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Streamers in the scheme of things.

I needed a streamer with AES3 out to connect to my Dutch and Dutch 8c’s so I began home trials. First I gave the Simaudio Moon Mind2 a go then a Bel Canto e Stream since I didn’t need a DAC . I am running Roon on a NUC and used these as roon ready devices. They both sounded very much alike or I guess I should say they didn’t do anything to mess up the stream. Before I used a raspberry pi4 as a bridge since I didn’t notice improved sound wondered how I could keep using it when I found a USB to AES3 converter the Matrix X SPDIF 2. At $400 I figured I had nothing to lose and $1600 to gain over the streamers. Today it was delivered connected my little raspberry pi4 to it and yes it sounds just as good. Streamers don’t have a hard job just get info to the DAC. Back go the Moon and Bel Canto.
djones51
8 responses Add your response
motokokusanagi
189 posts
 
Always good to save money. Did you get the Moon and Bel Canto on a 30 day return basis?

There's also a hat board called Pi2AES that may have been worth comparing.

I wonder also if the max 192khz AES input of these speakers is a factor on levelling the performance of all the streamers here.
djones51 OP
4,947 posts
 
Yes, I already shipped them back. I looked at the Pi2AES it was a 4 week time frame on orders. It wasn’t that much cheaper figuring in power supply and case. Everything I stream through roon on Quboz is 192/24 or lower. My flac files are all redbook.
fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,598 posts
 
You should have bought a new Baby Ambre with the $400.
djones51 OP
4,947 posts
 
What good would an Amber do it doesn't have AES3 out. I looked at a Hermes but I figured it wasn't going to do anything better than the streamers I tried.
djones51 OP
4,947 posts
 
At least I recieved my refund on the  Simaudio and Bel Canto. I tried an Innous as well never heard any difference between these streamers going to the same DAC.  I think with streamers it has more to do with the software and if you like the UI. 
mahler123
3,318 posts
 
I went from Bluesound to a Bryston BDP3, using the same Bryston BDP3 for both, and the sonic improvement was significant. ymmv
djones51 OP
4,947 posts
 
Decided to try another music streamer the Lumin U1 mini. Same results the SQ is no better than raspberry pi4 used as a bridge. I’ve also tried the MiniDSP Studio SHD same results with SQ, except the Dirac is nice.
djones51 OP
4,947 posts
 
Of the Simaudio,  Bel canto and Lumin I like the Lumin the best. The control app while not as good as roon is a close second , better than the others I've tried. I subscribe to roon on a yearly basis this might be good enough to drop it, I have a couple more months to decide. 
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