OK, which one?


These are the two and only two streamer choices:

WIIM Ultra or Bluesound Node Nano?

Using an external dac. Hurry before Black Friday sales end!

(Yes, I'm that frugal)

thecarpathian

nano for sound quality (be sure to get a 5v dc linear power supply to power it)

wiim if you need the extra features and if you are listening more casually, don't need that last 5-10% of sound quality

Chatted with a former Innuos dealer at Capital Audio Fest last weekend.  He dropped Innuos cuz he said he just couldn’t rationalize selling that stuff to his customers.  Pointed out that on the new Zenith that retails for $21.7k, dealer profit is $9k.  He was using a Wiim ultra with a $10k+ dac in his room.  

I’ve had both Wiim and Blusound streamers.  I preferred the Blusound.  Happy Black Friday shopping, although a lot of the deals have already started.  

@thecarpathian let us know what you get. I was serious about getting both and keeping the best sounding unit. I also think it will be a bluesound. 

I haven't heard the Wiim, but I am enthralled with the Bluesound.  why?  It is good out of the box. Although I have never been sold on the internal dac, for someone new to streaming it would be okay as an introduction.  Where it has really excelled for me is that it offers a budget friendly upgrade path which I have chosen without breaking the bank.

I used it for some time as a streamer only, but have added two things which I believe offers significant improvements.  The power supply is almost universally agreed upon to be an improvement .  I use the PD creative which is a great improvement.  I have also installed a budget  optical isolation system  with a good power supply which in my opinion brings the entire chain up to high quality.  I have used a Benchmark dac 3 which seems to excell in this environment.  I ultimately decided on the Lab 12 Dac ! which I prefer over the Benchmark.  From what I have found, this dac, unlike the Benchmark, can be improved with a re-clocker and I will install a Mutec eventually.  Could I have started with a higher quality streamer initially?  maybe, but I am satisfied and don't see any further upgrades to the streaming system.  Dac maybe.