Given how good their DACs sound, I'd be curious about the HoloAudio streamer:
Recommendations for good sounding streamer
I am looking for a decent sounding streamer without breaking the bank. My daughter has Spotify premium and it would be nice to connect up to my audio system (de Havilland UltraVerve tube preamp, McCormack DNA-1 amp, Martin Logan SL3s).
I mostly listen to vinyl (Pro-ject RPM5) and CDs (Ultech UCD100) using the internal DAC. I do have a V90 DAC however that I used for playing digital from my phone.
I don't really have the money any more for expensive digital playback. So what a recommendations for bang for the buck system. Could include using my V90 DAC.
Reading through the forum here it seems that Spotify is not the best quality digital (Tidal seems to come up a lot). But for now we have tons of Spotify playlists - just looking for an affordable way.
Some considerations:
Bluesound NODE 3
iFi Zen Stream
Any others? Pros/cons?
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As far as cheap streamers go I've had or have the Node, Cambridge CXN2, Ifi Zen Stream, WiiM Mini, and Arcam SA30. If Digital really isn't your "thing" and you mostly will be using Spotify, along with wanting the Streamer to be family friendly (Bluetooth) I would go with the $80 WiiM Mini or wait just a bit for the WiiM Pro which will have an Ethernet port. With the WiiM I'd suggest using the toslink out into your existing Dac input. Spotify is not Hi-Res, I find it along the lines of quality as YouTube Music. Nothing wrong with that, I just don't see the need to over pay for a higher end streamer when your choice of Streaming Service doesn't call for it. The WiiM's Home app is better than most in my opinion, but I also feel like most of them out there have issues or a pain to navigate. When using my external DAC and streaming services such as Quboz or Tidal I didn't hear much of a difference if any between the WiiM and the Node. The Zen Stream is a step up in sound quality but I'd say the Zen can have issues at time..not so much a problem I can't navigate around but I wouldn't call it family friendly. Others may disagree. So that's my 2cents on the subject, I think the WiiM is a fabulous entry level product. It doesn't have a wired Ethernet port but that was never an issue with my Wifi. Its so cheap that if you ever decide you need better I doubt you will cry about what you spent. Move it to another room or a cheap secondary system. Good luck
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I have been using the BlueSound Node since July... I really like it... Sound Quality with the new DAC chip is very good The Streamer is BULLETPROOF, I am using WiFi and have not dropped a song once...QoBuz exclusively The App/OS is outstanding...The interface is the best in the market, easy to use, easy to set up... Gapless is a must and the BlueSound supports this... There is a MASSIVE amount of choices /pricing (and opinions) on this component segment...and a ton of excellent data on this site...enjoy the journey! |
@surfmuz Because the OP mentioned the Node 3 and Zen Stream, and next to them the Chromecast Audio is at best a toy. And as Spotify now offers higher-quality streaming options a better streamer would provide meaningful sonic benefits over a toy. That’s why the CC Audio is shite on a relative basis. Also, you can read Darko’s review of streamers where I think he may have compared the CC Audio to the Node and some others and it was complete shite. So yeah, in the context of the question asked by the OP the CC Audio is just not on the same level. |
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