Source or Pre-amp on a Budget?

[frenchrooster]

curious to have your feedback. Lot of good reviews on this streamer/ pre. You can see the Donnie Darko site, review on it.

[frenchrooster]

there is also the primaluna dialogue pre for 3k, works very good with the nap 300dr. Perizoqui had confirmed.
With the nd5xs2 or second hand ndx, all can form something of high musicality.

[sweet.bippy]

i don’t think an expensive streamer, Naim or otherwise, is the right way to go. i’d get the 282, sell the SU, and look at a separate streamer and DAC combination, excellent examples of which can be had cheaply relative to the Naim equivalent. for example, an Innuos Zen Mini, Allo Digione Signature, or similar for the streamer part – and then a RME ADI-2 DAC (my choice), Topping D50 DAC, or maybe a used Chord Hugo would be great.

[Roog]

yes I think it’s time to test a few pre amps and weigh up options on streaming sources too.

I have a Rpi with allo spdif add on, I didn’t feel that it was quite as good as the SU the user interface was a bit clunky and that is saying something when compared to the naim app, nor did it have the functionality. So I would miss the SU if I had to rely on the Rpi+

[Roog]

Indeed, I have been following Perizoqui’s thread with interest. Despite its size the Primaluna is at least a sensibly priced one box pre amp solution.

I had a listen to the new streamers albeit at the Bristol show and based on what i heard they all sounded very good. Best VFM for me goes to the ND5XS2, whilst the NDX2 sounded excellent with the 555 PSU, this combination represents a very significant price jump.

Our demo was troubled by a faulty din to din cable of the expensive kind.