Newbie needs Streamer Advise


Hi , I am relatively new to digital streaming and Hi Fi too, for that matter . So I have assembled a modest system and wish to replace my old Windows 7 laptop as my source .                                         My system is currently the following . Laptop with a Cardas Clear USB. Musical Fidelity’s M1CDT transport, A Schiit Yiggy , Rogue RP1 preamp , Dennis Had Inspire SEP amp. Zu Omens , Klipsch RF sub , Monster HTS 1600 Power center . All my tubes are high quality NOS and some new production power tubes.  My Interconnects are unbalanced Morrow MA5, CD has a Morrow Digital Coax , speaker cables are Anti - Cables Level 3. Power cables are Silnote Poseidon and an Analysis digital power cord on the Yiggy .                                       The Klipsch sub and the Monster power center are next up to be replaced . I’m running low power (12 wpc ) and the sub is straight into the wall socket . Right now I have no issues with grounding, noise or amp being underpowered .                                So back to streaming . I’m using Tidal and I am happy with their service. I have fast internet . I am however limited to WI FI for my Connection . I’m considering products like an Aurilic Mini or a Bluenode2 . I want to replace the laptop with something that I could control from an IPhone or IPad . I’m also interested in any experience with Amarro or some of the other services. I would like to budget at $1k as it’s a new venture for me .                           So please chime in and don’t forget to DUMMY DOWN your vocabulary for this neophyte.            Respectfully, Mike B. 
buellrider97

Showing 1 response by ddafoe

A crazy cheap streamer (~$150ish) that still sounds great is the raspberry pi 3 with  HIFIBERRY DIGI+ PRO (S/PDIF output) with  iFi AUDIO iPower supply.

The pi has wi-fi, but I'm using its Ethernet connection coming from a  MoCA network I have setup.

I have it running the Roon bridge image and have a Tidal account.
It is small, quiet, and very stable.    I can't comment on how it compares sound wise to the more expensive streamers mentioned above.     I can say it offers good enough performance to hear differences in the coax digital cables I've used with it, let alone the different DACs.   I'm currently using it with a Shunyata Anaconda ZTRON digital cable feeding a SimAudio 380D DSD, and the sound is amazing :)