late to streaming, recommendations?

Today I purchased a used Sonore OpticalRendu for $500 (see USAM for listings). No power supply since I already had one lying around. This streamer uses fibre optic as input and outputs to USB on your DAC. Getting fibre optic from Ethernet is easy and cheap and for me the very best way to stream. The opticalRendu is in the same league as the Lumin fibre streamers (some of the very best and expensive at $10k).

I think this is the 8th opticalRendu that I have bought. I have bought 5 of them for my own use and bought 3 for a friend. I sold my extra Rendu's when I sold a DAC, but I seem to always come back to the Rendu when I have a new DAC that needs to stream.

These units are rather cheap now on the used market. There is a new version out that is supposed to sound even better, but I am good with the old version given the price.

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Something I am curious about is if the Schiit Audio DACs with Union 2.0 USB input sound as good as the opticalRendu streamer when the DAC is connected directly to a noisy laptop by USB. Normally, you never want to do this but some experiments with a Schiit DAC module with Unison USB have been eye opening. I want to compare these 2 streaming options next week when I receive the opticalRendu I just purchased.

@argonsteele 

Start small with something from Bluesound. They have a several models well within your budget. I bought a Node N130 a few years ago. It’s a streamer and DAC and the software is actually pretty good and easy to use.  Then if you find you enjoy streaming you can get a better DAC or a better Streamer with a DAC built in.

All the best.

thanks for all the great recommendations.  I've been trying to learn about some of these brands and products.  lots of the info on the product pages is just gibberish to me, but I think today I figured out the difference between a server and a transport. Seems like there's a number of decent entry level options, starting with the WiiM Ultra, but I've also got my eye on the used market and there are plenty of choices in my price range including a Lumin U2 mini right near me.  

I was in the same situation 8 yrs ago; knew nothing of the digital side/path, other than sticking a CD in and pushing play.

I would 2nd allenf1963 post. I used a Bluesound Node for 6 yrs. For an entry level price it is great. Two yrs ago was visiting my local Audio store looking at room traps, walked out with an Aurender streamer and Berkely DAC....my last components for my digital path.

Streaming is a wonderful source, it is like having a library.  You get access to hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, of albums.

In terms of where to put the money, I have strong views, which have definitely worked for me, but may raise howls of ridicule.

I believe that the DAC is the single most critical part of the digital stream.  When it is well engineered, and uses a USB connection, it asks the streamer for data and buffers it, its data receiver ensures that no electrical noise gets through, and then, with a very precise clock  gets the data values turned into an analog voltage which is then filtered to get rid of the square corners (quantization noise).

The streamer's job is to receive the compressed data from the streaming source and present the error free  uncompressed data to the DAC.  Its connection to the source streaming service uses an error correcting protocol.  It is in essence a small computer, usually running Linux or Android.

My advice, find a streamer that supports USB and put the rest of your budget in the DAC and the interconnects from the DAC to the pre-amp.  The USB cable needs to be competent but need not be expensive.

Avoid coax and plastic Toslink.  I2S is another story and works very differently, making the streamer and the cable to the DAC critical, and so should be avoided, except perhaps at the very highest levels, e.g. Grandioso.

Ignore things like "Audiophile switches and internet cables".  If they make a difference your streamer and DAC are not doing their job.