Streamer Selection - Thoughts Requested Please!


I have been talking way to much to myself on my next purchase - a streamer, no DAC. I have reached the point of going round and round with the same three streamers - Innuos Pulse, Auralic G1.1 and Aurender N150.  Mid $3K price range max.  The Auralic G1.1 list just dropping by $1K to $2,249.  The Innuos Pulse list is $3,250 and the Aurender N150 is at $3,500. Would be open to lightly used to upgrade my choices but the upgraded next step in each product line is a significant jump.  

I began streaming with a Blusound Node 2021 Gen 3 which I converted last year with the PD Creative board LPSU and added an SBooster P&P Eco power supply.  This was an improvement in my digital listening using the BS node for the DAC and streaming mainly TIDAL. Six months ago I added a Schitt Yggydrasil LIM (Less is More)  and oh my goodness what a difference overall.  I have the BS Node connected by an ethernet cable to my router.  Use an iPad to run BlueOS and the Tidal app.  The BS node is connected via USB to the Schitt Yggy.  

I don't have a need for storage or playing CD's.  Reading a few threads here have convinced me that a streamer upgrade with my system will provide better sound overall.  How much is certainly an open question but I am willing to go forward.  The rest of my system is a First Watt F8 amp, Modwright LS100 and Modwright 9.0 along with a Clearaudio Concept table and Zu Dirty Weekend Supremes.  

Whats important to me would be the sound quality, an app with solid integration with Apple and TIDAL.  I am leaning to Aurender as their players/transports are "streamers" / no DAC, they seem to integrate well with Apple and the Conductor app gets mixed reviews but mostly is well liked.  I am just not sure if with my present system it makes sense to be over $3K for a streamer, although if down the line I move on from the Yggy, I wouldn't want to then add a new streamer.  

Please jump in with thoughts, suggestions and let me know if I have missed any important criteria or other approaches/audio streamers.  Thanks in advance.....

norust

Showing 3 responses by audiotroy

We can offer you the 432Evo Servers

he Evo is a full Roon core and endpoint and it has been designed from its inception to run Ronn:

 

in fact we are one of the very few servers designed to explloit a multi core cpu for better Roon sound quality:

we have created a proprietary os that runs Roon in its own cpu core, while using another core to run housekeeping and backend processes

wile another core addresses streaming file allocation and caching.

We have actually compared our 432Evo Aeon $7800, vs the 12k Aurender N20 

Everyone who heard the demo felt the Aeon produced a dramatically better sound out of the same Dac.

The Aeon was more three dimensional, and had greater depth of field,  and the midrange was richer, all in all the Aeon was a more engaging sounding server.

 

On another note, we have a few advantages over aurender and other servers:

 

1: We are an upgradable, modular platform, this means you can upgrade an Aeon to our flagship Master.

Our Master 16k is shockingly close to the $30k Taiko extreme so we represent a server which is very close to the worlds best server yet is half the price.

The upgradable modular nature of our servers means as better parts become available, we can swap out new parts so we have a platform you can grow with.

We compared our $7800Aeon to a 25k Innous Statement with upgraded power supply after AXPONA at a Chicago dealers’ showroom.

all listeners concluded the Aeon sounded just as good as the Statement.

Now consider our Master sounds even better, yet still costs considerably less than the Statement.

This means you can start with an Aeon and upgrade to a Master later.

 

This also means our products can evolve so if a better sound card or Clock card comes out, we can easily upgrade our server.

also, our Master actually contains 3 separate toroidal transformers which is far superior to Innous single transformer design 

 

As per is2 being better it is not  better then usb and the lack of standards makes it impossible to support.

we have done everything possible  to maximize performance while eliminating digital noise.

 

dave and Troy

audio intellect NJ

us importers 432 Evo music servers.

 

 rbstehno

you have a lot of misconceptions

"iMO, Mac minis are much quiete"r no they are not we are not talking about fan noise but electrictrical noise which is what EVERY dedicated server is. Also, I believe these factors that weigh heavily on sq:

a server of any kind in your audio room is bad, no this is wrong if the server has been designed for low noise rfi t makes no difference where the server is located

 

Our servers combat noise in a number of ways first the cpu is a low noise cpu designed to run Roon efficiently without requiring an excessivily fast cpu the greater the cpu’s processing power the greater the noise

We employ a 3d printed all copper cpu shield designed to shield the cpu and eliminate rfi radiation.

 

Our OS is one of the keys to running roon to maximize sound quality

We run Roon in its own CPU core

We run machine housekeeping on its own CPU core

We employ a third core for fille allocation and caching.it is for all of these reasons a dedicated server will outperform a mac mini, a mac mini is a great little computer but it has not been designed or sound quality.


lastly i2s is not better then USB as there are no standards between

manufacturer’s so i2s doesn’t mean everything will work, where usb is guaranteed to work.

 

so it comes down to design by the way the server is built

We have sold and tested: Aurender, auraylic, Sotm, baetis and laufer tehnnik,lumin and Innous al vs mac minis and custom pc solutions

 

so long story short we have years of actual testing.

 

Dave and Troy

Audio intellect nj

us importers 432evo music servers

no rust 

you don't need any additional end point you just plug in the server to your dac

you can run Roon or lms tocontrol the server

 

yes our entry level is $3500 it is a complete Roon core and Endpoint  you need an ethernet connection and a usb cable.

 

Rhbsterno the reason there are so many usb tweeks is because many people  are attempting to use a  LAPTOP OR PC instead of a dedicated server, so you need some of these tweeks to prop up a pc or Mac

 

As per Roon you can direct the cpu to allocate its own core to running the  program 

as per low noise we use a particular intel chip known for low power low noise applications.

It is  not a special chip just one that most people don't use 

Hope that helps

ave and Troy

audio intellect NJ

US importers 432Evo music servers