Whatsthatbuzz is your phone passing high resolution to the dac? At least CD quality? If so you might not notice a huge improvement by going with an inexpensive streamer. Seems like in streaming improvement is in baby steps unless you want to spend a lot of $$$. But even then I can’t say for sure I never had a 5 figure streamer.
Fairly new to streaming. Where to start?
$2k & under budget
Aralic Vega has streamer and DAC. May be the easiest start?
Then there is Schiit...Yiggy or Gumby...which streamer?
Ladder NOS dac? Or Chip? I'm old. maybe I'll like the old school DAC?
Then there is Benchmark DAC 3...I think it has streamer?
Then
Exasound E32
Audio Mirror?
Metrum
MHDT Orchid
Border Patrol?
Musical Paradise?
Whats a newbie to do? I am a classic rock fan with lots of FLAC & M4a files. I like detail & PRaT. Love a good bass line. I also play some 70's jazz. I have a Theta Miles CD player from the 1900's & play a lot of vinyl too. But I need to come into the 21st century. Besides, I will probably become tired of the vinyl ritual and work at some point as I get older. I think I have done enough homework to be somewhat confused. Maybe the biggest question in light of how fast digital changes is the question of streamer with DAC or separate Streamer and DAC. One other question is the streamer & bridge the same thing? OK Thanks!!
Aralic Vega has streamer and DAC. May be the easiest start?
Then there is Schiit...Yiggy or Gumby...which streamer?
Ladder NOS dac? Or Chip? I'm old. maybe I'll like the old school DAC?
Then there is Benchmark DAC 3...I think it has streamer?
Then
Exasound E32
Audio Mirror?
Metrum
MHDT Orchid
Border Patrol?
Musical Paradise?
Whats a newbie to do? I am a classic rock fan with lots of FLAC & M4a files. I like detail & PRaT. Love a good bass line. I also play some 70's jazz. I have a Theta Miles CD player from the 1900's & play a lot of vinyl too. But I need to come into the 21st century. Besides, I will probably become tired of the vinyl ritual and work at some point as I get older. I think I have done enough homework to be somewhat confused. Maybe the biggest question in light of how fast digital changes is the question of streamer with DAC or separate Streamer and DAC. One other question is the streamer & bridge the same thing? OK Thanks!!
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- 146 posts total
I got this idea from Aurender CEO in a interview. He does not let hdd do the playing. OK for storage, but hdd hands off to SSiD for play. Thus the question as to whether the vault has ssid and therefore a better player? I think this level of details are less important in low end or mid end equipment. Try something and see if you like the sound regardsless of the tech inside. Read what others like, like the Node 2i. |
If you are only gonna play ripped music a simple RaspberryPi with a dac should work great. You can buy them with built-in dac-cards or with inteface cards to connect to an external dac (I use this right now). If you can tinkle a bit with it yourself you can have a solution for less than $200. If you prefer to buy pre-built solutions they cost somewhere around $500 and up. Here are some options https://orchardaudio.com/shop?olsPage=products%2Fpcnp-strmr https://volumio.org/product/volumio-primo/ https://www.hifiberry.com/ |
I second the Bluesound approach - excellent app then you can upgrade the DAC. Lumin D2 has a far less friendly app, does not have an antenna, and support from Lumin at least in the USA is non-existent. The access to all the streaming radio stations in the world will be a revelation. Tidal on the internal Bluesound DAC is pretty darn satisfying for all but those who sit in the perfect listening position imitating Jonsey from the Hunt for Red October. |
- 146 posts total