"Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra" 2 USB ins with more juice to run drives than BluNode. Everything but LPS" I've considered this
"I personally would go without transport" Not referring to a physical drive; some manufacturers refer to streamers lacking dacs as a transport- the nomenclature is difficult because there is no standardization between manufacturers
"I would recommend a used Aurender"- You're not the first one who has suggested this route
"Lumin U1 Mini" on my short list and I see Teddy Pardo has an external LPS for this too but with an external LPS we are at $2500 and at that level there are other options in the ballpark and that's more than a Zen Mini Mk 3 with LPS
"Cambridge Audio streamer?" I've not really looked into Cambridge
So far, there is no commercially available product that is 100% in accord with my wish list.The unfortunate thing is that the best streamer I ever heard was a 5 figure Naim streamer. Liked it better than an even more costly Linn streamer.
One thought that keeps popping up is just get a Node for $549 (or maybe a new old stock Node 2i for even less), use it for a year or two, and see what is available then. I would not be using the Node's internal DAC as I have a more than adequate DAC already.
"I personally would go without transport" Not referring to a physical drive; some manufacturers refer to streamers lacking dacs as a transport- the nomenclature is difficult because there is no standardization between manufacturers
"I would recommend a used Aurender"- You're not the first one who has suggested this route
"Lumin U1 Mini" on my short list and I see Teddy Pardo has an external LPS for this too but with an external LPS we are at $2500 and at that level there are other options in the ballpark and that's more than a Zen Mini Mk 3 with LPS
"Cambridge Audio streamer?" I've not really looked into Cambridge
So far, there is no commercially available product that is 100% in accord with my wish list.The unfortunate thing is that the best streamer I ever heard was a 5 figure Naim streamer. Liked it better than an even more costly Linn streamer.
One thought that keeps popping up is just get a Node for $549 (or maybe a new old stock Node 2i for even less), use it for a year or two, and see what is available then. I would not be using the Node's internal DAC as I have a more than adequate DAC already.