STREAMER - WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE?

I’m late to this discussion but thought I’d add my $.02

You might look into the XACT S1 (and S1 Evo). Elegantly simple - runs JPLAY natively and reportedly sounds absolutely superb. Only output is USB.

Please note - I have not yet auditioned these units but expect to in the next few months. I’m relaying information provided by others I respect who have direct knowledge and experience.  They are (reportedly) significantly better sounding than the entire Aurender line (all the way up to the N50) and the Innous line (Nazare excepted as no one I know has heard it yet.

While I’m also considering the Pink Faun Ultra and Antipodes Oladra, those two are significantly more expensive though absolutely worth a look if your budget allows.

Just get a decent (e.g. Cardas Clear) USB cable.  Keep the A8.

The A8 has wide options, it support essentially every streaming service, internet radio (sometimes useful for NPR), Apple Airplay - better sound from You Tubes - etc.

If you have CDs to rip, you can add an SSD and a cheap USB drive from Staples - or you can play CDs.

When you use USB the data is buffered in the DAC and the DAC's clock is in control, avoiding distortions caused by jitter in the source.

See @mclinnguy he summarizes it well

I can happily second the recommendation of the Grimm MU2 if that is on your list of considerations. It has been truly revelatory for me and I cannot believe the quality of sound I get from a simple one box solution, connected to my active ATC speakers.

@rsure  I envy anyone with ATC active spkrs! spkften thought about selling everything and buying the active 100s but it's so hard to demo anything 

@fire_water I have the 50 ASLs which I bought after having heard the 150 ASLs. I went through a long process of auditioning multiple speakers and just when I thought I had found THE ones (was between Audio Note and Devore O96s) I heard the ATCs and while different sounding they seemed to handle every genre of music much more effortlessly. The option to just simplify everything with just the MU2 and the active ATCs and save me a world of decisions with streamer/dac/pre/power/ICs etc. was enough for me to pull the trigger. Do try and audition a pair when you can!