Many in this forum including myself moved from analog players to digital for the sake of convenience. Thousand words cannot sufficiently to explain what you might experience with a streamer. Only way is to test it yourself. Order a Eversolo a6 from Amazon and try yourself. If you don’t like it or find it not worth of the cost, you can return it. You will then have the answer that suits you.
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As I read your reply above, it occurred to me that there may be another aspect worth mentioning. Do you access the library on your NAS through (in Windows terminology) a sharename? In other words, does foobar see your NAS library as a shared network folder? Apologies if you already have this in place but your NAS may be able to act as a ‘streaming content provider’. I have a Synology NAS and use a software package called ‘MinimServer’. There are at least a few NAS manufacturers that provide MinimServer as an optional package you can install. MinimServer is DLNA-compliant and allows the library on your NAS to be presented on your network as a streaming service. This allows programs like foobar (I presume) to ‘stream’ the content on your NAS to devices like the AirLens. From an architectural point of view it’s just a level of abstraction away from using a shared folder. It looks at your library in terms of ‘songs’ and ‘albums’ rather than files and effectively eliminates the PC from the music path if you have a ‘controller’ (like foobar) on another, perhaps handheld, device.
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MinimServer (which I also use) can be installed directly on many models of NAS. So even if a streamer, like the AirLens, does not provide the ability to install software on it, one can still eliminate the PC.
Streamer=PULSAR
I have used MinimServer very successfully on a QNAP “silent” NAS. I used a good LinearPSU and sent the stream out via usb to a Singxer DDC which outputs i2s. I also have my Roon Server installed on one of the 4Tb SSD’s on the NAS. I find the direct connection more reliable than my LAN.
I’m one of the people that can hear a difference between computers and streamers. I even hear a difference between streamer brands and models. I don’t know why there is a difference in sound quality, but there is.
Thanx all. So in summary… regarding sound quality, it seems to me it is more about the connection type/protocol than anything else.
Regarding functionality, the real question I had here, it appears to me that having a full-function computer with a nice big screen is far superior than a dedicated appliance. The thing I noticed about dedicated appliances when used in the digital world, is that they become obsolete quickly for reasons that are unpredictable.
Computers are amazing chameleons… I just built a new PC for my main rig… I do photography as another hobby and need horsepower for all this new AI noise and sharpening tools… and found out, oh about 15 years ago, that if you build a powerful machine with the latest connectivity ports… the computer can evolve far into the computing future. Regarding playing, storing, and managing music, video, and other media… well my computers never failed to deliver whatever is new.
So… no streamer for me… yet. If I am missing something regarding functionality, let me know.
Peace
Bruce in Philly
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Probably not. I posted in other thread computer is not for me even though I have the tech knowledge. Just don’t want to fuss with them. But if you can keep up with it they can work.
I really dont think streamers go obsolete, but its like all the other hardware we buy, we WANT next gen, not so much need it to play the music. This hobby is filled with a bunch of crazy nuts that dont like to sit still and want new things. I believe there a few here on the board that do have what I would call a stable system that has been their workhorse for years, but most just like getting new stuff. Call it what it is, middle age men with first world problem of “upgradeitus”
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I have very old streamers. They don’t go out of date for me either. My computers do, but it takes awhile.
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I’m afraid I’m growing older more than streamers, call it planned obsolescence! Wait, my wife always says I’m born OLD!
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I don’t know. I appreciate all you’ve done there and maybe a streamer isn’t for you. I just view a streamer as a computer built specifically for music with the designers focusing on limiting noise and other nasties. I went from a laptop >matrix >dsd with the fidelizer software killing services un needed etc and found my streamer without pc to be better from a sound quality perspective. The only way to know is if you can borrow one and determine if the sound quality improvement is worth the trade off in functionality. But my setup is way more simplistic than yours without long connections etc
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