My only contribution to this discussion is, if you try to connect android to ifi zen streamer, be ready for a mountain of aggravation. My experiment lasted 3 days. Endless attempts of connectivity and android developper settings resulted in a big fat zero signal passing through the zen to my Gustard x26 pro. Luckily I bought the zen from crutch field and, upon request they immediately issued a return label for full refund. Hats off to them. I understand that connecting the zen to iPhone is a much more pleasurable experience. Bottom line, going to all that trouble to connect android to zen is not worth it to me since android to Gustard through bluetooth is a piece of cake and probably not much worse than through the zen since the signal originates from android. My sanity is slowly returning, what a nightmare that was!
Point of diminishing returns for a Network Streamers?
You have super cheap Pi streamers (build yourself), $399 IfI Zen, $500 Bluesound Node (no DSD), $700+ Pro-Ject Stream box, then $1k -$2k for Lumins, and others.
I'm running an old iMac as my Roon Core and running a super long, active USB cable to my Dac. I probably do not have to pay much for any improvement since my setup is not ideal.
I'm really fascinated by the Pro-Ject stream box...however...would it be a major improvement over the IFI Zen? I need DSD so the NODE is out of the question .
I could save and go with the new Lumin U2 mini, however....would it be a huge jump over the Pro-Ject?