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  3. 156618-110028

Can we talk streamers based on UI rather then SQ?

I'm a Node 2i user currently and looking for a change.
I've been reading lots of posts for the last week or so and I'm not sure if I'm more or less confused then
when I started. Lol
Looking to move on from the Node platform because the UI is bothering me.

Most of the topic of discussions based around the multitude of streamers seems to be on SQ.
I could be off base, but I think in my mid-fi system, (Wired 4 Sound STI-500V2 >dac to be determined>Dali Helicon 800) I'll be happy with the SQ of most any streamer. I'm much more concerned with the UI as I really just want it to work as intended.

I've got about $2K to spend on a dac and or dac/streamer. 
I see a ton of praise for the Lumin gear but I also see that it seems to be built around the IOS platform and I use Android / PC. Has this issue been resolved or am I making a mountain out of a mole hill? 

I also like the idea of the Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra, just have no idea what the UI is like.
Or any small form streamer that "just works"
I like the idea of being able to DAC swap with these.  

What I want out of it:
 Streaming mainly. Tidal, Spotify and the like. 
 Ethernet Connection to my router and no issues linking to my local music files. (Node keeps dropping my local files)
 
I like the look of my Jriver index but I'm not married to it.
Don't care about Roon at this point.

I don't need a NAS do I? I have less then 1TB of music. 

What will help me make this decision? 
 
Thank you
 
128x128flavo
erik_squires
15,662 posts
 
I could be off base, but I think in my mid-fi system, (Wired 4 Sound STI-500V2 >dac to be determined>Dali Helicon 800) I'll be happy with the SQ of most any streamer.


The sound quality of DAC's is so much better now than 20 years ago that I can see that.

 I'm much more concerned with the UI as I really just want it to work as intended.


For me as well. The two things I nee are a nice UI plus interoperability with my Mac/Windows/Android home. iPhone/iPad only devices have no interest to me.

So, I'm using Roon, and streaming to a $150 Raspberry Pi 4 running Ubuntu and using USB to talk to my Mytek.

I'm not saying other solutions wouldn't work or be as good or better, but I'm very satisfied with the following:

  • Android support
  • Digital domain equalization
  • Tidal integration
  • The seamless way in which my personal and Tidal librarey are integrated.
  • Internet radio support

Best,

E
mgrif104
328 posts
 
Like others, I actually think the BluOS UI is one of the better ones. I have Aurender Conductor, Auralic Lightning DS and BluOS in different systems and like BluOS the best of those.  I’ve also tried Lumin while auditioning one of their units.  Sound quality was fine, but I thought the UI lacking relative to Conductor and BluOS.

Have you considered Roon?  It might be the easiest solution as the Node 2i is an endpoint - if you’ve got someplace on your network to run Roon Core.  Roon is very good at finding and keeping track of network files and it’s pretty seamless for streaming services.  And the interface is arguably the best out there.  

Alternatively, if you’re really just listening casually, you might not need to do anything - just stream Spotify and not worry about your files.  The BluOS app hands off to the Spotify app.  Great UI, great library (unless you listen to lots of Classical music).  

 Best,
flavo's avatar
flavo OP
40 posts
 
jazzman7
The help is greatly appreciated and I'm going to look further into some sort of simple audio NAS.
Would you care to hazard a guess as to what my actual connectivity issue might be? 

Thank you
Post removed 
flavo's avatar
flavo OP
40 posts
 
erik_squires
What interface are you using to view your local library? 
IE. Audirvana, Jriver?
Or can you run any interface on Ubuntu and it doesnt matter?
I'm assuming Ubuntu is the operating system. 
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