Help me choose my first Streamer

Network Audio
41

I have owned the Aurender N100H for three years now.it being USB out only at the time, was not a big deal.i was using a Mac mini at the time anyways.had a Moon d300 dac at the times,so thats what I used with the Aurender.the difference between the two was pretty obvious, the Aurender being better in every way.i won’t mention the difference in the diff.cables I tried.everthing was great then I thought a diff. dac would be nice to try.to make a long story short I now own a DSD (about two years now).that was another eye opener with the Aurender.about a year later I was thinking it would be nice to use the second I2S one the DSD ( first one has a DMP plugged into it),so I bought a Matrix X and low and behold another big improvement on the Aurender.Anyways just my experience with improving my digital setup.Hope it helps.

42

Happy Aurender user here. Also recent MATRIX user - both great purchases.

43

I really enjoy my Lumin U1 mini. Sounds fantastic with the DS DAC via AES/EBU.

44

krelldog
A different option that should meet your priorities (SQ and user friendliness) while keeping your DAC, but may exceed your budget (by a little in UK/EU or more in USA etc):

All you need to add is (1) a 2-bay NAS (e.g. Synology ~£150) and (2) a renderer to connect to your ethernet. I am assuming you already have an iOS or android device - phone or tablet - that could be used for control. As regards server software for the NAS you can install MinimServer on Synology boxes. For the best SQ (and with the potential to be your last purchase!) I’d strongly recommend as renderer the dCS Network Bridge (£3250). The associated dCS Mosaic app (iOS & android) is an excellent control app.

I’ve had a dCS NB for 6 months. It was very easy to set up and faultlessly streams local files (from a NAS, loaded with MinimServer software) and internet-based music (supports Qobuz, Tidal etc). The Mosaic control app does all I need. Compared with some of the custom streamers discussed elsewhere in this thread I think you would find the above setup excellent value for money. It is very easy to install and maintain, and would give at least as good SQ.