Looking for intermediate-step Streamer: better than BS Node and not @ Bartok level pricing

Hard to beat Innuos in the 2-5K price range.  I admit I haven't bothered with Aurender since they don't do roon.

Jerry

Hi, Thanks for all the suggestions.  I don't use ROON and I don't have any stored music files (or not many, and I never listen to them.)  I am strictly looking for a streamer.  I use Tidal, Qobuz and Idagio.  Looking to keep the budget in the 3-6 range.  I have the better Shunyata PCs (everywhere) and Shunyata digital cable b/w BS and Yggy.  

FYI: When I borrowed the Bartok, I spent a lot of time with the various settings and did not find it harsh. 

Curious to learn more about the TeddyPardo LPS upgrade.  

Thanks again to all.

Joe

+1 on Innuos...I have the Zen Mini/LPS and it's a great combo.  I upgraded from the BS NODE.

Getting a $6k streamer and connecting it to Schiit doesn’t make much sense.
I would sell the BS and Schiit and pick up a used Bricasti M1SE with latest MDX and a network card around $5k-$6K then use iPad with Mconnect app (I think it’s about $6 to buy from the app store) to stream from qobuz and tidal.

Or get a one box streamer/dac solution like the HiFi Rose, Lumin or Aurender.

I have the latest Schitt Yggi+ Less is More DAC. I used to have a Lumin X1, which has a great streamer, and a very good DAC. I found the latest Schitt Yggi+ LM better on top end than the X1 DAC with everything else about the same. The top end had more detail with the Yggi+ LM.

If I were to get a Lumin again it would be the new streamer they have from what seems like the X1.

I compared the X1 steamer to the Sonore Optical Rendu and the PlayBack Designs Streamer-IF. The Lumin and Sonore used fibre and the IF is using SPDIF for now. They all sounded great, with the X1 the loudest and fastest sounding and the Sonore maybe more refined sounding. The IF was in the middle which was surprising. To be able to compete using SPDIF was unexpected, though I think there is fibre inside the PBD box. I just got a second OpticalRendu to hookup my 4th ROON streaming endpoint ($700 used)

My takeaway is that using fibre optic levels the playing field for streaming. Analog noise cannot traverse glass (fibre cable). Something like the Bricasti mentioned above with the RJ45 streamer input is a non-starter for me. I would use one of my streamers with the Bricasti before using RJ45 streaming input.

I had an RJ45 streamer in my now sold KRELL k-300i integrated, my Sonore OpticalRendu was better than the RJ45 streaming input built into the KRELL. The RJ45 is super convenient as was the Lumin X1 with the better built-in fibre input.

The Lumin streamer has the LeedH volume control that also works with the X1s outputs, SPDIF and others. That means you could use the physical remote control, which is better than the PlayBack Designs and Sonore in 1 aspect of operation.

Just some random things I learned about streaming.