What’s the rest of the equipment in your system?
Do I need a stand alone streamer?
Pardon if this is a beginner’s question, but I just bought a nearly new Marantz SR8012 AVR on Audiogon. I am very impressed with the unit and I’ve been streaming Qobuz to it with good results. I was wondering if I could get even better results by adding a Bluesound Node to my setup. Will I get a noticeable improvement in sound by having a separate streamer?
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Unless I’m mistaken, you were using some form of Bluetooth to get music through that unit. So if I’m correct in that statement, then a standalone streamer, even this WIIM mini https://www.wiimhome.com/wiimmini/overview would be an improvement over what you’re listening to now. |
I’m hoping you’re streaming either over Wi-Fi or a direct Ethernet connection from your router rather than Bluetooth? Anyway, it’s very possible something like a Node or Wiim will be better streamers than the one in your AVR, but whether they’d be a meaningful upgrade in the context of your system is an unknown so if I’m you I’d get one that’s returnable (Crutchfield, etc.) in case the improvements aren’t all that. If 2-channel is important to you it’s certainly worth trying because streamers can make a difference. Looks like you’d want to use an SPDIF digital cable and you want something at least decent because they do matter (I wouldn’t use optical because it’s limited to 24/96 resolution and involves extra conversions to optical and back). Here’s one option that’s pretty decent and won’t break the bank (you want at least 1 meter length)… https://sites.google.com/view/pine-tree-audio/interconnects/single-ended/nexus If the streamer has an onboard DAC you could just use regular interconnects to your AVR and compare that to the DAC in the AVR to see which sounds better. Hope this helps, and best of luck.
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