I am looking for advice on a streamer sub £350 for Nait 3 olive - linn kan mk1 recently serviced.
I have shorted listed the below without trying and added comments based on other people’s opinions.
If anybody could advise would be great !
Bluesound Node N130 - only negative is sound stage isn’t great?
Cambridge A/MNX10 - is this overkill for the set up?
Wiim Pro Plus - possibly pairing symmetry issue and not as muscular as the above?
Speakers are on original Linn speaker stands flush to the wall
Looking for something that will provide nice 3D soundstage and complementary of the amp
Not looking to break the bank as main set up is XS3 - XS2 - focal 906
Why would you consider a £400 source to be overkill for a Nait/Kan system? That seems like a very low budget. I would suggest that you put your ND5XS2 on that system as a trial and see how that compares to amy of these cheaper options you are considering.
Hi Chris, I did hook the XS2 up to the olive but it felt like it was being held back in comparison to being used with the XS3 - not sure if it was the amp/ speakers/ both but the sound between the two set ups was night and day, not that it was bad - far from it - but between the 2 the XS2 spreads its wings when paired with the XS3 - Focals.
Would say if i had CAPs and NADs et al it would worthwhile but as a 2nd set up just looking for something to compliment the system as a dedicated session would be the XS2/ XS3
The Bluesound has an awkward app, the Cambridge is expensive -leaves the Wiim, which is actually good bang for buck. Very good app integration. So if it cannot be a ND5XS2 by experience I’d say you are best off with the Wiim.
Unfortunately, Kans are unlikely to give you this effect. They are one of the most demanding speakers I’ve ever used, especially the mk1’s. Even with a 52/135/Linn LP12 they will continue to outgrow the system. What they do is just play music that then allows you to hear why the musicians wanted to play it in the first place.
Hi Geko, that is good insight. The imaging was improved when upgraded to Falcon Crossover, Alcap caps & Expotus resistors but I guess when comparing to 906’s can’t expect the same soundstage - it’s now setting expectations of the streamer to sync with speakers/ amp rather than over capitalising and missing certain performance aspects of the streamer when the setup is doing what it suppose to do at the time of manufacturing
About 3 years ago I did a system reset, and traded in a bunch of electronics to help purchase my current speakers. I had to start building again, and started with an IFI Zen stream as my streamer into a few different Dacs. I thought it was extremely good sounding for the price, have a look at Ifi. Here it is sitting between my Nagra Integrated and. Saturn Dac.
Yes, I also like the ifi zen stream, and a very decent price for that kind of quality.
In my main system I use the dutch MagnaHiFi Mano Ultra III.5 with a Farad S3 linear PS and L2-S DC-cable. I run it with the Gentooplayer FW. I use the I2S output (AQ Vodka I2S/HDMI cable) with a Halo DAC with really god result. The AES output (I tested with a DH Labs cable) a bit different sound but equally good.
I also ended up adding a linear power supply to the Zen stream, it was a nice improvement over the stock supply…BOTW was the one I used, made by Sbooster.
I have the Mxn10 which I use with a Naim Dac V1 for headphone use, the app is easy to use and gets regular updates never have to touch the unit itself I’m very happy with this setup.
I did try the Zen stream that sounds very good but I found the software via USB to be troublesome.
Yes, I used it with my Superuniti. The reason was back then the SU did not offer proper internet radio, so that part the Wiim did better (wired with TosLink). The SU was better at streaming from local storage and from Tidal, though.
