2. digital
  3. 144301-74203

Need DAC/Streaming Advice

I currently own a Bryston BDP-2 digital player that I run through a Bryston DAC.  As far as playing high resolution files via a thumb drive or other external drive, the BDP-2 sounds great.  The streaming part leaves a lot to be desired.  I can stream Tidal but it is extremely slow and the IPad controller is pretty lousy.  I can listen to Sonos through the DAC into my main system but obviously there is no hi-Rez via Sonos. I would like to find a better solution and am willing to start over (I can move the Bryston components to my secondary system).  What I would like to find is a higher end streamer for my main system that would allow me to stream Tidal, Spotify and Deezer if possible while also playing digital files via thumb drive etc. I have no idea if that can be done in a one box solution or if I would need a separate streamer and DAC.  I would very much appreciate any and all thoughts.  Thanks in advance.
puppyt
soma70
45 posts
 
Auralic Aries. The in house developed app, lightening DS, is way ahead of the competition and only bettered by Roon. 
bosssound's avatar
bosssound
13 posts
 

+1 @mzkmxcv4+1 @big-greg

Aurender N100C (@lalitk) is a very good product with many attractive features but when I auditioned that vs a Bluesound Vault 2 I could not hear a difference. System was Parasound Halo JC2BP--> A21 --> Vandersteen Treos. (I am able to hear differences with power cable and fuse switches.)
At home, I very happy with sound the Vault 2 produces in my system: JC2BP--> A21 --> Vandersteen Quatros.
You have to consider that since Bluesound manufactures in bulk they can purchase components  at prices and access engineering talent that small companies that sell much smaller number of products cannot match.
Vault 2 has very similar guts to Node 2. In addition to streaming, you can rip CDs conveniently to an internal hard drive and play them back.
mahler123
633 posts
 

Puppy 

Thats a little discouraging, as I have ordered a BDP 3 to pair with my DAC3.  I have had Bluesound for the past 3 years but I am finally throwing in the towel after not being able to use it for a quarter of that time.  When it works, it’s a nice product 
mastercraft1990
17 posts
 
I have had the Node 2i for a couple months now and haven’t had any problems with any of the glitches mentioned here. My problem is reading all these posts and thinking about a stand alone DAC upgrade and if it’s worth it. 
mahler123
633 posts
 
Depends on the rest of your system.  If it is reasonably resolving, I would say yes, it’s worth an external DAC
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