Looking for best streamer without DAC under $3500

Stereophile reviewed a couple of servers in the two most recent issues, Innous Statement and Wolf something or other, with the cheapest being about $10,000. Both of them were compared to the Roon Nucleus+ with an upgraded power supply - total cost about $3400. The Roon more than held its own.

You can't output to an external DAC with the D2 correct? The T2 has the ability, but the D2 has to stay in the box?

$3500 budget for a streamer to stream Spotify?? Ummm, ok, lol.  Sounds like a serious set-up... why not use qobuz, tidal, amazon hd?  $3500 streamer and spotify go together like a 911 turbo and 85 octane 👍

@creativepart  Have you ever had the firmware corrupt on you  requiring you to burn a new microsd and put it on? I find that a bit annoying.

@creativepart  Have you ever had the firmware corrupt on you requiring you to burn a new microsd and put it on? I find that a bit annoying.

Actually, one time. I originally had the SMS200 before getting the SMS200 Ultra. I don't remember exactly what I did, but I was messing around with the SD card and a reboot button on the rear of the unit and it corrupted the SD card. I didn't need to buy a new one. I copied a safety copy to my computer and downloaded a new disk image. After I applied the image to the SD everything worked normally. This was back at version 4.2 of the firmware. I was only down for half a day while I figured out what I needed to do. SoTM support (May) was responsive and helpful.
I never had any other similar events and I went on to upgrade to the Ultra version of the SMS200. I've not had any issues with it at all. It's just plug and play.