Which Streamer should I buy ?

Hi Good evening Thanks for this info. I have already got the Integrated Amplifier Marantz PM KI Ruby so Naim Unity ( Atom/Star/Nova) may not be the solution as they all come with inbuild Amplifier.
May be I can look at Naim's streamer ND5 XS2 or something similar.

regards
Rajeev

Any specific model of Chromecast Audio
 
Not regular Chromecast but Chromecast audio. Pretty much the only version available till it was discontinued. I have my pc that hosts my entire flac music collection of around 2 tb on Plex which acts as my media server on my windows pc. I render using Hi-fi cast or Bubble upnp installed on my phone. After hearing multiple streamers, have never really understood the need to spend anything more than a Chromecast audio dongle which used should cost not more than 4-5k. It would make more sense to spend on better speakers and amp. I also promise that the user experience of bubble upnp is far better than any other streamer out there in the market and it will always be so.
 
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Rajeevkale,

CONGRATS! that you have Heard so many different streamers. That is the BEST approach. I applaud you.

Keep at it and don't get dissuaded until you like what you heard.

Ask opinions as pointers and directions to explore, but NEVER to blindly buy based on someone else's advice. We all hear differently, and the way YOU hear is the ONLY thing that is important.

Think Global (ask around) but Act Local (decide for your self) :)

Have you explored Computer audio, and using your Oppo (who's DAC you like) as the DAC ? I do not own an Oppo, so not sure how that can be configured, but I guess it can.
 
Why not consider Marantz, Denon or Yamaha.

The apps are simple and easy to use.

Marant NA6006 :

Denon DNP-800NE :

Or Yamaha WXC-50 :

I understand that you are looking for something more high end, but these maybe worth consideration.
denon heos does not have native qobuz support. ( not sure if marantz supports qobuz natively).
denon supports tidal/spotify/amazon music/deezer/pandora / sirius xm/soundcloud/rhapsody/napster ....etc. but not qobuz !!!!.

you can play qobuz thru upnp though. but SQ not as good as native app.
hope denon comes with qobuz native support.
 
Before deciding check for the subscription/packages options and investments.
It cost a bomb.. maybe for me.

Atb
I had a Roon trial, was not using it much didn’t intend to extend anyway and totally forgot, but my card was debited close to 9k for one year on expiry of trial. I was cursing myself and thought about how many CDS I could have got for the money. But when I wrote to Roon asking for a refund, they immediately agreed and refunded. Great customer service, I must say, but lesson learnt.
 
Roon core on desktop/laptop sucks. Get a dedicated roon core device. Well worth thr investment . Get a roon ready streamer and ur good to go. U didnt mention ur budget for a streamer/ dac. Also a reciever for audio is not that great.. you have grearvspeakers and they deserve a 2 channel amp.
Hi Saurabh
This sounds like to good solution.
Please advise best Roon core equipment to me. My Oppo has HDMI input is it possible to use Oppo Dac ? Do you have any Roon core which also has streaming capabilities?
 
Rajeevkale,

CONGRATS! that you have Heard so many different streamers. That is the BEST approach. I applaud you.

Keep at it and don't get dissuaded until you like what you heard.

Ask opinions as pointers and directions to explore, but NEVER to blindly buy based on someone else's advice. We all hear differently, and the way YOU hear is the ONLY thing that is important.

Think Global (ask around) but Act Local (decide for your self) :)

Have you explored Computer audio, and using your Oppo (who's DAC you like) as the DAC ? I do not own an Oppo, so not sure how that can be configured, but I guess it can.
Hi
No I haven’t explored computer audio if you may advise how that can be done ? You mean connecting lap top directly to Oppo via usb ?
 
Not regular Chromecast but Chromecast audio. Pretty much the only version available till it was discontinued. I have my pc that hosts my entire flac music collection of around 2 tb on Plex which acts as my media server on my windows pc. I render using Hi-fi cast or Bubble upnp installed on my phone. After hearing multiple streamers, have never really understood the need to spend anything more than a Chromecast audio dongle which used should cost not more than 4-5k. It would make more sense to spend on better speakers and amp. I also promise that the user experience of bubble upnp is far better than any other streamer out there in the market and it will always be so.
CCA is certainly the best VFM product but I couldn't get one so have to do with the video one.
My only source is Spotify which now sounds quite crappy moving from my previous FS.
Tidal sounds better but the speakers has lot more potential so wondering for a cheaper upgrade from Chromecast video.

Regards,
 
you can play qobuz thru upnp though. but SQ not as good as native app.
I was playing with Qobuz for the last two days and streaming the tracks to my Denon AVR via 'mConnect'. The result was outstanding, it could easily stream the track at 24/96 resolution without any issues. It appears that Denon implemented their version UP&P (based on the original HEOS protocol) on their AVR range which is at par with HDMI.
 
Hi Saurabh
This sounds like to good solution.
Please advise best Roon core equipment to me. My Oppo has HDMI input is it possible to use Oppo Dac ? Do you have any Roon core which also has streaming capabilities?
Normally a roon core should be a standalone device which exists on a network. A streamer with either a built in dac or attched to a dac can be an endpoint which consumes streams from the roon core … do i make sense ?

some roon cores are:
Roon nucleus
Hi Saurabh
This sounds like to good solution.
Please advise best Roon core equipment to me. My Oppo has HDMI input is it possible to use Oppo Dac ? Do you have any Roon core which also has streaming capabilities?
Thr roon nucleus is by far ibthink the best for roon core . Iyou can also optionally have a hard disk mounted to store files . You would need a roon end point ( roon ready streamer) to consume roon core services. This roon ekd point can either have its own dac or can connect to am external dac . This imo is best way to go. The core alliws u to stream tidal and qobuz as well .
 
Rajeevkale,

CONGRATS! that you have Heard so many different streamers. That is the BEST approach. I applaud you.

Keep at it and don't get dissuaded until you like what you heard.

Ask opinions as pointers and directions to explore, but NEVER to blindly buy based on someone else's advice. We all hear differently, and the way YOU hear is the ONLY thing that is important.

Think Global (ask around) but Act Local (decide for your self) :)

Have you explored Computer audio, and using your Oppo (who's DAC you like) as the DAC ? I do not own an Oppo, so not sure how that can be configured, but I guess it can.
Hi
Thanks for your kind words, yes buying something without hearing the sound stage will be biggest mistake.
I have not explored computer audio , ideally would prefer to use my Oppo DAC and would like if you can advise on how I can do that.
 
Well I don't know how well this will be taken :D

But i was previously running a seperate roon core, on an fanless Intel NUC i5, powered by a LPSU. The source were flac rips from a NAS, again running off a LPSU. All going into a network switch again running off a LPSU. And tidal streams fed by a router again, and as you can guess fed by a LPSU :D.

And I also ran a seperate roon end point via Ethernet...this had inbuilt power regulation and reclocking too...so probably saved me some moolah on another LPSU, and a external clocker.

I just got tired of it all in the end, soooo many boxes plus so many boxes of LPSU's to nail the sound. So I just junked everything, and now only running a Google chrome cast via gaana HD subscription, fed by a 5V LPSU again. Sounds good enough to me :)
 
Well I don't know how well this will be taken :D

But i was previously running a seperate roon core, on an fanless Intel NUC i5, powered by a LPSU. The source were flac rips from a NAS, again running off a LPSU. All going into a network switch again running off a LPSU. And tidal streams fed by a router again, and as you can guess fed by a LPSU :D.

And I also ran a seperate roon end point via Ethernet...this had inbuilt power regulation and reclocking too...so probably saved me some moolah on another LPSU, and a external clocker.

I just got tired of it all in the end, soooo many boxes plus so many boxes of LPSU's to nail the sound. So I just junked everything, and now only running a Google chrome cast via gaana HD subscription, fed by a 5V LPSU again. Sounds good enough to me :)
May be i must add, that I use chrome cast audio as a digital streamer and not as a dac. It does the streaming part well enough...at least for me :)
 
@Rajeevkale - While I know Lumin is very good, you could possibly look at Cocktail Audio too. They have some interesting options in your budget in Streamers and have good reviews. Oceanic Sound & Vision Pune stocks these.
 
Well I don't know how well this will be taken :D

But i was previously running a seperate roon core, on an fanless Intel NUC i5, powered by a LPSU. The source were flac rips from a NAS, again running off a LPSU. All going into a network switch again running off a LPSU. And tidal streams fed by a router again, and as you can guess fed by a LPSU :D.

And I also ran a seperate roon end point via Ethernet...this had inbuilt power regulation and reclocking too...so probably saved me some moolah on another LPSU, and a external clocker.

I just got tired of it all in the end, soooo many boxes plus so many boxes of LPSU's to nail the sound. So I just junked everything, and now only running a Google chrome cast via gaana HD subscription, fed by a 5V LPSU again. Sounds good enough to me :)
Well I don't know how well this will be taken :D

If the fidelity of content provided by Ganna HD gives you full satisfaction, you probably did not need the elaborate setup & string of LPSs in your system.

I have personaly been Underwhelmed ...actually disappointed with the fidelity from Tidal & Qobuz.

I also feel flac files played back can be significantly bettered by locally ripped wav files.

Hence, to me, your elaborate setup with the LPSs deserved local cds ripped to wav, to display its true potential.

No offence meant, just my view n experience.
 
As far as streamers go there are very few actually available in india with local distribution and support as compared to what you get abroad . Especially in the price bracket u seek .
 
CCA is certainly the best VFM product but I couldn't get one so have to do with the video one.
My only source is Spotify which now sounds quite crappy moving from my previous FS.
Tidal sounds better but the speakers has lot more potential so wondering for a cheaper upgrade from Chromecast video.

Regards,
I have an extra CCA which I was planning to sell initially but changed my mind to keep it as backup if the current one goes bad. For my use case, I can't imagine to going with any of these streaming boxes which are so expensive and have such crappy apps and user experience. So much about using a streamer is about user experience. Yes for the dac inside its worth considering but Lumin X1 for 14k usd, T2 for 4.5k usd is just utter nonsense. With that kind of money, I would first upgrade speakers and amp and still stream with CCA. Or maybe with that kinda money, I would do something else more value oriented. But that's just me!
 
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