That’s kinda cheating though, since that’s still a hefty price for a fancypants ui, it’s just not directly tied to the streamer lol
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LOL hey… I’ve already spent the money so.
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Right now I see only 2 for $1600 used, and 1 new listing for $1800. You kind of lean towards the new for the full warranty but the 2 used are tempting but im not there yet tbh.
I’ve been considering picking up a PiAES for a while, and see one for $220 with Madewell power supply and 1’ BNC cable included…what’s a fair price?
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Just the Pi2AES shield (hat) is $200!
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So the Vita is basically end of life and looking up more info, at this point it is only useful if you want an Android 5 based local storage player.
All support is poof, and many people put in orders in 2020 and never got any product.
A shame because it was pretty, had many connections, and you can even hook the unit to a TV for a huge display. Written reviews raved about it but I guess I am dodging a bullet.
That Lumin is looking a little better now. I am going to gather up what I really want and need then back to the boards.
I have also updated the thread title so we dont choke out conversation by adhering to price brackets
Kinda liked the price bracket thing though, makes it a bit easier to navigate as it’s more an entry to streamers thread that way, so you don’t have people discussing dropping like 10k+ on servers alongside people just looking to get into it
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Since youre a nice guy, ill roll it back
Lol, well if you would want to make it a general topic, I am thinking about trying a Taiko SGM Extreme or Pink Faun 2.16 ultra. Or an Antipodes K50 if I get convinced enough by some people I know
But I do think there’s a bit of lacking info about some of the great entry level to midrange streamers out there, so I like the idea of a thread that covers that sometimes overlooked area
Would you consider Auralic and Lumin stuff midrange?
Bryston BDP-2 comes up used pretty regularly and a bunch of different flavors of Aurenders, some quite pricey. I know you like Briscati stuff, they have the M5 and lastly there’s Wavesera stuff out there. Purely from a streamer standpoint, no DAC is there a mid tier value leader in your opinion?
Depends, they can be higher end depending on the model, but the lower end models from them I’d consider upper midrange to entry higher end
Never tried the bryston, the aurender’s are good as long as you don’t mind using usb
The bricasti streamers are nice but they are a bit clunky for the UX, and on the waversa I had I actually never tried the streamer on it, so can’t say there
Likely what I had mentioned previously, for lower mid tier I think pi2aes or allo usbridge sig (those can be moved up too with nicer psu or reclockers), and for upper mid I think ultrarendu or sms200 neo + nice psu or sms200 ultra neo. At least those were ones that I thought offered good sq for the dollar. I think once you start looking for used lower end auralic, lumin, aurender, innuos, etc models that is starting to get you into entry higher end
I have an Aurender N100H if anyone has any questions about it. Sounds great and a pretty user-friendly UI. Significant upgrade from a laptop, that’s for sure.
Side note, I may also be trying to sell mine in a month or two, if it piques anyone’s interest.
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I saw your post and I want to bite. Is your unit the USB only version? Those also have internal storage too I believe which is sooooo soooo nice.
Yes, this is the USB only to DAC version. It broke my heart at the beginning until I embraced it. When I focused on getting a quality USB cable, it sounded sublime. It has a large internal storage and can support extra portable HDDs via usb on the back.
Do you know if that USB works with Schiits Unison USB?
Also, is it just me or do a lot of streamers want to push you towards Roon For UI and control.
Also, also, do you need to worry if streamers add their own “flavor” to the SQ. Or does going up the bracket really focus on clocks, time domaine, technicalities, and features?
I didn’t use it with Schiit specifically, but there should be no issues, mainly because you are not using it from a computer. No need for drivers or anything – it handshakes just fine.
So yes, streamers will have it’s own color, but it will improve all of the technicalities that you are looking for. The immediate difference is blacker background that leads to way more micro and macrodynamics. The imaging is much clearer as well, which will help on the presentation. Lastly, you may also notice an increase in detail, such as air, separation, and room information. It does quite a bit to reduce the noise that comes from a PC or laptop.
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To be a little more clear on my question, looking at reviews i really havent seen any of them say “oh this streamer gives the music a warm tone, or its now very analytical” etc etc. They do seem to be focused more on what you said, detail, black background etc
As for the Bifrost, yes as long as its UAC2 (which Aurender says it is) it should work but its always worth checking in a real life scenario.
@Veritas if you want to toss me a PM with what you may want for the unit, i can do some more research to see if itll fit for me
I see you stream local and Qobuz, you really need to check Roon out. I bought lifetime immediately and consider it just another component, maybe my best purchase. Ended 20 years of poor streaming solutions, it even controls my old squeezeboxes. The reason why all those vendors steer you towards Roon is because none of them can bring a comparable control interface to the table. It simply costs to much for all these companies to keep developing apps on their own, only the big household brands can put that up.
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there is a good reason for that… because it’s excellent.
Before you go for roon though there is some things that you should take into consideration.
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If you are solely a qobuz/tidal user it’s just not worth the price for that one usecase as a UI replacement.
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Multi room streaming is really something you want to use if you want the price to be worth it. It’s a awesome feature and really one of the main reasons to go with roon imo.
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I mentioned online streaming not being worth it if that is the only way you listen to music and that is mostly because local file streaming and the metadata management engine in roon is seriously awesome and can take your local library to the next level. Combined with a online streaming library that will merge seamlessly with your local library to offer recommendations and you have a pretty great listening experience.
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The price. Lifetime is not worth it imo, there is no way to know that this company will still be around 5 years from now, for all we know they could go under next year. A big part of roon is the servers that hosts their metadata databases if the company goes out of buisness a big part of the software goes with it. It’s not that unlikely that they might not be here in the near future we are a very niche part of a already extremely niche hobby it’s not out of the question. I personally feel a yearly sub makes more sense than lifetime, you can decide for yourself on that. I mean roon themselves has stated part of the reason the liftime license is so expensive is because they wanted to steer people away from it.
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Lastly while i believe the user experience for roon is fairly friendly there are some more in depth and hands on setup/configuration that can be required. I’ve seen people say the software sucks because it won’t do what they want it to or doesn’t offer a specific function when really it can and it does, just that they didn’t take the time to really understand how roon works.
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