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Need DAC/Streaming Advice

I currently own a Bryston BDP-2 digital player that I run through a Bryston DAC.  As far as playing high resolution files via a thumb drive or other external drive, the BDP-2 sounds great.  The streaming part leaves a lot to be desired.  I can stream Tidal but it is extremely slow and the IPad controller is pretty lousy.  I can listen to Sonos through the DAC into my main system but obviously there is no hi-Rez via Sonos. I would like to find a better solution and am willing to start over (I can move the Bryston components to my secondary system).  What I would like to find is a higher end streamer for my main system that would allow me to stream Tidal, Spotify and Deezer if possible while also playing digital files via thumb drive etc. I have no idea if that can be done in a one box solution or if I would need a separate streamer and DAC.  I would very much appreciate any and all thoughts.  Thanks in advance.
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mahler123
3,081 posts
 
Depends on the rest of your system.  If it is reasonably resolving, I would say yes, it’s worth an external DAC
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puppyt OP
95 posts
 
Mahler:

I’m beginning to wonder if any of these streaming options are really that good. I would assume so much depends on your WiFi network. As I understand it, The BDP3 digital player is a big improvement over the BDP2 so hopefully your experience will be much better. After reading all of these posts I decided to purchase the Node 2i. For only $499 I figured I wasn’t making a huge investment and I can always use it in my secondary system if it doesn’t perform as I hope. I my also spring for the upgrade to my BDP2 which essentially turns it into a 3.

Does anyone know how long it takes to rip a CD into the Vault? I have about 6000 CD’s and won’t live long enough to get them all ripped but I would like to get the best part of my collection into a hard drive.
austinbob
235 posts
 
I’ve owned and liked the Bryston BDP2 and BDA2. I used MPoD and Mpad to control it. Much better than Manic Moose. I shifted to a Roon based system and now use an Innuos Zenith Mark III to stream into my Lyngdorf which has a fine internal DAC. I’ve found a network connection to work better than wireless. You can google powerline network connectors if you don’t have a connection nearby. The Innuos acts as a Roon Core so I don’t need a separate computer. It integrates superbly with Tidal. 
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kalali
1,977 posts
 
 "I have about 6000 CD’s and won’t live long enough to get them all ripped"

Depending on what you have in your CD collection, you may find most of them already available in the Tidal catalog and can readily stream. 
mahler123
3,081 posts
 
OP
For my sake, I am hoping that your Bryston experience is an outlier.  I use Ethernet so hopefully that will help.
So Puppy, you say you purchased a Node 2i, but then you ask how long it will take to rip a CD to the Vault.  I am confused as to what your Bluesound setup is, please clarify.
i had ripped about 900CDs to my Vault in FLAC, and used 0.7 TB in the process.  Realizing that my several thousand CD collection wasn’t going to be contained on the Vault, I then had a NAS put in and transferred the Vault files to the NAS.  The storage limit on the Vault is 2TB and the NAS I chose is 10 TB.  The other advantage of having the collection on the NAS is that I can control it from Bluesound, from my Oppo, from my new Bryston, from my PC.....you aren’t limited to the foibles of one manufacturer..
  Ripped CDs will show up in the Vault almost immediately.  A rip takes from 2 to 10 minutes.
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