Streamer only

What’s your budget, and are you looking for new or used?

One option would be to get a Bluesound Node for $499 (includes a cheap DAC) and add a Teddy Pardo linear power supply for $395 and you’d have a solid streamer setup for about $800 (note this Node only has an SPDIF digital out — no USB out).  The power supply provides a notable boost in performance and can always be added later.  The Eversolo DMP-A6 is $859 and has a USB out if that’s a concern.  Best of luck. 

I learned in my wifi heavy area that the toslink is better sound quality (using a glass toslink cable) than coax to the DAC. The RME ADI-2 is able to play streams via BOTH inputs at 192K.

@romanesq I was under the impression Toslink is limited to 24/96. 

One thing people seem to ignore (correct me please if I am wrong) is that to use the "better" clock in your external DAC over the one in a "cheap" streamer, you must use asynchronous USB or I2S, otherwise the clock in the streamer is doing the "driving".

@moonwatcher @audphile1 This is interesting and something I’ve wondered about.  I’m using a DDC to feed i2S to my DAC, so does that mean the clock in the DDC is bypassed and the clock in the DAC is the only one working?