Streamer wanted

Spiritofradio,

I appreciate your missing me.
Since I got a wonderful DAC (Benchmark) and high res audio disc digital extractor (GeerFab,) I’ve been more in the digital realm and neglecting records lately. As the novelty wears off, I’ll be getting back to them.
As far as the streamer goes, I’ll see if the Node 2i is any better with the Benchmark than it was with the previous DAC. I’m actually fairly pleased with how good a job WiFi does. I just want to investigate hi res streaming which my Arcam is incapable of.

As an owner of the Arcam st60, I can say that it is a solid piece that checks “almost” all of the boxes one would want.  It has chrome cast built in, will do tidal MQA decoding(important to me), Spotify connect, upnp, and digital in (toslink & coax). It also works with Roon. Has single ended and balanced (important to me) outputs, digital outs if you don’t like the “sound” of the unit(you can adjust the ESS filters on it) and want to run your own dac.  It can also act as a preamp if you’re only running streaming/digital as a source.  The music life application that comes with it is nothing fancy but runs without hiccups. My only “issue” with it is lack of a usb input.  Now in Arcam’s defense it is a “streamer” and not a DAC, but if you’re going to include digital in’s...   I’ve owned or have used streamers from Marantz, blue sound, And the RPi4.  I can say without a doubt I’m very happy with the sound from the Arcam.  

Unfortunately, my RPlay Arcam model, although ostensibly designed with hi res,
has been incompatible with my DACs.  Otherwise, the sound is quite impressive.

I have the Cambridge Audio CNX V2. Paid $700 on ebay for a refurbished unit. Great unit,  greater deal and I could not be happier using it as my only source for my Acoustat 33's w/ Roy E. Rebuilt TNT200 converted Monoblocks..

Interesting post. I wonder if anyone has tested the Matrix Audio mini I-pro 3. It is a bit over $1000. Compared to the Arcam ST60, it has a USB input, it is already already Roon certified, and it has a similar DAC (ESS9038Q2M versus the Arcam’s ESS9038K2M). The only disadvantage is that it is not a uPnP Streamer.

https://www.matrix-digi.com/en/products/489.html

I have the Matrix Mini-I-3 Pro and it has very good streaming options. I am about to pack it up today and send to my buddy so he does not annoy me with he crappy music listening options. The unit has Apple AirPlay2, ROON READY, WiFi, Ethernet, Bluetooth for streaming. It also has a cool GUI showing the album being played.

The great thing about this DAC is that is is low priced (I paid $750 on Black Friday), it is very easy to use for non-audiophiles such as my buddy. He likely won’t get ROON but he will be able to play his music and computer audio via AirPlay2 using his iPhone, mostly YouTube.

You need Ethernet connectivity for all the best features to work on the Mini. WiFi restricts some features such as displaying the album image on the GUI. WiFi works well until it does not and then things need to be shut down and restarted. So WiFi is not recommended by me.

The DAC is not as good as my ESS Benchmark DAC3B or my AMT3SE tube DAC but it is comparable to the internal ESS DAC of my KRELL K-300i integrated (a $1000 option).

The Mini was used mainly by me with a Topping A90 headphone amp and Meze Empy headphones. I was shocked at the quality of this setup for the price I paid. Almost as good as my Benchmark HPA4 + DAC3B with the Meze Empy.

https://soundnews.net/sources/dacs/matrix-audio-mini-i-pro-3-third-time-s-a-charm/

I don’t know if this helps, and I don’t own the product myself, but the Arcam rPlay works with the DTS Play-Fi app, which has a critical listening mode that is supposed to allow you to listen to hi-res audio.

From Arcam: "NOTE: Files up to 16-bit/48 kHz are streamed without compression or transcoding. High resolution audio files (24-bit/192kHz), are down-sampled to 16-bit/48kHz for transmission. This allows for the most reliable streaming experience over Wi-Fi to multiple speakers. For those who wish to hear high resolution audio as originally intended, Critical Listening mode in the DTS Play-Fi app will enable native rendering of high resolution files up to 24/96, without down-sampling or network synchronization adjustment. In this way, audio files retain their original audio integrity. For more details regarding the Critical Listening mode please refer to https://play-fi.com/faq/entry/critical-listening-mode"


From DTS: "Critical Listening Mode

Play-Fi will normally play back all files it supports in their native formats and encoding. High resolution files are a special case, and though they are not transcoded, they are down-sampled to CD quality to maintain stream and network performance.

For those who wish to hear high resolution audio as originally intended, Critical Listening mode will enable native rendering of high resolution files up to 24/192, with no down-sampling or network synchronization adjustment. In this way, audio files retain their original audio integrity.

Since the high resolution audio files are not down-sampled in this mode, they will remain exceptionally large. We support all modes over standard Wi-Fi, including Critical Listening, but a wired connection may improve the experience for those with network issues.

Enabling Critical Listening Mode. Before selecting a Play-Fi product, tap the Hi-Res button in the top bar of the zone module. This will change the list to display the Play-Fi products that are compatible with this mode. Most Play-Fi products support Critical Listening, but if you’d like to know more about your product, contact info for your brand may be found on the main Knowledge Base page."

The Arcam and DTS instructions disagree about how high the resolution can go, but I wonder if the Arcam instructions might have a typo. Anyway, I think it would be worth giving this a try if you haven’t already done so.

Cm6td,

Thank you for your detailed post.
unfortunately, I HAVE tried the “critical listening mode” option and I’m told that my device is incompatible.

Well, I received the Node 2i and compared it with the Arcam RPlay. With the new DAC thrown into the mix, preliminary tests show the results are the same as with my previous comparison. Comparing the same selections, the Node, even in hi res format, doesn’t sound as good as the Arcam in normal resolution.
I’ll do more testing to make sure, but the odds are I’ll return the Bluesound, and hold on to the Arcam.

Really, the difference in SQ isn’t even close. The Arcam is fuller, richer and more detailed with much better soundstaging. I guess I didn’t realize how good I had it.
I don’t know why they discontinued it. Probably because of the incompatibility problems.

Eh,  see above.