Check out Bluesound. I have the N130 and it is an impressive little box that comes with some impressive features for the price.
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.
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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.
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Yes, am aware of the DAC 0.1 x limitations. Actually was planning on using the coaxial input if possible. That was why I included the Metrum gear on my list. If I do end up using the USB input will definitely find a streamer with good clock. With respect to the downsampling, I was assuming Roon would do that as long as I set it up correctly in the settings. If I had a bigger budget I was thinking of using the Wattson Audio digital streamer as it is coaxial output only. In any event, I appreciate both your advice and your warnings! |
Coaxial and AES, I use the latter. Only had it for a few weeks, it is in a separate system so no real sound comparisons have been done against my main rig, but what a quality piece of gear; works perfectly, easy to do firmware updates, has their own Wattson app that works very well if one doesn't want Roon endpoint or Qobuz/Tidal connect, or Audirvana etc. And like everything with a wall wort if you want to upgrade it spend as much as you like on an aftermarket power supply. Hard not to recommend it: Let me know if you have any other questions. Check out Han's review if you haven't already: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-HeiVfAz4w
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