Streamer opinion.. Pease comment on validity.

Playing the role of Luddite, I'm still holding at Windows Laptop plugged directly into Router and running Windows Remote Desktop from my tablet. 

On the plus side, I have access to all music sources, including YouTube and tracks/album links I stumble across when surfing the music press, or just clicking to JRiver or Qobus.  It just seems like the ultimate integration point for accessing the widest range of musical content.  Windows is my window to information.

On the negative side is that terrible e-noise in the Windows Laptop.  But how bad is it in terms of passing signal to a good DAC that's going to filter noise and reclock everything internally?

Don't get me wrong, if I get to actually experience the great improvement a dedicated streamer provides , and I like the User Interface, I'll buy a really good one.  But right now that would be blindly stepping out in faith...there's a lot of gizmos with stiff price tags but very low construction costs and in-progress software.

My main whine about trying to chart a path from laptop is that there's so much technical jargon and so little information on what the User Interface and User Experience will be. I just hear blurry things like "You will  be able to access a NAS disk"...but show me what that looks like on the screen. 

I'll probably come back from Axpona as a convert, but right now I'm in sonic bliss with my little Windows PC serving up a universe of music as directed by my tablet...and I can type comments into Radio Paradise feedback and check my Luddite AOL email at the same time 😊

Several people posting within this thread are skeptics.  That’s fine.  What I don’t understand is why someone wouldn’t actually try something to either prove or disprove their expectation.  Dealers are willing to demo.  Most dealers are also willing to let customers try in their own home.  An audition will reveal whether or not a streamer will outperform a laptop and provide a suitable or improved experience.

It’s fair to note that a streamer is a purpose built computer, stripped of all the extraneous devices that don’t serve that function - like video processing, running 3rd party software, etc.  Accordingly, they’re far more stable (don’t need updating every 5 minutes), don’t tend to crash, and don’t introduce the same levels of noise, etc.  

As stated previously - audition one and then state your findings - good or bad.  But those like usery above who state conclusively an opinion without any experience - are just missing out.  

Try one.  If you like it - buy it.  If you don’t - don’t buy it - and then tell us what you found.  

The node 2 streamer is a mid fi device at best. I liked the Auralic Aries mini much better, but I only used that for background music.

I love using my system for background music as I am going about my day.  Over the years of being on A'gon I have come to realize there is a small but vocal subset of members with not much better to do with their time than to sit in a room alone and stare into space listening for tiny differences in sound.  This is not meant to be negative at all towards anyone who spends mega bucks on equipment, as I get it, its how the equipment serves you. 

Here is my 2 cents- my experience - I have been running my LUMIN D1 for 5 years into two high quality stereo systems (Krell and Maggie’s). The D1 constantly gets upgraded via its internet connection automatically from LUMIN via its Ethernet cable. The Apple interface on my iPad mini is great. I stream Tidal HiFi with MQA and I cannot believe the sound quality- every cable upgrade has improved my detail and soundstage. Just replaced the DC power supply - went with the SBoost - another amazing increase in detail out of my 5 year old rig that cost me $2,000 5 years ago.

i read here about so many people having issues with streaming using a computer and multiple DACs. Just get a LUMIN (the D2 runs $2,200) and get back to enjoying the music.

i am considering moving up to the T2, but it costs $4500. And it has the Saber DACs. But I like my Wolfson DACs in my D1.

Happy Listening!

There aren't that many streamer only devices with no DAC, so it's not easy to compare different streamers into the same DAC.  What I have done is compared the sound of the Bluesound Node 2 with its internal DAC to using my Sony TA-ZH1ES headphone amp's DAC.  There was a noticeable improvement using the DAC in the Sony.  For my other Node 2, I used my Auralic Vega DAC instead of the Node 2's internal DAC.  I never did a comparison between the Vega and the Node 2's DAC. 

While that doesn't answer the question of using different streamers with the same DAC, it lays some groundwork for what I did next, which was to replace the Node 2/Vega combination with a TEAC NT-505 streamer/DAC.  The TEAC, which cost less than $2,000 easily bested the sound quality of the Node 2 into the Vega (which was a $3,500 DAC when new). 

While it's possible that the Vega just isn't that good, or that the DAC in the TEAC is a giant killer, I believe that the difference is more likely due to having better streaming hardware sending the signal to the DAC.  I can't think of much, if anything, in the audio chain that doesn't matter, so it stands to reason that a better streaming source will result in better sound quality.

I would be very interested in a technical explanation of what it is that makes one streamer produce better sound than another.