Inexpensive Streamer for Office System


I am hoping to set up an headphone ( Grado Headphones -Hemp ) system for use in my office .  It will admittedly be a bit of a hodgepodge of old gear and new stuff.  I will likely use an AudioNote 0.1 x dac ( obtained used ) and would like to find a "small " streamer in the 750 to 1000 dollar range.  As the AudioNote does not do oversampling and does not support DSD, I don't need a very "high tech" option.  I do like an organic natural sound.  So far have been looking at the Metrum Ambre and Baby Ambre , Sotm Neo and Sonore gear, but wonder if anyone has any suggestions. Hope those of you on the east coast had less snow than we received and many thanks for your suggestions.

rivinyl

Try the Bluesound Node Nano and return it if you don’t like it. It’s probably the best bang for your buck for an office setup. It has received some of the best reviews of any streamer under $400.

+1 Wiim Ultra but add a Teddy Pardo external LPS, all in for under $1K. That's all you need.

Check out Bluesound.  I have the N130 and it is an impressive little box that comes with some impressive features for the price.

i am quite familiar with the audio note dacs having had a couple

the 0.1x is an older model, from 2004-5 iirc - i suggest for these older units it is best to not use the antiquated usb input, use a modern streamer with a solid clock circuit instead... so for this application, if sonic purity is a priority, my suggestion is to use an auralic unit (aries, aries mini, aries g1 and so on)... they are relatively inexpensive now as the company is no more, but the lightning ds app is open source and works just fine, the units are built very well, a couple notches above the mass market cheapies... the femto level clocks in these units are superior to those in the cheapies as such as the node, wiim and so on and linear power supplies are already built in or integrated into the setups

just my 2 cents having been around p quortrup’s dacs extensively 

I don't think the Audio Note UK DAC 0.1x handles any resolution greater than 24 bit 48 kHz so you will need a streamer than can down convert high res material.

I do know that (e.g.) the Eversolo T8 can do this, but do look at the streamer's specs to ensure this capability (I do not believe that the Bluesound Node Nano supports downsampling). 

The T8 has a pretty good clock and if you ever upgraded the DAC the T8 is up to the task. My T8 feeds an Esoteric K-01XDSE.

The Audio Note UK DAC 0.1x was designed to optimize the sound of CDs.  I had an AN UK DAC back in the '90s and it was a great performer, especially considering its price, it actually made CDs sound like music unlike some DACs at many times the price.