Sound quality differences in streamers

1. There are differences between all price points for streamers.  More expensive streamers sound better.  There is the axiom of limiting returns.  The benefit/cost ratio decreases as price increases.  Brand and price point are personal choices because perceived improvements in SQ and benefit/cost ratio are subjective.  
2. Everything in a system matters, including room and attention to set-up detail as well as components.  My perception of a hierarchy of importance, from most important to least important is speakers, front end (DAC/Streamer or turntable/arm/cartridge/phono stage), amplification (amp/preamp), electrical conditioning, cabling, room treatment, vibration control.  Others have different preferences. 
   
   My recommendation is a used Aurender N10 which are selling approximately at you $3000 cap.  Wonderful sounding streamer.  Audition and make your own judgement.  You may find something you like more.  

Very noticeable differences using as a streamer only.  I have a McIntosh C49 Preamp into a McIntosh MA462 so they resolve very well and has a good McIntosh DAC.  Using a Wiim Ultra ($350) to stream only sounds ok/good, is better than Bluetooth and the unit works very, very well, punching way above weight for $.

Next I tried an ELECTROCOMPANIET ECM 1 MKII - High End DAC and Streamer ($6,000)... The DAC is not as good as the McIntosh, but getting close.  As a streamer only, it sounds better than the Wiim, but the user interface and user experience isn't as good as the $350 Wiim, LOL.  But yes, sounds better.  Wiim 85% of way there, Electrocompaniet 93ish% there.

Next I tried an EverSolo DMP A-6 Master Edition ($1,200).  As a streamer only this is the ticket - sounds BETTER than Electrocompaniet 96ish% there - has a good user interface/experience too.  The DAC is ok, not great... not as good as the Electrocompaniet, but better than the Wiim by a lot.

Next I tried an EverSolo DMP A-8 ($1,880).  This is a terrific streamer and DAC.  All around better than the Electrocompaniet in every aspect.  The DAC is nearly as good as McIntosh, but the streamer is outstanding - very detailed and clean.

I'm using the DMP A-8 to stream via its DAC analog into a McIntosh MA-352 integrated for my office.  Super setup for the money.

So, to me, sometimes spending more is not better - The Chinese and Koreans are surpassing streamer tech of Europe in my opinion, especially when considering the money.

I have no trouble believing there are qualitative differences between streamers. My own experience with a Wiim Pro Plus (as streamer only) and a decent quality R-core linear power supply has shown me that the Pro Plus can be seriously improved with the use of such a power supply.

That's the beauty of some of these inexpensive 5V streamers-they can be improved upon pretty substantially with a high quality but low price power supply. The question then becomes at what kind of a price point do the laws of diminishing returns kick in. 

Here's a link to a review suggesting that a Wiim Mini with quality LPS came very close to a $2500 Lumin: 

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/reviews/a-tale-of-two-streamers-r1159/

Not bad!

The Aurender stuff looks extremely well put together to me once you get up into the $2K to $4k range. I'd be curious to hear one of those, but all in all, I am pretty happy with the results I'm getting in the cheap end of the gene pool, and that's compared to a $10K+ (not that I paid that for it) analog front end. 

My analog is definitely better, but with the right mastering/recording the results here represent a very high value for dollar proposition with pretty inexpensive streaming/digital within a relatively good system.

@ghdprentice , @soix 

+1 …. Big-time!
 

Nailed it , …. point, set, and match in tennis jargon. 

In my experience yes a quality streamer makes a difference you can hear.  I upgraded from a Bluesound Node N130 to an Innuos Zen MK3 and it made a difference I could hear immediately.