Hans likes Cary 700

IMO he spends much too much time extolling the bells and whistles.  The interior of this unit looks kind of simple, given the functions and price.  His description of the sound is extremely short and much less detailed than on comparably priced DACs that he has reviewed recently.  Normally his reviews make quite distinct comparisons to other similar products.  But he does not do so in this review.  Disappointed.

I have a 700. The remote can run the whole show. Not that it used a lot but it works. Really nice 1 box solution. I will spare the superlatives as everyone’s system and preferences are different. The integrated SD player is the best sounding of all the inputs but I have a EtherRegen in front of it and streaming sounds real good. Certainly more flexibility than I will ever use but as a streamer/dac it does a excellent job. 

Hello,
I have a buddy who owns the 550. He really enjoys it. He mostly does Roon and uses the DAC with the Cd transports. 

@fuzztone
Thanks for the link. I’ve been looking at this Cary unit to replace a Sony HAP player. I like that I could copy my CD’s to a SDXC card and leave it plugged in. And I assume the supplied remote allows it to function and play CD’s if WiFi is down. One box, no Ethernet cable required with WiFi available. More streaming services than HAP. There’s a lot to like here.

Huh?
As Hans states some streamers (network players) have DACs.
Some DACs have streamers.
No clue what you're talkin' 'bout.

@audiotroy 
I am interested in whether streamers can sound different IF the DAC is bypassed.
Otherwise, one is not really comparing streamers, right? 

I won’t buy anything only base on his reviews 

@jasonbourne52 I was kinda skeptical, but after I watched this video (and bought my Innuos Zenith) I am kinda a believer in streamer sound internal component effect.

Again I’m not an expert, but Ron is more of an expert then I, and at face value it’s an interesting story if what he says is true.

New Record Day
https://youtu.be/DNRP5pSWBmo

Hiede different streamers sound different especially when the streamer has a dac and analog stage

Even ih the case of a pure streamet they still sound different

In our shop wehave tested auralic aurender sotm inmous servers and they all produced different sound out of the same dac

We have tested these devices vs modified pcs and all the dedicated servers and streamers sounded better then the pcs

Dave and troy
AUDIO NTELLECT NJ

IMO all streamers sound alike!

Which have you compared?

Yeh sure buddy. But few will play even local via remote when (not if) the internet is down. Or a high resolution screen. Built in LPS with quality parts. Blah blah blah.

Don’t buy, you’ll never know the difference.

He's a good review. Perhaps a good solution if one wants to commit to and pay for their DAC, too.