Discerning a difference between streamers is difficult...only me or common for all?

dhite71 I agree with your thoughts on streamers.

I have tried a lot of streamers, dacs and all in ones.

Here are some of the things I have tried:

Bluesound (most of the models)

DCS Bartok

Lumin X1

Lumin P1

Lumin U2

T+A Dac 200 

Berkeley Audio ALPHA DAC 3

I bought most of these used and sold them without losing a lot of money and it has been really fun to try them out.  I am a gear junky LOL.

What I found is that all of these dacs and streamers sound really good with my gear.  I love the Bluesound app which is really good multiple zones. I am sure roon is also good but I have not messed with it since I want the system to be user friendly since my wife uses it as well.

I have settled in with:

Bluesound Node 130, Mcintosh D1100 (DAC/PRE), Mcintosh MC462,

Harbeth 40.3 XD.

I will eventually try the new NODE Icon.

Just as a note, I have been a musician (not professional) for almost 50 years and feel like I have pretty decent ears.

Happy Holidays!

@efoo 

After visiting a fellow audiophile a while back and doing some cable swapping in his system containing a brand new Mcintosh pre/amp combo, I would say if someone was wanting to discern differences between cables or other upstream components, that would not be the gear to have to do that. Maybe that is a good thing though.

What do you have for cables?

and Happy Holidays to you too!

Wywires Platinum cables.  I also tried Nagra amp and pre against the mcintosh stuff.  It was better but only incrementally not 3 times better.

I take it by your comments you are not a Mcintosh fan.

In my experience from a cost for performance and resale value Mac is hard to beat.

I don’t dislike Mcintosh, but I did own a Mcintosh pre and a set of power amps years ago and moved on. Notice my handle on here starts with "mc".

I will add that I brought my $2000 Apollon class D amp to this fellows house, and we plugged it in place of the Mcintosh, and I’ll quote what he said: "I think I overpaid for my amplifier".

But I would never bad talk Mcintosh, or try to talk someone out of owning them. People own gear for a multitude of reasons. I still like their look.

I just got a little Yamamoto tube amp that has 45 tubes, not because I thought it would sound "better" than my Coda, but because it is a work of art, and it sounds lovely. Pride of ownership abounds. Maybe it is less inconspicuous regarding cable changes, or streamers, whatever- I enjoy listening to both. 

mclinnguy

I agree that looks are part of it.  I love turning on the blue/green meters.

After chasing the perfect sound for a few years I have settled on what works for me.  Sounds like your in the same camp.

Cheers and Happy Christmas.