Hey there. I bought a Cambridge Audio CXN and saw little improvement over my Bluesound Node. So I upgraded to the 851n. Never looking back. I am very pleased with it. So much that I have one in my primary residence and my secondary residence in Miami. Highly recommend. The UI isn’t awesome but it works. The sound is pretty warm but analytical enough for those that want that. For $1500 I can’t imagine much better. In fact, I bet huge diminishing returns on much spend beyond that. My 2 cents.
Help with up to $1500 streamer
Hi all,
I am new to Audiogon, I have been researching here and there but never posted anything.
I have been on a dilemma about a streamer, I don’t want to spend much money but the minimum acceptable products I could find are between 1000-1500 so I decided to ask more experienced people.
Most of my music is stored on regular CDs or FLAC on external hard drives, I initially thought it would be best to go all-in on CDs but I want the convenience of seamlessly switching songs, so streamer is my best choice.
I listen to mostly instrumental music like classical, movies and game soundtracks but a little bit of pop and rock too, my preference is for clear and fast sound, but I want to be able to distinguish instruments and get some good dynamic range.
just to give some perspective, my headphone system consists of an SMSL SU-8 DAC, connected with Mogami cables to a Massdrop THX AAA 789 powering a Sennheiser HD 650 with an original balanced cable, I would call it as nothing fancy but makes a good sound.
My stereo system is mostly a Bluray player Panasonic UB820, connected via HDMI to an Onkyo Receiver RZ 920, connected with Acoustic research cables to two mono Parasound A23s powering Focal Chorus 836v speakers, which makes an OK sound but I have to rely on TV being on to control music and it’s not very convenient.
all that said, I am looking for a streamer that has a good built-in DAC preferably balanced with an LCD screen that shows enough information about the track or at least a fully-featured APP that can seamlessly play FLAC from a USB device.
So far on my research, I came about Cambridge audio CXN and Azur 851N, Cocktail Audio X40 and NAD C658.
Please let me know your thoughts.
I am new to Audiogon, I have been researching here and there but never posted anything.
I have been on a dilemma about a streamer, I don’t want to spend much money but the minimum acceptable products I could find are between 1000-1500 so I decided to ask more experienced people.
Most of my music is stored on regular CDs or FLAC on external hard drives, I initially thought it would be best to go all-in on CDs but I want the convenience of seamlessly switching songs, so streamer is my best choice.
I listen to mostly instrumental music like classical, movies and game soundtracks but a little bit of pop and rock too, my preference is for clear and fast sound, but I want to be able to distinguish instruments and get some good dynamic range.
just to give some perspective, my headphone system consists of an SMSL SU-8 DAC, connected with Mogami cables to a Massdrop THX AAA 789 powering a Sennheiser HD 650 with an original balanced cable, I would call it as nothing fancy but makes a good sound.
My stereo system is mostly a Bluray player Panasonic UB820, connected via HDMI to an Onkyo Receiver RZ 920, connected with Acoustic research cables to two mono Parasound A23s powering Focal Chorus 836v speakers, which makes an OK sound but I have to rely on TV being on to control music and it’s not very convenient.
all that said, I am looking for a streamer that has a good built-in DAC preferably balanced with an LCD screen that shows enough information about the track or at least a fully-featured APP that can seamlessly play FLAC from a USB device.
So far on my research, I came about Cambridge audio CXN and Azur 851N, Cocktail Audio X40 and NAD C658.
Please let me know your thoughts.
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- 15 posts total
I have been doing some research into this as well. There is the bluesound node 2i which uses an app for control and can access network or USB drive audio. it’s $500. They make a more complete version called the Vault 2i that adds a 2TB internal drive and a drive transport to rip CDs directly. It’s $1200. No screens though. Sony also makes 2 server models, the HAP series. one has a 500GB drive, and the other a 1TB...but both do have screens and physical controls to choose your music. The smaller unit is $1000. The larger is $2000. There is a company called smallgreencomputer that makes standalone streamers and servers with or without CD transport. their sonictransporter i5 is rack mountable and about $1300. It uses roon i believe, so again. no screen. Melco makes a unit with a screen, but it’s about $1700. Good reviews though. Of everything I’ve seen that isn’t $10,000...I think I’m drawn to the aurender N100. it has a screen and big chunky buttons (I’m a fan) but is about $2600 which is twice what I think something like that should cost. Take a half-decent transport. Add an SSD. Add an monochrome screen and a few clicky nav buttons....sell it for $750 and rule the entire segment. Considering you can buy a cheap laptop for $400...is it really such a challenge? Like the old National Enquirer ads used to say, “Inquiring minds want to know...” |
You might evaluate this streamer as well:https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd |
- 15 posts total