Where are all the dedicated streamer reviews?

[tonapo]

The problem is that it's easy to get caught up in subjectivist hyperbole when assessing differences in sound.

We've heard claims about power supplies and other hardware related things making a difference, but no evidence (measurements or double-blind testing) seems to exist.

Also forums ate littered with people making software claims (Moode sounds better than Volumio or that both are no good in comparison to this or that). Again, no evidence that stands up.

Exactly, which is basically where I was coming from.

Acquired the D90 to replace my 25y old Wadia and still have a lot of CD's to (re)listen too before jumping to streaming ...

Enjoy! I have the same DAC, I very much enjoy it.

 

[somebodyelse]

Exactly, which is basically where I was coming from.

You mean you're looking for verification that they can all do bit-perfect playback, and that when configured that way they measure the same within the bounds of measurement repeatability when feeding the same DAC? Or are you thinking of some other aspect of performance?

 

[tonapo]

Well, I am interested in Amir's findings, so, taken from the Sonore microrRendu v1.4 review.

"On performance front, the only way to avoid degradation of (measured) DAC performance is to use a linear power supply. That makes the Sonore microRendu even more expensive.

The SOtM SMS-200 provides an excellent alternative here. It is $200 cheaper, and built far better. It has a solid enclosure and the engineering inside is just excellent. If you need a remote networked audio streamer, my recommendation is to go with SMS-200 with a linear power supply (or decent switchmode)"

So this type of information is likely to be useful to readers.

 

[asruser2020]

Where are all the dedicated streamer reviews?

Right here:
https://www.stereophile.com/category/media-server-reviews
https://www.stereophile.com/content...edition-disc-players-transports-media-players
https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-fall-2020-edition-digital-processors
https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/?type=&categories=17

Here are the brands that make the most expensive and therefore best streamers:
Auralic
Aurender
Innuos

 

[tonapo]

Right here:
https://www.stereophile.com/category/media-server-reviews
https://www.stereophile.com/content...edition-disc-players-transports-media-players
https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-fall-2020-edition-digital-processors
https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/?type=&categories=17

Here are the brands that make the most expensive and therefore best streamers:
Auralic
Aurender
Innuos

Thanks for the links, I think I am after some of Amirs' magic though!

 

[Willem]

It is strange product category, because all it needs is bit perfect reproduction up to something like 24/96. As we have seen, that is easily achieved by units costing as little as $35. The rest is all about convenience and compatibility with apps.

 

[BDWoody]

Here are the brands that make the most expensive and therefore best streamers:

 

[Sukie]

Right here:
https://www.stereophile.com/category/media-server-reviews
https://www.stereophile.com/content...edition-disc-players-transports-media-players
https://www.stereophile.com/content/recommended-components-fall-2020-edition-digital-processors
https://www.soundstagesimplifi.com/index.php/equipment-reviews
http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/?type=&categories=17

Here are the brands that make the most expensive and therefore best streamers:
Auralic
Aurender
Innuos

Thank you for your injection of humour. This post today and yesterday's vignette of delight in praise of Darko. You are spoiling us.

 

[Martijn]

Reading your interesting posts above, can I assume that using a macmini i5 (ssd and a fan) as a roon endpoint, connected by usb to my new rme adi2 dac, is ok? Or do you think for example an expensive Naim streamer or a ‘reasonable priced;-)‘ sotm streamer or a pi4 could better performance?

And according a good stable ac wifi connection, is it good enough and equal soundwise, compared to a ethernet cable connection? I would think, after reading a lot on this nice site, its just about correctly receiving the bits?

 

[somebodyelse]

If you're ok with the fan noise from the mac mini you should be fine - the RME is a well engineered DAC and shouldn't perform differently with any of the streamers mentioned. The same goes for the wifi - so long as the data is getting through in a timely manner it won't make any difference. If it was dropping data or going slow from time to time it may be another matter. You may be able to test the signal chain integrity with the RME bit transparency test: https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=25454

 

[Martijn]

If you're ok with the fan noise from the mac mini you should be fine - the RME is a well engineered DAC and shouldn't perform differently with any of the streamers mentioned. The same goes for the wifi - so long as the data is getting through in a timely manner it won't make any difference. If it was dropping data or going slow from time to time it may be another matter. You may be able to test the signal chain integrity with the RME bit transparency test: https://www.forum.rme-audio.de/viewtopic.php?id=25454

Thank you for your very clear and fast reply! Its bizar that is seems to work this way according to very expensive Aurender, Naim, Lumin etc. Streamers vs very low priced RPi’s and other computers. And connect it to a good dac like there are a lot. Thoroughly tested here. Learned a lot. Recently I tested a few alternative streamers as a roon endpoint. Like an ‘old’ iphone5se by wifi and also 4g and the same with an ipad pro. All connected to a external dac by usb. Its difficult to say if there were any differences soundwise, but I dont think so objectively. Compared to streamers like a Metrum Ambre and macmini. Ofcourse for the looks and userfriendliness of the gear, its totally different. Grtz

 

[abdo123]

I think Amir did review the Digione and the Digione Signature.

The USBsignature is an abomination that should have never happened. Removing Bluetooth and Wifi, based on RPi3, 250$ ??????

It’s basically Allo selling out to the audiophile bullcrap.

 

[abdo123]

With that said, i would pay a pretty penny to get BlueOS on any single board computer. That thing would be industry breaking.

 

[sq225917]

Ive tried every bit of software , mac, pc, pi and I still come back to using my 2009 macbook pro as my music file source.

Why, because its never failed on me in 11 years and.........because everything else I've tried sounds the same...

Bought a new battery and ssd for it today. First upgrades in 11 years..

 

[MDAguy]

Feature set aside, can a streamer have much effect on your music quality assuming the DAC that's doing the conversion is good? The streamer just sends bits into the DAC, right?

 

[sq225917]

That depends what it replaces. If it replaces a music source with gross jitter beyond the ability of the dac to correct then yes. But id suggest no one here uses such a poor file source.

I'm totally considering a fiio m6 as source for a usb dac. 1tb card, has WiFi remote and USB digital out. Could be all I need for 200 pounds. Then could sell the mac and by 400 gig sdxc ipod.

 

[Sukie]

Feature set aside, can a streamer have much effect on your music quality assuming the DAC that's doing the conversion is good? The streamer just sends bits into the DAC, right?

As long as it works, it will do its job. If it didn't work, you'd know about it (and I'm not talking about subtle SQ issues).

 

[navin]

+1,
I'm looking for rewiews of non Dac integrated streamers, preferably with a screen.
Otherwise I'll have to it DIY

I am looking for the same. I am looking for a player/streamer/server that can:

1. Play Music and Movies from a Hard Disk
2. Stream Music and Movies from NetFlix, Spotify, Prime, Tidal, etc.

Just like this DIYer.
DIY Audiophile Digital Media Player - RASA. - diyAudio

An outboard DAC like the SonCoz SGD1, or Topping D70BT would mean that I could also use the DAC to extend the life of my Marantz Pearl CD player (by using it as a transport only), and also have the option of streaming to the DAC via Bluetooth from a portable (phone or media player).

If I had to DIY I would build a 2 box design separating the ARM Cortex based media player (maybe the RPi3B+ or RPI4) and microcontroller and SMPS in one box and a dual-mono AKM 4499 (or ESS 9038pro) based DAC with buffer preamp with a linear power supply in a second box. The connection via these 2 boxes would be via a short I2S "bridge" (using a short HDMI cable).

A DIY RPi based media streamer is pretty simple to build. The challenge would be to connect the streamer via i2s (the Allo Boss 1.2 DAC does this but it a HAT) to the DAC.
BOSS I2S DAC v 1.2 (allo.com)

Or one could use this
KHADAS VIM3 PRO 2.2Ghz Cortex A73 4GB DDR4 USB 3.0 - Audiophonics

How does one connect the Khadas or an RPi to something like this?
ESS ES9038PRO DAC Module I2S XLR 32bit 384khz DSD with Screen - Audiophonics
and USB and BT can be added as well.
AMANERO COMBO384 Digital interface USB 384kHz to I2S / DSD - Audiophonics
Bluetooth 5.0 Receiver Module CSR8675 aptX HD to I2S - Audiophonics
XMOS U208 Digital Interface USB to I2S / SPDIF 32bit/384khz - Audiophonics

Either way, I'd much rather buy a ready product (if there is one) than DIY. Are there any media players that can do both video and audio and provide the options for the video to go via HDMI to an AVR and audio to go to an external DAC and then to a stereo amplifier.

 

[BDWoody]

I am looking for the same. I am looking for a player/streamer/server that can:

1. Play Music and Movies from a Hard Disk
2. Stream Music and Movies from NetFlix, Spotify, Prime, Tidal, etc.

Just like this DIYer.
DIY Audiophile Digital Media Player - RASA. - diyAudio

An outboard DAC like the SonCoz SGD1, or Topping D70BT would mean that I could also use the DAC to extend the life of my Marantz Pearl CD player (by using it as a transport only), and also have the option of streaming to the DAC via Bluetooth from a portable (phone or media player).

If I had to DIY I would build a 2 box design separating the ARM Cortex based media player (maybe the RPi3B+ or RPI4) and microcontroller and SMPS in one box and a dual-mono AKM 4499 (or ESS 9038pro) based DAC with buffer preamp with a linear power supply in a second box. The connection via these 2 boxes would be via a short I2S "bridge" (using a short HDMI cable).

A DIY RPi based media streamer is pretty simple to build. The challenge would be to connect the streamer via i2s (the Allo Boss 1.2 DAC does this but it a HAT) to the DAC.
BOSS I2S DAC v 1.2 (allo.com)

Or one could use this
KHADAS VIM3 PRO 2.2Ghz Cortex A73 4GB DDR4 USB 3.0 - Audiophonics

How does one connect the Khadas or an RPi to something like this?
ESS ES9038PRO DAC Module I2S XLR 32bit 384khz DSD with Screen - Audiophonics
and USB and BT can be added as well.
AMANERO COMBO384 Digital interface USB 384kHz to I2S / DSD - Audiophonics
Bluetooth 5.0 Receiver Module CSR8675 aptX HD to I2S - Audiophonics
XMOS U208 Digital Interface USB to I2S / SPDIF 32bit/384khz - Audiophonics

Either way, I'd much rather buy a ready product (if there is one) than DIY. Are there any media players that can do both video and audio and provide the options for the video to go via HDMI to an AVR and audio to go to an external DAC and then to a stereo amplifier.

Nvidia Shield Pro?

 

[Harmonie]

I am looking for the same. I am looking for a player/streamer/server that can:

1. Play Music and Movies from a Hard Disk
2. Stream Music and Movies from NetFlix, Spotify, Prime, Tidal, etc.

Just like this DIYer.
DIY Audiophile Digital Media Player - RASA. - diyAudio



Or one could use this
KHADAS VIM3 PRO 2.2Ghz Cortex A73 4GB DDR4 USB 3.0 - Audiophonics

Either way, I'd much rather buy a ready product (if there is one) than DIY. Are there any media players that can do both video and audio and provide the options for the video to go via HDMI to an AVR and audio to go to an external DAC and then to a stereo amplifier.

I couldn't open the Jpgs on diyAudio (because of Java script).
I tend to like your Khadas idea, but it seems needing a fan ? I'm not a fan of that