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Novice Question: Dedicated Streamers

Basically, I’m confused as to what function a stand-alone music streamer without onboard storage serves.  I know I’ve got some sort of glaring, mental blank spot about this.....the only thing I can figure is that there is some sort of enhanced music file processing over what one gets with most home computers and storage happens by plugging an external storage drive(s) to this sort of component??  Can someone enlighten me better about these?  The Blue Sound “Vault” has caught my eye of late but I’m wondering if I might be missing something by not looking at the “node” by the same company.  I don’t anticipate ever using any sort of music subscription service if this is important...  
lg1

Showing 1 response by eziggy

eziggy
137 posts
 
@ahofer laid it out really well.  I like to think of these in a few buckets:

-  DAC with streamer functionality, has digital+network in, digital+analog out  (Auralic, MSB, NAD, others)
-  Streamer with DAC functionality, has network in, digital+analog out (Lumin, others)
-  Streamers, has network in and digital out, needs external DAC (Lumin, Auralic, Sonore, others)
-  Network Music Server and Streamer, has digital out (Aurender, others)
- Network Music Server, Streamer, and DAC (Aurender, others)

There are also computer based network severs which can have DACS.  These usually have specialized hardware, like linear power supplies, around computer parts (Innuos, Roon).

Also there is just software solutions that can be installed on your computer at home which can act as a server. (Roon, others)

The theory behind this is is that the more specialized the component the better the sound.  Each will have a different interface and mobile app to go with it.  Some share compatible with Roon, mostly as an endpoint.

This isn’t all inclusive of all solutions, but hope it helps.
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