2019 Mac Pro vs. Roon

@noob504

Great. sounds like you have some really good equipment. Then as a rule of thumb… subject to your own tastes… I would recommend looking at DACs and streamers in the $6K each range. The real trick is to get stuff that is of the same caliber… you have some good stuff… your source is really important. It is like a turntable and Phonostage… if you don’t start with it… it isn’t going to get better in the signal chain. I recommend looking at high end solutions.

I would see if you could find a used Aurender N10, and a good DAC… off hand I nothing comes to mind in that price range. But I am sure a lot of folks know of some.

OP,

Maybe I failed to ask about your other equipment. Your preamp, amp and speakers need to be of a certain resolution and low noise floor before discussions of the difference between PCs and streamers become relevant.

This is a gross generalization, and there are exceptions… you probably want your average component cost to be say, $2K each ( speakers, amp, preamp, DAC, streamer) for the discussion to get deep into the streamer vs PC. This is somewhat arbitrary. But a $2.5K DAC and a $2.5K streamer is a great combination, although at the lower end of the high end. So, a Schiit Yggdrasil ($2.2K) and a Aurender N150… is a great budget combo.

With fairly high performance equipment the Bluesound sounds better than a PC. But ancillary equipment is critical.

@steakster 

+1

I recommend you borrow a good quality streamer… like an Aurender, Aries, Linn or some other audiophile streamer. That will make the difference clear. They sound significantly better… assuming you buy one at the appropriate level for your system. 

I used a Mac… which I unplugged to get power supply out of the equation… as well as PCs, with different software. There is just no comparison. Streamers built from the ground up as streamers are different animals. Forget white papers or theories…take a good one home for a test drive. If you have a good DAC and system, all your questions will be answered. They sound better.

I resisted for years because it didn’t sound right that this real expensive box should make a difference. I now own a $22K streamer and consider it to be one of the best values I have ever purchased in audio.