Looking for a streamer/DAC

@durangorusd 

I’m using the new Node N130 into a Denafrips Pontus ll dac to my integrated amp.  All Dac’s have analog outputs that you plug into your preamp, amp or integrated amp.  Some Dacs can be used as a preamp( they have volume controls). There a many in every price range to choose from. What kind of music do you listen to?  Besides digital to analog conversion, what do you want yours to do? How do you want it to sound? Some are warm sounding and some are very digital sounding. 
There’s a bit more than price to consider when buying a Dac.

All the best.

JD

I am an old geezer that has been with digital every step of the way. I am going to assume you want streaming to sound as good or very nearly to your other sources. Meaning you can fully enjoy your streaming and not keep going back to other sources because they sound so much better.

I recommend an Aurender A10 (or any Aurender that you like)… I see them for about $4.6K. But I would like you to consider you are investing in two components… so that is $2.3K for the steamer and $2.3K for the DAC. These are two components worthy of their own boxes… the analog equivalent is a TT and Phonostage… and at the level of a preamp and amp. I found if well chosen these tend to be of similar cost. As an old dog, the best way to spend a lot of money is to dip your toe in… be disappointed… throw some more money in… “well, sounds better”. Then realize you need to match the performance to the rest of your system. Do once and well, life is short.

You do not bypass, or want to bypass your preamp. You plug this into your integrated amp.

You do not need a wifi enabled streamer / player. Get a $59 wall wart wifi extender and plug it in next to your audio system. Plug your streamer in to this. My $150K main system works this way (I bought a Aurlic Aries G2 because it had wifi and was very disappointed with it overall… then found out about the wifi wall wart). So does my $15K + headphone system.

My system also contains an MA352. Listening room is upstairs and on the other end of the house. Dealer told me to consider a wall-wart extender instead of a wifi streamer. I think I ended up with the TP Link 1200 (sorry not home at the moment to verify). 

I connected a decent Cat6 cable to this, which runs to an Innuos Mini mkiii ($1400) with external power supply ($800)The bits are then sent to a Wyred4Sound Dac-1, ($1300) then to a set of balanced inputs on the MA352.  I’m not really a digital guy, but this set up is quite pleasing to my old ears. Many of the HQ files from Qobuz are equal to my vinyl set up.

More good suggestions to consider. Thanks. 
I am slowly building my new system. Very happy with the accuracy of the B&W speakers with the added warmth and smoothness of the MA352. 
mill rrsearch all. Never heard of a wall wart so it’s off to new learning. 

Get the ifi zenstreamer and then the dac of your choice. 
Easily upgradeable, and not a lot of money to put your toes in the water.