic prior to purchasing the streamer and their head engineer replied directly back to me the same evening answering my question so it would seem that they are focused on good customer communication. At least in my one instance. 

I also have a Bluesound Node 2i that I use on another system and while I think it is a great streamer for the cost I do like the Lightning DS application from Auralic over the Bluesound streaming app. With Roon that most likely is not a priority for you. 

I have never compared Numin, Aurender or Innuous to the Auralic products so won't make any comments but I am sure they all make very good streamers in comparison. Price and features could be a deciding factor.