@orrman @dB_Cooper Thanks to both of you. Just that I’ve read the other streamer thread here and have been wondering since it seems clear that getting away from the computer has distinct advantages. My plan is better headphones first…just trying to learn about improvments, as I said. Thanks for the suggestions.
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Everything is a compromise, you have to be pragmatic.
It’s easy to get lost here, or any other board for that matter, don’t get caught up trying to do everything you read, remember anything you spend on one aspect of your system, your not spending on another.
And almost every improvement someone advocates will be overstated to one extent or another.
It’s not cost effective connecting a $1000 USB cable to a Bifrost 2, or spending $500 for a power cable for it.
Streamers are certainly a win, and something I certainly advocate, even just buying a Raspberry Pi, installing Ropieee, and connecting it’s USB to your DAC can be a win over a PC, but if that $100 would have improved your headphones more do that.
The Pi2AES is a nice sweet spot, but it’s still a significant part of the cost of your DAC, and that money could be put elsewhere in the system.
Lot’s of streamers have USB out, whether you want to use USB or another output depends. It’s really about does the streamer or the DAC have the better clock.
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There’s a few members here that have the iFi that you mentioned, and I think they’re pretty happy with it (@Hazi59 is one).
If you wanted to try a DDC then I agree with @Polygonhell where the clock is what’s going to matter most (along with isolating from noise).
Schiit’s Unison is very good. I don’t remember if there was much of a difference between Unison and COAXIAL via a DDC when I had one for a demo. I know that I preferred AES on the Modius. It did better in every technical aspect to my ears, but that’s not an option with the Bifrost.
Something like the iFi might be a good choice if you wanted to separate your music from your PC. If that’s not a priority, then maybe a DDC could work as well.
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I found coax input on BF2 with good DDC / streamer was an upgrade over the USB input. I used a Pi2AES and su-1 DDC for this, both were upgrades over USB. What I ended up doing with my BF2 was:
-
USB input
PC → USB re-clocker → BF2 -
Coax input
Pi2AES → BF2 (via coax)
Or
RPi4 → DDC → BF2 (via coax)
Then I had options! 
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Not to overly shill/hype my own items, but if you want to try a raspberry pi with Ropieee as a Roon endpoint, I have one I can sell you for a good price 
. Easy way to dip your toe into the world of streamers. RPi4 → BF2 USB.
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SO thankful to all of you…some really good specific ideas (and even an offer) here. Once again indicative of the kind help within this community of folks.
@elementze Thanks, I will pass for now.
So glad I asked the question…some really solid answers,info and ideas to consider.
PS @dB_Cooper Excellent article that I apparently missed earlier…thanks.
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Let me put something into perspective for folks here wondering about streamers, PC’s, tablets and phones when used with their HiFi equipment.
As i have grown into this hobby, i moved from using old beat up CD’s playing from an internal cd drive on my old PC, to using old beat up CD players from the 80’s and 90’s to eventually going back to a computer and streaming music off youtube from a laptop to some very low priced equipment.
My next level of growth was to rent Tidal and Quoboz and stream from my laptop directly into better and better equipment. At some point I spent about $4k on my first quality DAC. That was the point where I upgraded to a good streamer (another $4k) and honestly never looked back to using a PC, phone or laptop to operate as my streamer and source.
Since then I have purchased a NUC to work as my music server and moved into using ROON to consolidate my services, added a separate NAS drive with 4 terabytes of storage, paid Verizon to move my Fiber home run within feet of my primary streamer to shorten the amount of cable my initial internet feed needs to run through to hit my music system. And replaced the Router with their newest version. A new high-end gigabit switch was installed in the basement along with a new repeater for the 2nd floor.
I have spent money on a high-end Ethernet switch. Upgraded my service to gig-a-bit, upgraded my Ethernet cables to commercial cat8 where applicable, HiFi grade where necessary, and added quality SMPS ifi elite power bricks to everything that needs a power brick.
All wall outlets were upgraded using parts from PASS labs, all power chords were upgraded using thicker gauge HiFi audio cables. The only thing left to do is physically replace the 200 amp panel and install brand new circuit breakers and simply make sure every nut and bolt is new and every wire is cleanly run. There is a 10awg run to the main stereo outlet isolated on its own 20amp breaker.
In my own personal experience, I have found streaming music the most convenient option that allows me the most variety of music and has helped me grow the most in this hobby. It does not bother me that I own very little physical media anymore and I’m on a rental cycle. I have settled on the quality of Quoboz and Tidal and feel these two services offer the best quality media I have experienced thus far in general terms. I have since built up the rest of my equipment based on the quality of this stream.
Here comes the key point to this long rambling, Garbage in, Garbage out.
Every serious audiophile has at least a small stash of prized source material, it doesn’t matter what the physical medium is, to include digital. Next, the source this material is played from matters, It matters very much. Once your back end, amplifiers, headphones or transducers have exceeded a certain bare minimum of performance standards and you begin to play with equipment purpose built for high-performance you HAVE to feed it quality at and from the front end or it will simply not perform to its higher-end performance based standards. Chew on that for a while and build your systems accordingly. Don’t purchase a TOTL HP and feed it off a Dongle or laptop direct expecting to experience the performance it’s capable of. 
A better source for your musical medium of choice along with a quality musical medium is where HiFi performance starts and then moves down along the rest of your chain before Finally being reproduced for your listening pleasure into sound waves.
Happy listening to all. 
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I agree with this.
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I agree with this too, a good dac hat on a pi with one of the free streamer OSs is about as cost effective as you can get: some pretty high quality output for little outlay
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IMO you’ve got to spend over $2k to get something appreciably better that a Pi with a good hat and a good PS.
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Depending on the DAC you are pairing with, I would say the Sonore products are a step up from Pi2AES on LPS. They aren’t quite $2k 
but close 
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I know some balk at the idea of using tablets as source, but in my experience using an iPad to a DDC has been the “cleanest” source that I’ve used. Granted I’ve never used $$$$ streamers.
A local file from a battery powered device (no mains issues whatsoever) has worked really well compared to PC (two different Macs) and an entry level streamer (Bluesound Node 2i).
I also think that at some point it’s no longer about bit-perfect and noise isolation, but more of another coloration in your playback chain.
As long as you enjoy the end result is what matters most. I mean, we’re all in this because we love music, right?
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I think that’s a valid comment, there are various kinds of noise generated in a PC/tablet/phone. Screens, CPU, radios, active cooling and power all generate noise so it’s a sliding scale. The problem with the hobby is that you can’t unhear what you’ve already heard and like everything else, there are probably some very good stopping points along the way all much better than PC out that would be good enough for many; a good DDC will fix a lot.
It’s just that inexplicably with the signal path, the cleaner you start the cleaner you end. Which is why I now have ordered a DDC to put between my DAC and my very expensive Bridge with already very good clocking, and I’ll probably wind up getting a very good PS to put into that DDC, just because I can and I know it makes a difference and it’s a hobby, even though it’s somewhat insane or at least most people would think it is. LOL
Kind of like I always say I would have been happy stopping at the BHC/SB with an HD600 and a nice DAC. But sadly for my wallet, I didn’t. lol
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BHC/SB + BF2 + HD600/6xx == endgame. Such great sound for the price! (but now getting off topic for this thread, just had to say it)
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Measured better than the Rockna. 
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About the same if you take in margin for error
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Yeah, that’s still very impressive given the price deltas.
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I’m assuming you got yours? Did you post any impressions anywhere?
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No I haven’t really.
This is the only experience I have with a streamer or DDC. Previously was using a custom built PC but I didn’t have any major noise (don’t think anyway) I honestly think the PC does decent as an endpoint. May try the new matrix DDC. Or maybe a lumin mini eventually. Idk, we’ll see.
I have my Roon rock connected to my router, then ethernet from router to red with I2s into Wavelight. I’ve been using it in streamer mode. I will say it’s a small, incremental improvement. It brings everything into focus. Hard to explain but it’s as if there’s less fuzz/blur around notes/images. Depth seems a little better too. A little more refined.
So far it seems good but again haven’t heard anything better so idk? I say the PC does decent because other than the more in focused image and some better depth, it’s not awful. Maybe I’ll feel different the more time I spend with the red.
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