Streamers without DACs sound broadly similar in my experience. However you do need a good interface to access your music which you lose by abandoning Bluesound. I recommend Roon - it is even better than Bluos and will revolutionize your listening. You would need a 'roon-ready’ streamer. I recommend Pro-Ject Stream box S2 ultra as a good wifi or wired streamer (no dac). Or the Auralic Aries G1. The latter is a lot more expensive but in my a/b testing was no better in sound quality.
Need recommendations for a streamer
I would like to upgrade from a Bluesound Node to a higher quality streamer.
The Node sounds fine with my current system, but I am making a second system for my wife, and the Node is going to that new system. I thought I would take the opportunity to upgrade my streamer at this time.
My criteria are that it be a streamer only (no DAC/storage/CD player, etc), be able to hook into wi-fi/cloud without a physical wire/connection, have balanced outputs to go to my DAC, and cost less than 2,500 USD. Can anybody think of a streamer that fits this bill?
The rest of my system:
DAC: Terminator II
Preamp: Schiit Freya+
Amps: PS Audio M1200 x 2
Speakers: Thiel CS 2.3
Thanks.