I get access to my library of 900 CDs all ripped to FLAC by the Zen. I get Radio Paradise, Qobuz (HighResAudio and Tidal are also available but I use neither) plus general internet radio.
I now have it running via USB into the ridiculously dinky SMSL SU-1 which, for the princely sum of £56 has given me full MQA and DSD512 decoding.
I just listened to Muse’s MQA re release of Origin of Symmetry and it blew my socks off.
It remains to be seen whether the SMSL offers any significant upgrade over the Zen Mini’s internal DAC for general 44 - 96 PCM but it’s a great way to try out some of the more esoteric formats (now that MQA is dead in the water I’m hoping for some fire sales).
I am not Steve Sells, obviously, but since the 800 board is not listed as a commercial product on the Stream Unlimited site, it might be reasonable to guess that it’s more like a custom / proprietary board for a major development partner such as Naim.
That said, in spite of any incompatibility or detailed version-level differences between (proprietary?) 800 and (commercial?) 810 boards, the broad point I was trying to make is that Lindemann has chosen the same streamer supplier as Naim… which I was taking as a positive sign since we all know and love what Naim has built around the Stream Unlimited technology.
Sorry for over-reaching and erroneously saying it was the same board: I didn’t recall the 800 vs 810 discussion that @ChrisSU cites (thanks!). I can’t find online info about the differences - which could be minor level, such as form factor or power supply requirements, or major, such as enhancements to input noise rejection, output noise floor, clock stability or whatever else you might imagine makes one streamer board better than another when engineered into a chassis as part of an overall HiFi product. If Naim had input into the design process, you can imagine they’re happy with the customization in the birds being built to their spec.
Thanks for the extra info. I was very interested to hear positive reactions from people who’ve tried the Lindemann network streamer and/or DAC. For my part, I’m delighted with what I’m hearing from the stand alone Uniti products.
The stream800 info is still available if you look. Many companies use the boards from streamunlimited, it’s a bit like using an intel board. Dcs use it, I think Cambridge audio ….
Also “np” was short for “new platform” which at the time was just factory speak for atom/star/nova. In other words, they incorporated the new platform streaming module as a core component. Compared with whatever the old one was inside unitiqute etc. The dedicated test area was known as new platform, the other area was “classic”.
There’s probably a new nickname now.
A bit off topic, but anyway…,
2017 Google buys 41 percent of Austrian IT company StreamUnlimited
The Viennese company … works with companies such as JBL, Insignia, Onkyo and Panasonic, among others, which have integrated „Google Assistant“ technology into their new smart speakers.
StreamUnlimited emerged in 2005 from a development team of the Vienna-based Philips Audio Video Innovation Center. Between 2001 and 2004, the team developed the first streaming devices for audio and video clips, the first MP3 players, DVD recorders and early products supporting HDMI and Wi-Fi technology.
By the way…
Very happy with nd5xs2/nDAC/XPs on nait50. Even with wlan works very fine. But source is a bit out of balance as a lot more expensive than amp … source first
I’ve paired my NAIT50 with a Cambridge Audio MXN10. I liked its small size and lack of screen and the sound is fine for my needs (for now) as a second system.
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