Digital is as confusing as ever
A few years ago my Naim CD player crapped out after over 20 years years of great service. I decided to do two things...replace it and get back into vinyl. Vinyl took me to a Rega Planar 3 and I have been gradually building back vinyl collection. I replaced the Naim with a Muse CD player, bought used on Auidogon. It was about $9,000 new, I got it for $600 on here, seemed great. I also bought at that time a Lumin D2 streamer DAC.
My issue is I hate the Lumin app and Roon, for whatever reason, has connectivity problems constantly. No other devices or serservices the house do, just Roon. Im not asking for advice on that, been through it with Roon and Lumin, no help. So I am looking for a new streamer and Im so confuswd by all the digital options and talk. I looked at the Bluesound Node 2i thinking I can rip and store my CDs. But how could a #1300 multipurpose machine rip and play my CDs as well as. $9000 CD player? I would lose sound quality, right? So, do I buy jualst a streamer that has a good app, better than Lumin, and stream through it or maybe run it into the Lumin for that DAC? I stream Tidal BTW. I just did an A/B test with Quobuz and as much as I think all digital sounds so much alike I really preferred Tidal, this was an easy one. I'm looking at the Audiolab 7000n for streaming but this doesn't rip CDd like the Bluesound. But it seems to have a nice aoo, DYS Playy-Fi. Anyone familiar with that? I'm all over the place and tja5 is why I say ip top digital is more confusing than ever. A final point, the Regs Llanar 3, at half the cost of the Lumin D2 and 1/9 the coat of the Muse VD player, is much more enjoyable to listen to. I've done several A/B/C tests with vinyl, VD and streaming.
I have owned Auralic and Aurender as well as many inexpensive alternatives. If you want high fidelity I recommend Aurender. The Conductor app is liked by most. I have two Aurrender streamers (see my systems).They will work flawlessly while my iPad will not refresh pages. I operate mine from wall wart WiFi extenders and get sound quality equivalent to my really good vinyl end. |
Here ya go. For not much more than the BlueSound Vault this will kick its ass around the block and is at a higher level entirely. Hook this up to a good DAC and you’re all set. Their Sense app gets great reviews for sound quality and usability and is constantly being upgraded/improved and is free. Plus, if you ever have an issue their customer support is excellent — not so much with BlueSound. If this looks interesting do not hesitate because it won’t last long… Best of luck.
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+1 @soix It doesn’t get simpler than Innuos Zen or Zenith. You can rip your CD’s, use it as a Roon core or use innuos’ excellent Sense software instead of Roon. |
