My only advice is to ignore the advice to "save your money for a DAC upgrade". I had a Yggy LiM and regret selling it. It plays in a league well above it's price point. It's absolutely up to the standards of any of the streamer options you're considering.
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.....
- ...
- 75 posts total
Larry, this is absolutely wild. My “extremely qualified” advice is to listen to your system - and enjoy it; our systems are better than 99% of what the general population has exposure to (let alone on a daily basis). I’d be curious to know your friend’s thought process - or maybe lack of awareness - when he purchased the three-way speakers and then sent you an article confirming his purchase and your perceived loss. Hopefully this was unintentional on his part. If not, I don’t think that’s normal behavior and it’s more of a reflection of him than you and your great speakers. You literally need to turn up the volume and drown out the noise (internal & external) on you killer system.
|
Keep in mind that if you're using USB or I2S to connect your streamer to your DAC, you're defaulting to the DAC's clock rather than making use of the clock in the streamer. That may or may not influence your decision about how much to pay, since there are lots of other factors that could influence your decision. But as far as accuracy of the bits streamed, you're now defaulting to the Yggy by going USB. Buying a streamer because it has a better clock would mean a move to SPDIF to take advantage of your purchase. |
OP here ..... Wow, impressive number of replies to my request. Very thankful and enlightened. Appreciate all who have contributed. A shout out to @peipaul as his experience with several of the streamers I am contemplating and his environment with the Yggy LIM provide me with somewhat of a baseline. A clarification on my environment re Apple and a few questions based on the replies -
|
- 75 posts total