Best Music Streamer to pair with Rogue Audio monoblocks and Pre-Amp

I prefer the Roon model of a powerful machine on the server end, kept away from the audio system, and a lightweight low powered quiet streamer connected to DAC. This means you can use an ordinary computer at 1/5 the price as your server and its even well more flexible.
 

that’s exactly what I had. Roon on Mac Mini in another room away from my system, streaming using Roon ready network card in the Bricasti M3 DAC. Dreck.  

Soix you just offended Alvin the chipmunk. 

Aurender is excellent. Build quality, sonics, UI are all great. Solid as a rock.
The newest series is also Roon ready. 

I have used mac mini with Roon, Auralic Aries G1 and Lumin U1 Mini with both native software and Roon as well as Tidal Connect, Bricasti M3 DAC internal network card as Roon endpoint and with Mconnect, and am currently using Aurender N200 streamer with both the native Conductor and as a Roon Endpoint. Not only do the streamers sound different, using the native processing on Auralic and Aurender sounds slightly better than Roon. Tidal connect and Mconnect sound slightly harsher/more “digital” to me than either Lumin native app or Roon.

I agree streamers don’t have a sound unless you drop them on the floor or hit them with a hammer. They sit there quietly and process the incoming data stream.

To understand why streamers or even the native processing vs. Roon sound different you need to spend some time reading, researching and understanding different designs and why a certain design decision was made, as well what in the streamer design and implementation influences sound quality. How certain designs are optimized for USB and others are optimized for SPDIF and what makes a difference between USB and SPDIF.
No one here owes anyone any explanation. Do your own ground work. And when ready, once your system reaches a certain level, you may want to compare few different streamers to hear it for yourself.
Saying a component in a signal chain doesn’t influence sound of your system is just not a good look.

Soix. I’ve been thru this with him. He had formulated his opinion based upon what he read in the reviews and elsewhere on the internet…and he only made note of the material that fed into what he believes and deems logical and scientific. This guy is impenetrable. You’re embarking on a fools errand. 

Dalton I’m not wrong. And that’s precisely why you’re irritated. 

Mdalton I just saw your response. So…the difference between using the M3 network card as a roon endpoint and using the M3 as a DAC only via USB from the Aurender N200 is huge. The article talks about jitter in the M3 as a hole, not just the network card. 
M3 is super low noise, resolving and natural sounding DAC. If there’s any jitter I couldn’t hear it with a CD transport or Aurender. 
I auditioned Mytek Brooklyn 2 against Chord Qutest and Bryston BDA-3 in my system. I liked Chord the best and Bryston a close second. Absolutely hated the forward digital nature of the Mytek. But again, Bricasti to my ears is better than all the aforementioned DACs. 

I don’t suffer from grammar pedantry syndrome. And I didn’t miss your point. 
Enjoy your weekend!

What’s the budget for a dac?