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

The T8 is a rather poor sounding streamer, very much a victim of a strong advertising campaign by reviewers. It has great features for it's price, it is well built but what gives, if the sonics are not up to par. They were also listed a lot second hand shortly after release and user topics on forums about it also went mostly quiet quickly.

It has an unpleasant, very forward in the upper midrange, yet flat and uninvolving sound signature. I spoke to few different folks who had it and our experiences with the T8 matched. I didn't notice it before with the A6 or A8.

I didn't want to gamble on another midrange streamer and got the full sized U2.

 

 

Thanks - that’s another vote for the Volumio, which is surprising given its price tag.

The Emerson Digital is another option in the same ballpark as the Rivo. You can't buy any better quality than this Swiss made network bridge IMO. Hans may have reviewed the Rivo as well, have a search:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-HeiVfAz4w

I compare the Aurender N150 to the Lumin U-2 Mini and Esoteric N05XD here and to the Bluesound Vault 2 here