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


Any recommendations, please? :)
I'm looking for a streamer only – without a DAC.

I’ve been leaning toward the Auralic Aries S1 since it’s reasonably priced and available pre-owned. It also has a coaxial input, so I could connect my CD player as a transport. I’d mostly use it as a Roon endpoint, as I run Roon on a Mac Mini and really enjoy it — especially for its great music recommendations.

I’ve read some threads here, and many of you seem to love Aurender and Lumin. Has anyone had a chance to compare them with the Auralic?

Thanks!

gabriel123

@ghdprentice  Thanks for your explanation about the clock — it’s the same thing I mentioned in my previous post about the master USB clock in a USB connection.
So, in my opinion, I already have a great DAC — a Lampizator Big 7 MK II with the Engine 11 upgrade. It used to be the top model from Lampizator some time ago (though now it seems like there’s a new one every month). I’m going to use a USB connection from the streamer. In that case, should I still pay through the nose for an expensive streamer, or I will not feel so much difference when choosing the cheaper one like Volumio?

Check out measurements section of hifi news reviews of streamers.  Noise / jitter performance of Rivo was comparable to $30k+ streamers they also tested.  That was using usb - vanishingly low.  I believe one of the upgrades to Rivo+ is clock.

The Rivo+ offers excellent sound quality as a streamer, but you’ll need to work around some software glitches — for example, the Qobuz playlist doesn’t appear when you try to add titles to it. However, the Volumio app sounds better than Qobuz Connect so I stick with it.

@gabriel123  I am never really sure what status the Roon is - server or endpoint - I now have so many DACs and individual setups!

I bought a Roon Nucleus One and eventually migrated or backed up to it all the songs on my Innuous ZEN MK3 which I bought used here. It came with a lot of music on it that the orignal owner graciously left present for me to explore.

It is attached my my home server directly (an Ubiquiti build) and so I can access it from any network connection in the home. I tend to use wired over wireless connections. So it sits in a closet and my Innuos sits in my office attached to the network and my office sound system. When I open Roon on my desktop computer, it is one of my choices for output. The Innuos also shows up on my phone and iPad apps.

My streamer is attached to a mostly Laiv Harmony system and Closer Acoustics speakers in my home office.

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/12144#&gid=1&pid=1

My Bluesound Node is attached to a McIntosh integrated amp (MA252) in the living room and it too is to be found in my choices for output the app.

https://www.audiogon.com/systems/12143#&gid=1&pid=4

Slightly different rooms and sound characteristics, I guess, but both are available in the Roon app(s) as a place to output the sound.

Tim

 

 

@lanx0003 Qobuz isn’t available in my country so that’s not an issue. In fact, I’d probably use it as a Roon endpoint and only from time to time the native app to stream Spotify. Have you had a chance to compare it to other (more expensive) streamers, maybe?