which streamer for newbie

[beerdraft]

Ok, so I'm new to streaming.  so my system consist of Gryphon diablo 300 integrated, gryphon kalliope dac, wilson sasha daw, all kubala sosna realization cables including usb from library to streamer and streamer to dac.  

 

I'm needing a streamer as before I was just using Roon nucleus as my streamer and library manager.  I'm willing to rid of the roon if neccesary or if it makes sense.  or get a streamer that works with roon.

 

on my list of possibles so far are: 

sonore rendu SE optical teir 2

aurilac aries G2 (i think this is it)

aurender A10 

bryston bdp-3

 

I'm not sure of any others but am open to options.  I just need a pure streamer really that does most of what my dac does.  If it has storage and or library management options I'm fine with that too because I do think its a noticeable difference for some reason ridding up of the roon and putting the library directly into the steamer rather than sharing it over the network for some reason.  I'm currently borrowing a Aurilac aries the older discontinued version and I've tried its app and also tried it with roon and without roon.  It made a nice improvement both ways over just having roon and no streamer.

 

Looking for advice on the best, cleanest, most capable of delivering quality sound for someone who don't have a TT any more and always like vinyl...

 

Thanks,

 

Beerdraft

[PAR]

You have some very fine and rather expensive equipment there. I am currently enjoying a Melco N17H/2 and I think that the Melco range may suit both your needs and the general standard of your system.

 

The Melcos can be used in two ways:

I. As a USB streamer with storage feeding directly to your Kalliope DAC.

2. As NAS storage to supply a network streamer having no storage of its own.

 

I use option 2. feeding the Melco music library to a dCS Network Bridge/dCS Vivaldi 2. One advantage of the Melco in this configuration is that the ethernet connection can be directly from the Melco to the network streamer thus avoiding network switches. Sound quality is quite superb given the attention that they have paid to power supplies, anti-vibration measures etc. I still retain a high quality turntable and I can assure you that switching from it to the Melco/dCS digital setup is no hardship 😉.

 

If the Melco is used, instead, as a USB streamer with storage,  control can now be from a dedicated Melco application that has recently become available ( ipad only ).

 

The only downside is that, for the present, the pre-installed UPnP server is Twonky which is not too wonderful. However there is a special version of Minim Server for Melco ( which was  developed with Melco input) and this can be installed by yourself or I am given to understand that there is to be an official upgrade to it very shortly . NB: the Melco software allows for Twonky to be switched off so you won't have the conflict of two UPnP servers running simultaneously.

 

Storage is <6TB depending upon model if that is sufficient for your needs.

 

[beerdraft]

I'll research the Melcos thanks, the ability to separate from network noise is one reason the sonore seems to top my list as with the optical add on that is the purpose of it.  total isolation from network at that point.  I'll definitely be using USB out which is why the network bridge has been crossed off my list because I don't think it has usb out to dac.   would need to use 1 or 2 aes cables which I've already bought the ks usb for this purpose so definitely don't want to throw that away and purchase two aes.  I hear the dcs is a great piece.  

 

why is it the auralic sounds better without roon in play at all.  how is it that roon is affecting the sound.  So the stream must be going through the roon even if its a stream.  So the roon has the hard drive connected via usb and roon is connected to router with a regular ethernet cable.  the router is connected to the auralic with a ks ethernet cable.  I just figured the stream would go straight to the auralic but it must be going to the roon in order to be different.  I'm puzzled.  I listened both ways yesterday and today and its for sure better all around without roon.  My dealer said he would buy the roon back if I wanted to over the next few weeks.  I'm just puzzled I guess.  I mean both are really good and roon is really cool.

 

Neal

[wklie]

2 hours ago, beerdraft said:

I just figured the stream would go straight to the auralic but it must be going to the roon in order to be different.

 

In Roon you can bring up the signal path, then you can see whether you're sending bit perfect audio to a streamer.

 

Generally, if you turn off DSP Engine and disable volume levelling, Roon sends bit perfect audio.

 

If you like to keep Roon for library management, you should look at Roon Ready streamers.

[PAR]

7 hours ago, beerdraft said:

I'll definitely be using USB out which is why the network bridge has been crossed off my list because I don't think it has usb out to dac.

 If you were to consider the Network Bridge there is also S/Pdif output although it is limited to 24/192 or DSD64. However I would not consider that much of a limitation in practice as nobody owns too many , if any, files at higher resolutions.  In any case I doubt if anyone other than full dCS system owners are able to use the dual AES/EBU outputs. However using  a Melco on its own as a full USB streamer with storage is not to be sniffed at and provides a very neat solution both in data handling and connectivity. It is so easy to set up and use. You can even use it as if it was a CD player by pressing the buttons on the fascia for control and looking at the built in display ( though I think that the app is probably preferable). With the Melco used this way its LAN connection is only used for checking for updates when it is switched on or if you have , say, a Tidal or Qobuz account as it will play those streams too.

 

Yes Roon can output bit perfect data but as anyone who reads the threads on AS will be aware once networking issues are involved that isn't the whole story. Still as all audio reproduction involves compromises the enhanced music library handling by Roon  may offset any issues generated by adding e.g. network switching in order to run it .

[firedog]

One of the Innuos devices would seem to be just the ticket for you. They are designed to be used both as server/streamer in one. You can also use the as just a server or just a streamer. 

[beerdraft]

how is the aurender n10 on this list do you guys think.  I can get a used n10 with 8tb.  

 

neal

[PAR]

I can't  think of much against Aurender.  Until a few years ago dCS were their UK distributor.

 

The only general point I would make is that they charge for the upgrade software if you wanted to add MQA rendering. Something that other marques have added F.O.C.

 

Anyway if the price and condition are right it sounds good to me.

[jcn3]

2 hours ago, beerdraft said:

how is the aurender n10 on this list do you guys think.  I can get a used n10 with 8tb.  

 

neal

 

aurender has a great reputation.  only downside i see is that you have to stay within their software ecosystem using conductor.  that means no roon (if that matters).

[beerdraft]

9 hours ago, jcn3 said:

 

aurender has a great reputation.  only downside i see is that you have to stay within their software ecosystem using conductor.  that means no roon (if that matters).

how is the conductor app?  I'm wanting to rid up of roon anyway because it is diminishing my sound some what slightly.  I'm good with something maybe not so fancy if it will not change the sound for the worse.  From what I have gathered and again I'm new to this but I know people lol... even though roon isn't the streamer it grabs the file and I guess decomposes it and sends to streamer and this is where it can get possibly worse if you have a better decomposer.  With some other apps the send the file to the streamer and let it do the decompose and they most of the time have better stuff inside that roon for doing this with less noise, better power supply ect... granted its not bad either way I'd just certain like to get the most out of my system and roon is super cool but feel its holding back the sound slightly...  How does the aurender conductor compare to others beside roon if you are familiar

 

Neal

[jcn3]

58 minutes ago, beerdraft said:

how is the conductor app? 

 

neal -- i'm a roon guy so haven't got any experience with conductor.  this thread is good -- i read it to keep up -- i'd read the last 10 pages or so to get the latest scoop.

 

 

[PAR]

8 hours ago, beerdraft said:

how is the conductor app?  I'm wanting to rid up of roon anyway because it is diminishing my sound some what slightly.  I'm good with something maybe not so fancy if it will not change the sound for the worse.  From what I have gathered and again I'm new to this but I know people lol... even though roon isn't the streamer it grabs the file and I guess decomposes it and sends to streamer and this is where it can get possibly worse if you have a better decomposer.  With some other apps the send the file to the streamer and let it do the decompose and they most of the time have better stuff inside that roon for doing this with less noise, better power supply ect... granted its not bad either way I'd just certain like to get the most out of my system and roon is super cool but feel its holding back the sound slightly...  How does the aurender conductor compare to others beside roon if you are familiar

A controller like Conductor does not usually deal with the sound itself in any way. It runs on an i-pad which is connected to  the same LAN as the Aurender. It provides a GUI for you to be able to control what you want the Aurender to do and simply sends commands  to the Aurender which has the corresponding part of the Conductor app which recognises the commands. The Aurender box  is where all of the processing takes place.

[rwwjr44]

17 hours ago, beerdraft said:

how is the conductor app?  I'm wanting to rid up of roon anyway because it is diminishing my sound some what slightly.  I'm good with something maybe not so fancy if it will not change the sound for the worse.  From what I have gathered and again I'm new to this but I know people lol... even though roon isn't the streamer it grabs the file and I guess decomposes it and sends to streamer and this is where it can get possibly worse if you have a better decomposer.  With some other apps the send the file to the streamer and let it do the decompose and they most of the time have better stuff inside that roon for doing this with less noise, better power supply ect... granted its not bad either way I'd just certain like to get the most out of my system and roon is super cool but feel its holding back the sound slightly...  How does the aurender conductor compare to others beside roon if you are familiar

 

Neal

 

Neal,

 

If you don't have an Aurender, the Conductor app won't be of any use to you. I was told that it is Aurender specific.

 

Bob

[photonman]

Would be so great and Ironic to attach a Raspberry Pi streamer to that monster system you have  but seriously,  in my experience, the streamer front end does not really make a difference as long as you have a good DAC, amplification and clean power infrastructure (dedicated home runs).  I had "audiophile" streamers but due to all the software bugs and glitches from the half-baked software, I got so fed up and could not wait to get back to my Mac.  The Macbook provided the most flexibility as far as software packages availabilty, output options (toslink, USB) and rock solid reliable operation.   I really do not think I am missing out on any extra SQ with the Macbook digital output.

 

You should try different streamers and see for yourself.  Try a cheap RPi, an "audiophile" streamer and a generic laptop based system (Macbook).