Which Streamer should I buy ?

[sanjivnayak]

Interesting analogy.
There is a third option: a live in relationship that give both time to know each other and decide if they want to get married or not. I think a lot of our purchases in the early part of the journey are like this.
When I look back I see a trail of amps, speakers, DACs, and other components, some of which I have fond memories of and others I feel indifferent or disappointed.

@Doomster69 i think you might have poked a wasp nest with your “marriage” analogy! Today should be an interesting day….

With so many options around and youtube videos and reviews both by amateurs and professionals, I will prefer to pass this life with such 'live in relationship' only. That too is possible as long as my true to life wife allows. Thankful to the almighty. The happiest journey should not culminate in marriage. Pls pray for me. Thanks.

 

[Doomster69]

Interesting analogy.
There is a third option: a live in relationship that give both time to know each other and decide if they want to get married or not. I think a lot of our purchases in the early part of the journey are like this.
When I look back I see a trail of amps, speakers, DACs, and other components, some of which I have fond memories of and others I feel indifferent or disappointed.

@Doomster69 i think you might have poked a wasp nest with your “marriage” analogy! Today should be an interesting day….

Oh my no means its to be taken in an offensive way..if so i do apologise..!

The live in analogy is also interesting, as an extension - that works well in other countries/ where you can home audition products before you buy.. difficult to do that here in India..

If it weren't for forums like HFV, id personally say i (like many new budding enthusiasts) i would have been very lost!! So happy to have a helpful community of like minded people that are closer home!

 

[Doomster69]

With so many options around and youtube videos and reviews both by amateurs and professionals, I will prefer to pass this life with such 'live in relationship' only. That too is possible as long as my true to life wife allows. Thankful to the almighty. The happiest journey should not culminate in marriage. Pls pray for me. Thanks.

Hey Sanjiv,

Yes, the quest can be eternal but not to the point of being disorienting.. the grass will always be greener on the other side.

Sometimes the Wife Acceptance Factor (WAF) can act like a good resistor (in a hifi product), helps cut out the (mental) noise and (purchase decision/trigger) jitter!! Yes thanks to almighty for that

 

[shyamv]

Got the Allo USBridge Signature player+Digione Signature combo recently. Only tried the USBridge part of it now powered with a wall wart since there was a delay in despatch of the Shanti LPSU. arrived a couple of days back and yet to try it out. Also found the elusive RCA coaxial to 3.5mm cable to connect it to the Chord Mojo. The performance of the USBridge powered by the wall wart was a noticeable improvement over a laptop. Dunno about playing with the sound signature since the Mojo does not have any filters. I haven't tried UPNP yet. Will try it with the ifi Zen DAC to see if UPNP supports MQA streaming.

A couple of tweaks with the Allo products that have made a noticeable improvement for me.

1) Use Allo Shanti for clean power inputs for both the Signature devices. If possible power your DAC with the 1A power supply for Allo Shanti.

2) Ground Allo streamers and DAC to the Allo LPSU in a star configuration with any wire ie Allo USBridge Signature to Allo Shanti and DAC to Allo Shanti. This makes the backgrounds a little darker and clean.

 

[shyamv]

Interesting analogy.
There is a third option: a live in relationship that give both time to know each other and decide if they want to get married or not. I think a lot of our purchases in the early part of the journey are like this.
When I look back I see a trail of amps, speakers, DACs, and other components, some of which I have fond memories of and others I feel indifferent or disappointed.

@Doomster69 i think you might have poked a wasp nest with your “marriage” analogy! Today should be an interesting day….

Sometimes it is better to stick to what one has even if means bit of a compromise. This is true for both one's partner in life as well as in Audio. Endless quest for an 'upgrade' may result in unnecessary heartburn and headaches.

 

[Analogous]

Sometimes

Aha! sometimes this is true

 

[DB1989]

A couple of tweaks with the Allo products that have made a noticeable improvement for me.

1) Use Allo Shanti for clean power inputs for both the Signature devices. If possible power your DAC with the 1A power supply for Allo Shanti.

2) Ground Allo streamers and DAC to the Allo LPSU in a star configuration with any wire ie Allo USBridge Signature to Allo Shanti and DAC to Allo Shanti. This makes the backgrounds a little darker and clean.

Duly Noted. The Chord Mojo will be my primary DAC so can't attach a power supply since it's battery powered. Unless of course, it's plugged in to simultaneously recharge while playback. In which case, will powering it with the front usb ports of the USBridge Signature player, while it is being powered by the Allo Shanti, detract from the performance (since the power to the USBridge Player will already be clean)?

I'll try it out in practise i.e. whether i can hear an audible difference but it'd be interesting to know the theory behind the expected results.

 

[Analogous]

So, to get back on topic, I saw this master class by Hans Beekhuyzen titled “what makes a good DAC”
It’s loaded and a good introduction to anyone curious about DACs. I am definitely a bit more informed now.
Eg: I learnt that the best quality crystals (performance measured in Femto seconds) used in the Clocks within DACs are auctioned and sold to the highest bidders and are used in the manufacture of expensive DACs. These have an impact on “Jitter” which can affect the quality of conversion….oh, go on take a look at his video

 

[metalmickey]

I also have the same requirement however cannot spend more than 15k as I just upgraded my FS.
Heos on the AVR stopped working so am left with streaming through Chromecast however having a decent FS deserves a better source.

It's Chromecast video with Dali opticon 8 FS.
Should I be looking at upgrading in that budget or I should wait till I can afford something decent like Cambridge CXN V2 ?

Regards

get a arylic s1 or the dnm streamer. both within 9k.they might not support mqa but they sound good and are value for money

dedicated music streaming device

AUDIO STREAMER AS 02 makes any hi-fi a wi-fi wireless music streaming Hi-Fi station.

www.djpundits.com

 

[Arvind Mathur]

How about the recently launched Ifi Zen stream as streamer without DAC?
Has anyone tried this? It is open source software and also offers dedicated modes.

 

[Analogous]

get a arylic s1 or the dnm streamer. both within 9k.they might not support mqa but they sound good and are value for money

dedicated music streaming device

AUDIO STREAMER AS 02 makes any hi-fi a wi-fi wireless music streaming Hi-Fi station.

www.djpundits.com

I got a DNM streamer as a temp replacement a month ago. It works with no fuss at all. Great value for money. I today got the replacement (Lindeman Limetree network DAC from a FM) so I guess I will be selling the DNM.

I am feeling bad for this streamer that just worked well without a problem and yet has no (?) reviews online. If someone in Bangalore wants to review and post it you can borrow it for the purpose.

 

[metalmickey]

How about the recently launched Ifi Zen stream as streamer without DAC?
Has anyone tried this? It is open source software and also offers dedicated modes.

is it available in India?

 

[metalmickey]

I got a DNM streamer as a temp replacement a month ago. It works with no fuss at all. Great value for money. I today got the replacement (Lindeman Limetree network DAC from a FM) so I guess I will be selling the DNM.

I am feeling bad for this streamer that just worked well without a problem and yet has no (?) reviews online. If someone in Bangalore wants to review and post it you can borrow it for the purpose.

yeah underrated... why don't you write a review? but our greedy indian sellers will hike up the price once they realise there is a demand... what's the asking price for the sale?

 

[Analogous]

I am not confident in my comparisons and analyses to write a review for audio enthusiasts.

But since you ask, here is an attempt:
I bought the DNM AS2 streamer from the manufacturer in Pune and it cost Rs.8200/- incl delivery to my doorstep in three days.

Design - 8/10. It’s a small unobtrusive, neat square box with a LED in front that changes color depending on what it’s doing. It has five buttons on top which I never used as the MUZO app (Android and iOS) does everything. The Matt black looks fine but shows finger prints easily. It’s 1” high and 3” wide. Fit and finish are top notch.

It is powered by a wall wart power supply (SMPS I think)

There is no instruction manual in the box, but I know none is needed, except that I still don’t know what the buttons on the top do.(see pictures)

Set up was easy and took about a minute to log into my internet router. I used a wired CAT5 cable to connect to the router. I used the optical out using a TOS link cable to a external DAC (PS audio digital link) I did not try the wireless connection

I used the streamer for Tidal and it did the job well. There is no MQA option (as with Bluesound and others). Also I did not see anywhere to identify the quality of the stream. But that could be a shortcoming of the MUZO app.

The sound: I honestly don’t have any idea of the sound as I only tried it with my external DAC. I could not find a way to separate the sound of the streamer and that of the DAC.

But it sounded very good indeed. (Rest of my chain was Hegel H300 and Spendor A5R and Martin Logan Dynamo 800x)

In conclusion I think the DNM AS2 is a streamer that is easy to set up, easy on the eye, easy on the wallet and sounds pretty good in my audio chain.
I could not find any technical specs of what is inside the box, the D to A conversion and what resolution it can handle etc. Hopefully someone with more insight, knowledge and expertise can shed some light on this mysterious black box.

I think the above narrative illustrates why I can not be a good reviewer. But you did ask!

 

[Analogous]

Here are some pictures

 

[Analogous]

Sorry, the files were too large last time. Here they are

 

[lithiumnk]

Check out pi2aes
Very versatile. Offers max output options than any streamer in same price category.
Sounds great.

 

[lithiumnk]

PI2AES - PRO AUDIO SHIELD

The PI2AES was designed to be plug-and-play with all of the major Raspberry Pi media players and multimedia platforms (Volumio, Moode, Roon, OSMC, etc.).

www.pi2design.com

PI2AES Digital Audio Shield for the Raspberry PI

Folks, We have just finished testing the protos of our new digital audio shield. This replaces our 502DAC for digital audio out. This unit has the following features: Woflson WM8804 AES Transmitter with dual NDK Low Noise Clocks SPDIF COAX via RCA SPDIF Optical AES Balanced via XLR Direct...

audiosciencereview.com

Dummies Guide to Pi2AES! Throw away your PC or laptop.

WHAT THE HECK IS THIS? (UPDATE: 7" Display Case Instructions are here) Imagine a small box that fits in your palm that is a WiFi music...

www.superbestaudiofriends.org

 

[dextrostar]

get a arylic s1 or the dnm streamer. both within 9k.they might not support mqa but they sound good and are value for money

dedicated music streaming device

AUDIO STREAMER AS 02 makes any hi-fi a wi-fi wireless music streaming Hi-Fi station.

www.djpundits.com

Thanks for that. I dropped the idea as Heos started working which means I can use Spotify connect and Tidal.
However my ipad cannot detect the Marantz which is on the same network.
I for the life of me cannot get this to work when clearly NR1509 supports airplay2.

 

[DB1989]

Thanks for that. I dropped the idea as Heos started working which means I can use Spotify connect and Tidal.
However my ipad cannot detect the Marantz which is on the same network.
I for the life of me cannot get this to work when clearly NR1509 supports airplay2.

Have you tried installing the AVR Remote app on your iPad?

If you have and the App still cannot detect the NR1509, try changing your WiFi connection from 5ghz to 2.4ghz (I'm assuming both are configured and available on your wifi router) or vice versa i.e. from 2.4ghz to 5ghz.

I have a similar issue with my Allo Digione Signature where the iPad app does not detect it while on the 5ghz bandwidth and moving to 2.4ghz solves it.