2. digital
  3. 188295-166320

Clock vs Streamer advice

Hi,

My current system is/was

Aurender N100H>Bricasti MC1>ARC Ref6 Pre>PS BHK 300 monos>B&W 803 D3

I sold the Aurender to try a different streamer and am temporarily using a MacBook to run Roon straight the the DAC through USB. I currently don’t have a huge budget. I emailed a local shop that has a used Melco N1Z to demo at home. I am going to try it out. I also want to try the Bricasti M5 streamer to see if there is synergy with my DAC.

I also came across the Mutec MC3+USB and Mutec Ref10 Nano combination in a similar price point, but I won’t be able to demo this.

If I have to pick between using a mac>Multec MC3+USB and Ref10 Nano>dac and the Melco>DAC option, which do you think will improve sound more. I’m still pretty new to this hobby and can’t currently afford the Melco and Multec combo.

zpatenaude37
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
250 posts
 

OP @zpatenaude37  mentioned he currently uses Roon. I love Roon. And that is why I didn't get Aurender. I have been playing around with squeeze and yes it sounds a wee bit better than Roon, but it is not nice to deal with- frustrating compared to Roon. Almost begs the question if I am going to futz with this squeeze app everytime I want to change a song etc. I might as well have put all this streaming money into a turntable setup and got up and changed records. Maybe sense is much better, I have't tried it. But eventually squeeze could get better, and Aurender could get Roon, one day. 

zpatenaude37 OP
34 posts
 

I guess Aurender is close to being Roon compatible. I just called 2 different shops, and this weekend I'll be doing an a/b test with an Aurender N200 and the Melco. 

northbeach
54 posts
 

Innuos Fan here. The sense app is excellent. I have the Pulse Mini powered by a Zen Mini LPS. Use Co-Ax to my Pre/DAC combo. I couldn't be happier.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,055 posts
 

@mazian

Thanks for sharing your feedback. I have the luxury of toggling between ROON and Conductor and didn’t find much difference as far as search results for classical albums or artists. Since most of the classical composition shared by various artists / composers, I pay close attention to key words while searching for classical albums. I still prefer Conductor app over ROON for optimal SQ and its ability to keep my rips/downloads separate from Qobuz stream. Conductor also allows me to create folders and neatly put them on menu bar for easy access. Whereas ROON merges everything in one library (not my personal preference). I do agree, Qobuz native app is pretty good and I use it frequently when I am away from my main system.

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
4,169 posts
 

I don’t have any major grievances with the conductor app.
Roon is more advanced in few areas - it slices and dices, consolidates and filters better than the Conductor. It also provides an actual bitrate of the album in the search results as opposed to “HR” or “Max” label that you get with the Conductor. But none of these missing features are essential and they don’t impact the sound quality. They’re just there as part of an enchanted feature set. Nice to have  

@zpatenaude37 let us know how that comparison goes.

More to discover