Streamers - Auralic, Aurender, Lumin, others...

I recently moved from BluSound Node2i to a Lumin U2.  I am absolutely blown away by the sound difference, much more than expected.  I'm an electrical engineer that focused on embedded systems so I didn't expect this should have made any difference since I also used an external DAC (like you're doing) and extracting a bit-perfect copy of the data of the signal at the DAC really shouldn't be very difficult for audio data bandwidth.  I tried it really for fun with some hope that maybe it would help a little bit.

I am still star struck with the improvement in the sound and sound soundstage.  I can't really explain it and have kind of lumped it in the "black magic" category.  But whatever the reason for the improvement, I love it.

I'm sorry I can't actually answer your question (comparing the 3 brands) but I can give a solid vote for Lumin - so far anyway.  It's only been a month or so but it's been solid.  I am a bit nervous about the possibility of the company failing, but that's true of any high-end audio company, especially smaller ones.  Their app is OK but not amazing.  I am using Roon on it for now mainly, but sometimes I switch over and use their app.  I actually use Amazon Music (free trial) and Lumin supports it natively (unlike most and disappointingly, Roon).  I will say that the overhang in the back (to hide the connectors a bit) is more annoying than expected.  Mostly it doesn't matter, but unplugging the XLR is a rain pain if you have larger fingers - the lock is very tough to engage while pulling out the cable).  So if you're a frequent cable switcher and use XLR, that is a negative.  

As per prior post, differences are about noise.  But it’s not just the streamer.  Different dacs, even very expensive ones, can be wildly different with respect to their vulnerability to noise from a streamer.  In some cases, a dac may not sound noticeably different when hooked up to a Raspberry Pi or a Mac vs. a high $ streamers.  In other cases, for example some nos dacs, they are highly vulnerable to jitter, and same streamers could make big difference.  

I purchased the first round of Eversolo A6.  It had several problems and eventually died.  Eversolo service is great.  They replaced it.  But the stability of the unit is very poor despite continuous software updates.  It just has too many bells and whistles that it can't execute with stability.  I use Spotify Connect (don't shoot me).  Each time I advance a track, the signal disconnects and reconnects 2 or 3 times.  It also starts the song a millisecond late, skipping the beginning of the song.  I'm ready to replace it for a standalone streamer somewhere in the $1K price range (new or used).  The Holo Red that someone mentioned, seems like a good fit.  How would it compare to the Innuos Pulse Mini?  Or would the increase in budget justify a Lumin?

Don’t waste your money on those expensive streamers, after all they are just computers, get the Wiim Ultra or any of the wiim products…I bet you can’t hear the difference. Spend the money on the best dac you can afford.

Roon plays fine on an Innuos - I am listening to it right now in fact.

Tim