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Price Trends for Streamers?

I’ve been waiting to jump into the streaming scene — Mac>Airport Express>tube integrated amp, at present.  Just out of curiosity to those of you better acquainted with high rez streaming than I, do you think we’ll see a price drop with streaming components anything like what’s been the historic case with flat screen TVs over the next 5-10 yrs?
I keep wondering if Apple will pull an Apple TV (the device) high-resolution-music-streaming update out of their hat some Monday morning That will knock the high-end industry for a loop.
What about the subscription services?  What are the chances we’ll see a price war with the end result of high rez music streaming services being much closer to a basic Netflix/Hulu type subscription than they are presently?

What do you think?
lg1
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,479 posts
 
I have been away from Digital for seven years or so and now that I am thinking about adding a digital source into my main system the only option seems to be a stand alone streamer (physical discs bad!....here we go agian)... So if your not into paying $2500-$3500 then the primary option is the Bluesound Node 2i at $550. Not much in the middle i know. Oppo makes a Streamer/DAC for under $1000.

Matt

ddude003
161 posts
 
I get the feeling that Oppo is out of that product space...  There are those Pi family of DYI things for a few hundred and a Lumin U1 mini starts at 2k... So there is quite a range in there somewhere...
lg1 OP
199 posts
 
...”If you want a budget streamer just to get your feet wet, nothing compares to the Bluesound Node 2i at it's price point. Plug n play and sounds pretty good. If your goals are a little loftier, the Lumin devices offer better sound quality.”...(ozzy62)

My problem is that I want a new Lumin D2 but I don’t want to pay more than $700 for it...lol.
Seriously  though, the Node 2i does look better by the hour.  I’m an iTunes diehard though, and am concerned about ‘Net chatter that the BlueSound devices don’t play well with iTunes following some sort of firmware update.  I may concentrate on getting the best DAC I can afford for now and drag the Mac in the living room for a wired connection to it.....
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