Streamer + DAC help: Bluesound vs Eversolo (vs Others)

Innuos streamers sound great, have the best app, and offer great customer service. Here’s a used Zen at a good price, or you could get a new Pulse Mini and add an LPS from SBooster, Teddy Pardo, or LHY for about the same price.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/650163113-innuos-zen-mk3-2tb/

You could pair it with this Denafrips Pontus 15th DAC and have a pretty damn strong streaming setup for around $4k.  At your budget you could even add an Iris DDC (highly recommended) and get a significant performance boost for not much $$$ or add it later.  Best of luck.

https://www.denafrips.com/product-page/denafrips-pontus-15th-r2r-dac

I have had the Eversolo DMP-A8 since it was first available, Dec of 23.

I love the DSP features that allow me to tweak the sound for the speakers of my preference. The internal Dac sounds better to me than the $1600 Gustard R26 Ladder Dac it replaced. Sold the Gustard.

The analog preamp in this unit bettered the tube pre I was using.

I have never had a single issue with this unit or the app/software. I find the app is intuitive and rock solid. They have a very helpful dedicated forum for this unit.

The support team continues to add new features to the software. They recently added automatic switching to the proper input when the TV (ARC) or the one of the streaming apps (internal player) are selected. They also recently updated with the new room correction software that just came out with the new A10 unit. The ARC input makes Youtube videos sound great, better than the Optical in I was using.

The A8 is probably the finest piece of kit I ever placed into my system.

I had problems with Bluesound, Cambridge, and Eversolo (A6).  The product support for the Eversolo was by far the worst I have ever experienced in audio.

I moved up the audio chain significantly by going with Innuos for the streamer and Bricasti for the DAC.  Both were purchased used.  The two items combined are over your budget.  I have heard great things regarding the Bricasti M3 with the built-in streamer.  If I were in your shoes I would take a serious look at the M3.

NAD C700 v2 or M3, blueos based. 

The new Bluesound line up of Nano, Node, and Icon have gotten some great reviews with some saying even the $299 Nano sounds better than the old Node and Node X by an easy to hear margin. So, I'd imagine the Node 132 and Icon would be very good, assuming you are wanting a one box solution at least right now, and *might* add a better DAC down the road (or not). Cambridge has their new EXN line out. That streamer is obviously a bit better than their CXN one. 

At the end of the day, a device you are happy to use (i.e. having a good user interface) will trump any slight increase in sound quality you might get by going upstream, (no pun intended). However, from many postings on here, the Innuos streamers get high marks for a good user experience too. 

I'd be leery of getting any streamer based on Android, not knowing if it will become an expensive paperweight in 3 to 5 years when the streaming apps from Tidal. Apple, Qobuz, and others move beyond whatever version of Android is running on it, i.e. like the Eversolo streamers or FiiO R7.