Streamers ranked by sound quality

[Ultrarunner]

Well, I guess your room worked for me, Barrows! And good to meet you by the way. After some listening and our conversation, I got home and placed an order for an opticalRendu and opticalModule. This means I’ll sell my UltraRendu / LPS 1.2, and probably my Wireworld Platinum, but that should fund the new toys. Tim (& Maureen)

[soares]

2 hours ago, barrows said:

Just getting back to work after a successful show at RMAF.  Many who heard the system in the Sonore room remarked that it was one of the best sounding set ups at the show (and many of those folks came back to listen to our system again), unfortunately, due to a family tragedy at the last minute, we were understaffed and I had little time to hear much else, but our system did sound very fine to me.  We used the following set up:

 

Small Green Computer I9 server (playing local files) with Sonore optical Ethernet card (premier of this new product)-optical fiber cable-

Sonore Signature Rendu SEoptical-Sonore USB cable-

Bricasti M21 DAC-Cardas Clear XLR cable-

Bricasti M25 amplifier-Cardas Clear speaker cable-

Vivid Audio Kaya 45 speakers

 

We were running ROON core on the server, and controlling via an iPad and ROON remote.  By using optical Ethernet, our system completely isolates any electrical noise from the server and the sonic purity gained from using optical Ethernet is a nice step up from a copper wire based approach.  The clarity of the midrange on vocals, for example, was amazing (the Vivid speakers really have the resolution to demonstrate this well) while sounding entirely natural without any hint of brightness or hardening, even when vocalists such as Alison Kraus are pushing it.  And the spacial presentation and dynamic expression was outstanding, a testament to the eerily low level of noise in the system.  It is quite remarkable to hear how much better things can be when the electrical noise from commercial computer gear is entirely gone from the system.

 

But do not take my word for it, see the RMAF thread at this site for independent listening impressions of the Sonore set up.

Congratulations!!!

All the best,

 

Jorge

[soares]

On 8/16/2019 at 12:07 PM, left channel said:

 

Odd. Sorry. Regardless, my ultraRendu remains lowest-ranked in my list. It fails to work at the least convenient moments, like when guests are expecting music. It regularly loses contact with the DAC (I've tried two), fails to complete updates, and generally requires coddling and fiddling. In contrast my Sonicorbiter server, an SGC Microjukebox, is a rock solid set-and-forget dream.

Sorry to hear that.

I never had a problem with my uR.

Best,

 

Jorge

 

[left channel]

51 minutes ago, soares said:

Sorry to hear that.

I never had a problem with my uR.

Best,

 

Jorge

 

 

Good to hear. But sadly, I'm not alone in this.

[cjf]

Bricasti M5 is the best one I've found thus far. I've got mine for sale if interested? I can't use it in my current config anymore which is a damn shame but it sounds awesome if you don't intend to use room correction in your setup. That is, until the day comes where such correction works properly via ETH instead of USB.

 

 

[jaaptina]

Minidsp SHD Studio does Dirac room correction with ethernet in and spdif out. Sound quality is great. 

[Qhwoeprktiyns]

Various streamers in use over the years

-- huge gap - - 

ECDesigns UPL usb key reader with ElectroTos output 

 

I guess it technically counts as a steamer, even though it uses wav files stored on USB keys. 

 

Edit: just noticed this thread is in the networking section, so the UPL is not relevant here - sorry

[sfseay]

On 4/3/2019 at 6:07 PM, sfseay said:

Based on streamers I have owned: (best to worst)
Current - dCS Network Bridge (using dual AES/EBU to dCS DAC)

Lumin U1

Aurender N10

ESOTERIC N-03T

Aurender N100C

Aurender N100H 

Auralic Aires G2

 

[smodtactical]

Wow surprising the dcs bridge bests the u1  despite the latter with a external seemingly higher quality PSU.

 

Anyone compare the U1 mini + sbooster or bricasti m5 to any thing here in this thread?

[Wised]

On 3/17/2019 at 6:01 AM, jaaptina said:

I have had several steamers in my system. I've experienced major improvements along the way.

 

Ranked by sound quality:

Yamaha wxc-50

Pioneer N-30 

Logitec Squeezebox

- big gap

Auralic Aries Mini with sbooster 

- big gap

Sonore microRendu with LPS-1

Sotm sms-200 with sbooster 

Auralic Aries femto with sbooster 

Sonore ultraRendu with LPS-1 

 

I'm interested how you rate other streamers from experience. Others like Cambridge CXN and 851N or steamers up to 2500 euro/dollar like Teac, Sotm, Lumin, Innuos Zen etc. 

 

Personaly I'm not interested in other functionality like dac and pre amp. I like to focus this list on the streamer sound quality (with the internal dac bypassed if existant).  

 

I have been using my Cambridge Audio 851N as a streamer for almost 2 years with excellent sound quality. I recently started using Roon using my Surface Book as a server and core while using the 851N as the "output" device. The quality of Roon through through the 851 is extraordinary. Its like my flac digitized CD collection was cranked to 11! Im no digital technophile but Roon is most definitely doing something way beyond simply aggregating the digital data. 

[smodtactical]

Any thoughts on bricasti m5?

 

Also anyone try a soundaware D300ref ?

[haxter1]

I had an M5 in my system and it sounded better than the Aurender N100H.  Best of all is the DCS Network Bridge which I now use. 

[MrUnderhill]

Best first:

 

1. dCS Network Bridge & Meridian 210;

2. Sonore UltraRendu (LPSU) & SOtM Ultra Trifecta;

3. Sonore MicroRendu;

4. Raspberry Pi.

[Rexp]

6 hours ago, MrUnderhill said:

Best first:

 

1. dCS Network Bridge & Meridian 210;

2. Sonore UltraRendu (LPSU) & SOtM Ultra Trifecta;

3. Sonore MicroRendu;

4. Raspberry Pi.

So you got to compare the top two? 

[MrUnderhill]

8 hours ago, Rexp said:

So you got to compare the top two? 

Yes, but not directly ....yet.

 

I have listened to both in my system, and I had arranged for a friend who uses to dCS to bring it over JUST as the lockdown started. I will do the back to back comparison as soon as the restrictions lift.

[smodtactical]

On 5/4/2020 at 8:14 AM, haxter1 said:

I had an M5 in my system and it sounded better than the Aurender N100H.  Best of all is the DCS Network Bridge which I now use. 

 

Wow impressive.

 

Has anyone compared the aries g2 to the dcs bridge and lumin u1?

 

A picture of the soundaware d300ref. I am tempted by it. Getting a decent price from a dealer but there is hardly any info on it (except for 6 moons review) which didn't compare it to other streamers.

 

 

 

[smodtactical]

Btw interesting note from head fi is that the pi2aes + Audio gd DI20 HE was reported to be superior to dcs bridge !

[Mortsnets]

Allo DigiOne

Allo Boss 1.2

Laptop USB, Uptone Regen

Chromecast Audio

Raspberry Pi 4 USB

[Blake]

Lumin seems to be pretty highly rated, yet, you see lots of Lumin products for sale in the used marketplace. 

[smodtactical]

I sold off my sotm 200 ultra and sps 500 just due to firmware corruption and design issues. But I really enjoyed the sound quality. Now I am running roopieee off pi4b and although its good its really making me miss the sotm 200 ultra.

 

I need someone as good or better than the sotm 200 ultra but want to keep pricing under 2-3k if I can. Any thoughts ?

[creativepart]

51 minutes ago, smodtactical said:

I sold off my sotm 200 ultra and sps 500 just due to firmware corruption and design issues.

I see you post this, but having run the exact same streamer and power supply for over a year and having zero issues. Plug and Play. Upgrade over and over with one click. Everything just works and it makes me wonder. I'm I just lucky or you just unlucky?

 

BTW, it sounds fantastic with my Qutest DAC, Rogue Tube amplification and Harbeth standmount speakers.

[smodtactical]

2 hours ago, creativepart said:

I see you post this, but having run the exact same streamer and power supply for over a year and having zero issues. Plug and Play. Upgrade over and over with one click. Everything just works and it makes me wonder. I'm I just lucky or you just unlucky?

 

BTW, it sounds fantastic with my Qutest DAC, Rogue Tube amplification and Harbeth standmount speakers.

 

I had at least 2 corruptions in 1 year. 1 time i was not able to burn a microsd chip that it recognized and the second time it happened I was able to. The power switch i think is just super annoying (sps500) compared to a simple click on and off switch.

 

I am sure there are ppl who have no had corruption issues but from people i talked to a lot of other similar complaints.

 

I want to move to something very stable that just works. Apparently lumin u1 mini is rock solid.

[Soundsaboutright]

On 5/8/2020 at 4:35 AM, smodtactical said:

Has anyone compared the aries g2 to the dcs bridge and lumin u1?

I have compared the Aries g2 to the dCS. DCS was noticeably better. I didn’t notice any difference beween g2 and G1.

[LawrenceT]

On 9/30/2020 at 6:28 PM, Soundsaboutright said:

I didn’t notice any difference beween g2 and G1.

Interesting...  

[MrUnderhill]

On 5/5/2020 at 3:20 AM, Rexp said:

So you got to compare the top two? 

Not back to back, but in the same system.

 

I AM going to do the direct comparison, but only once I can get the friend who has the dCS to come over with it; which looked possible a few weeks ago, but is now tightening up again.