Sound quality differences in streamers

@lanx0003 

“The real question is: where does the point of diminishing returns begin?”

At what price point? Also, “diminishing returns” is subjectively defined by each owner/listener, for their own system. IOW, not a stationary target.

That said, in my system, the $6,000 Sonore Signature Rendu SE Deluxe (streamer only) provides significantly more engaging results than the $1250 Metrum Acoustics Ambre, $7,500 Antipodes DX Gen 3, or $7,000 Mojo Audio Deja Vu that came before it.  Keep in mind, the Deja Vu and Antipodes DX are server/streamers.  Of those, the Deja Vu came sonically closer than the others to the sound of the Sig. Rendu SE but, even then, the Sig. Rendu SE Deluxe clearly sounds better to me. A good comparison would be against the $8,000 Innuos Pulsar (streamer only).

In the past I would have said no difference, but after trying an N150 upgrade from a bluesound node 2, I realized there is a difference.  Not every room/person/system will reveal the difference, or even prefer the more expensive streamer.  I suggest you try the upgrade to hear for yourself and then decide based on your budget and any audio improvement.  

Go for the Wiim.  Ultra is great using it with an external DAC (MHDT StocKholm ii)

Great insight here on many posts, thanks. Grinnell, I was thinking WiiM going to my MHDT Orchid. But don’t want to sell myself short. Hence the inquiry.

A friend uses the WiiM and I’ve found the software very user friendly which for me is priceless. I will give up sonics for easy to navigate software. 
And of course I enjoy the typical few snarky replies present on every interweb forum. Sorry I left off a zero on the $3000, not $30000 dCS (corrected from dSC) and misspelled model name. And a few others peppered in among the truly helpful replies. Lots to think about —