Looking for a streamer/DAC


OK. 
an old dog trying to catch a new stick. Looking for a streamer/DAC that includes Wi-Fi and would be best to run through my McIntosh MA352. 
I’m confused about the preamp section in many products. Can the preamp be bypassed so I can continue to enjoy the warmth of the tubes?

I have B&W 803 D4 speakers and max budget of $4-5K. 
thanks. 

128x128durangorusd

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

I am an old geezer that has been with digital every step of the way. I am going to assume you want streaming to sound as good or very nearly to your other sources. Meaning you can fully enjoy your streaming and not keep going back to other sources because they sound so much better.

I recommend an Aurender A10 (or any Aurender that you like)… I see them for about $4.6K. But I would like you to consider you are investing in two components… so that is $2.3K for the steamer and $2.3K for the DAC. These are two components worthy of their own boxes… the analog equivalent is a TT and Phonostage… and at the level of a preamp and amp. I found if well chosen these tend to be of similar cost. As an old dog, the best way to spend a lot of money is to dip your toe in… be disappointed… throw some more money in… “well, sounds better”. Then realize you need to match the performance to the rest of your system. Do once and well, life is short.

 

You do not bypass, or want to bypass your preamp. You plug this into your integrated amp.

You do not need a wifi enabled streamer / player. Get a $59 wall wart wifi extender and plug it in next to your audio system. Plug your streamer in to this. My $150K main system works this way (I bought a Aurlic Aries G2 because it had wifi and was very disappointed with it overall… then found out about the wifi wall wart). So does my $15K + headphone system.

OP, 

 

A wall wart is a single small box that plugs into an electrical outlet. So, in this case a wifi extender. Just google wifi extender. Most just plug in and have an Ethernet output… plug your streamer into that.

 

Here are some: https://www.top5choose.com/top-5-wifi-extender-2022.html?gclid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMQ2bs4TWDDdx4795Z12TWhQ5pWQYy1rJFEeRuyXmPW-3xxdEzFXcm8aAhTaEALw_wcB