Really need help choosing audio streamer !!!


Hi all,

I really need help from the wonderful people on the forum. I have a dilemma choosing Digital transport for my music system which will be in my bed room.

Just to give every one some background, I have an expensive stereo system in my living room (~$20,000 in total) and it sounds great. Now, my wife wants something similar in our master bedroom. I want to come up with some thing that sound great but does not cost a lot of money since I have already invested heavily in the living room’s system.

So, my speaker of choice is the Wharfdale Deton 80th Anniversary
So far, I have chosen a DAC (PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC), and an amp (Yamaha A-S1100)
All of my interconnects are from AudioQuest, and the speaker cable is the Rocket 33

My dilemma is I have a hard time choosing the correct streamer for that set up. My budget is $600 for the streamer, I afraid that I cannot go over that since I just want to build a fun and easy listing system.

The streamers that I found so far is :

1. Allo DigiOne Sig Player + Shanti PSU ($466)
2. Allo USBridge Sig Player + Shanti PSU ($410)
3. Intel NUC (used one) + HDPlex 200Watt PSU ($500)
4. Blue Sound node 2i ($549)

The trick here is to find a streamer that offer the best bang for my buck because I have limited amount of cash to throw around. All of the DIY player will use Volumio player (I don’t like to use Roon and never want to).

So my question is how these streamer compared to the others? Will one player be superior to the other based on specs or personal experience ... ? For example, I know that Shantai PSU and HDPlex is better than SMPS but I have never heard them in real life, so it is hard to tell if the speculation is true (right or wrong ??). Any idea is welcome, and thanks for your support.
128x128viethluu
the Raspberry based player is also very easy to use and assemble. It will only take me maximum of 2 hours to set them up with Volumio :)
I use a raspberry pi4 with Ropiee. I also use a NUC I assembled but I use Roon. Arcam has a player on sale at Music Direct for 350. Doesn't Volumio sell a player around $350?
Microrendu was suggested to me, on sale by Small Green Computer for $430.  Can't vouch for it, as I am new to all this and looking for a similar budgeted streamer...Also pi2 design is an alternative to Signature.  
You could assemble a raspberry pi4 and run Volumio on it. I built a fanless pi4 for about $120. 
@ djones51, I can build raspberry pi4 with Volumio quite easily. I did that along time ago.

What I like is taking advantage of noise cancellation and jitters isolation technology from Allo. They have some very good Linear PSU for Pi as well as HAT isolation board. At the end of the day the DigioOne and USBridge are just Pi with noise isolation techs. But, I don’t know if they will be better than off-the-shelves solution (Blue Sound and Arcam ...)
I had a Node2i and the weakest part of that is the DAC but you are using a different one. The best thing about the Node2i is it's ease of use and all the streaming places it supports, Tidal, Quboz. Amazon HD, Spotify, dozens of radio stations. For a budget streamer it's actually very good I still kick myself for selling mine. 
Don’t forget to consider the App or control interface especially if you integrate Tidal, Spotify, etc.
BluOS tough to beat and real advantage over most others at ANY price.

Bluesound also has AirPlay and Bluetooth in addition to their own plus Ethernet.
You may not think that it’s important until your internet goes out and you want to listen to music and the BT comes in handy.

your decision isn’t even close IMO.
Now, you guys make it very tough for me to decide ... lol

Blue Sound - greater versatility and support

DigiOne Sig - Better sound with Shanti (according to some people - but I don't have any first hand experience)
I consider that a RPi4 based solution is the best quality sound option. You can use the Allo Digione Sig Player + Shanti.
Another option is the Pi2AES, that will cost you half of the Allo Digione Sig and its performance is very similar. 

I think you can find a microRendu in the used market.  I did.  You need a power supply that you might also find used.  I used mine with an Ayre Codex DAC, Ayre A7e integrated, and KEF LS50s.  I eventually upgraded to an ultraRendu -- much harder to find used, but I did, and a UpTone linear power supply.  The sound with the microRendu was very good.
Get a NAD M10 or Naim Uniti Atom.  One box, and you have a streamer, DAC, and amp/pre amp in one box.  See the review on Darko’s you tube channel.  He reviews them side-by-side.
@mtavares.  is it true that the allo digione sig will out perform the blue sound and the intel nuc ? cause performance and sound quality is my number one concern
How much listening are you going to do in your bedroom? I'd suggest you look at an all in one system minus speakers. An integrated with a good DAC and Streamer built in. there are many to choose from at varying prices. I think you'd be better served in a bedroom system with a minimal system that sounds great.  why have multiple box's to deal with in a bedroom. Hegal, Parasond, PSB etrc etc all make these now. 
Save your money, move up to the ps audio ds jr or DS sr dac and you won’t need a 3rd party streamer, and you will have a much better dac too.
If you get 1 of these dacs and get Roon (which has by far the best UI), you can run Roon server on your existing pc/Mac which is in a different room from your audio room and connect to these dacs using Ethernet.
@ rbstehno

I have a very expensive streamer + dac combination (~$6000) in my main system. But, once again, I don’t want to spend that much money on a secondary system which just means for fun and easy listening.

What I am aiming for is maximum sound quality with little budget. That is part of the fun.
Unless you're sold on the speakers and amp  you've already mentioned you could get a streamer with volume control and active speakers. I think Wharfdale has a few active. 
I found another contender for this set up: MicroRendu + LPSU (from Small Green Computer) . The whole package is $560 which is within my budget. Will it be better than the other options (blue sound, usbridge, and digione,....) ?
Dude, that is how much a node costs. It is a no brainer.

If you want to spend less for what you are getting now, then you need to post in DIY forums or ASR.

Today, I pull the trigger and bought the MicroRendu with LPSU (small green). I believe that combination will sound better than the BlueSound Node 2i. 

I only stream music from my own Network and occasionally use Airplay and Spotify, so I don't need all the extra functionalities of the BlueSound Node 2i.  

Also, MicroRendu gives customers an upgrade path. In the future, if I want to upgrade the MicroRendu to the Ultra, the manufacture can buy back the old device and sell me a new one. I think it will be a sweet deal. 
The Node 2i is a good value and sounds fine for what it is. However, if your ambitions are a little higher, the Lumin U1 Mini sounds appreciably better.

Oz