Best streamer for a returning audio guy

As an older audio nut I sympathise, some old equipment is still fine, some is not.  I had a pair of Royd Doublet speakers for 20 years, I must have bought 8 pairs as replacements but none lasted until my recent 2 year old Audio Physic Sitara 25's. It didn't matter what else I ungraded the Royds always sounded right. Everything else was too dull or too bright or well a lot of other things. I have tried about 10 streamers and most sounded good to very good.  The main issues were not really sound quality but other things, reliability, my MicroRendu, 3 years of hell,  was hopeless and an Allo USB Bridge sent my computer into apoplexy, however both use Audirvana as an interface which I loved. I bought a Stack Link, sounded beautiful, when it worked but the app was atrocious, don't even think of using it with a mac. Next was a Lumin U1 mini, sound good but no better than a Bluesound Node I borrowed at the same time., at over twice the price and no DAC. As I had a great DAC, Denafrips Ares 2, I tried it with the Node, didn't like changes of sample rate just popped and jumped when it changed from track to track. Now I have a Lindemann Limetree Bridge, a review gave it about -5 on a scale of 1 to 10. However the whole, I mean whole problem stated was its distortion at 0.003%????? Can anyone hear that, tube amps are about 0.1%. This cost AUD$1000, app is nice, it never drops out, no problem with the Denafrips, It sounds at least as good as any other platform I have tried or listened to, including $10,000 worth of Moon. Go listen, after all that is what we buy hifi for, in the end however unless your system cost squillions, it may well be other things that influence your choice.

No need to get worked up....there are several members who get their jollies from being condescending and judgemental while missing the whole point of the question.

I gotta throw in my vote for the Bluesound Node.

If you want to go used, the Node 2i has excellent sound, but the older Node 2 was a bit rough.

The Bluesound user interface is outstanding...one of the best. The DAC is serviceable and has good sound quality. The newest Node, I'm told is a little better than the older 2i, but I'm quite happy with my 2i.

I used the internal DAC for about 6 months and enjoyed it. After upgrading to a nicer integrated amp that has a DAC, I started using the external DAC for a slight improvement.  

The Node supports Tidal Connect as well as a couple dozen other services and radio station collections.

I'd recommend the $10 a month Tidal subscription for starters and beyond. It provides true CD quality sound. I'm not a fan of the $20 a month plan with "MQA Masters", but you can read plenty on that subject here in the forum. They just don't sound right to me...like someone played with an equalizer before posting them.

I'm an audiophile from the early 70's with several hundred LP's and only 100 CD's. Before I started streaming my listening was 85% vinyl 10% CD and 5% Bluetooth.  Now, it's 75% streaming 5% CD and 20% vinyl. When I want the best music quality, it's vinyl. But the insane quantity of available music, great sound quality and ease of managing the several thousand tracks on albums and playlists make streaming an unbeatable choice, much of the time. 

Enjoy your journey and discoveries.

Yeah, yet another vote for the Node. Get the newest one, there is a good step up with the inboard DAC. Try it both ways to see what you prefer. Great little piece for the $$$.

audioTroy,

the forums are not the place for you to be pushing and selling your crap, if you want to do that go into the regular audiogon sales area and push your stuff and the moderator should know better than to let people like you on here do that there's a place for it on here and it's not in the forums.

Hello. Feel free to start Node, you won't hurt anything. p.s. a common mistake many people make is to compare their analog set, which they have built all their lives, with the most basic streamer and then make judgments that analog is better ... everything wants its own. Enjoy the world of music.