I recently sold my CDX2.2 to help fund the purchase of a DCS Bartok but this hasn’t worked out so I’ve had to have a rethink on a front end for my system which comprises NAC52, Supercap, CB NAP135s and SBL
Whilst I like the convenience of streaming there’s something lacking in the handling of media for me and I now have a recently serviced CDS3 on its way to fill one of the two spots on my rack, the other will be taken by a power supply for the CDS3. However, I want to add a low cost streamer for the ease of streaming via Qobuz and the availability of music to “try before I buy” and add further to my CD collection
I’m not keen to add another fraim shelf and space is now at a premium so I’m looking for a streamer with a small footprint to hide away under or around the system as it is
I’ve been looking at an Auralic Aries Mini but would appreciate any additional ideas or shared experiences of those on here who may have used something similar
Budget ideally is under £500 but for the right item I don’t mind increasing this, I don’t have a NAS or storage so its just streaming from Qobuz (having bought a subscription for 12 months to use on the Bartok)
I have the miniStreamer of a German manufacturer (pls. see my profile for details - I don’t want to break forum rules!). It’s in your price range and supports Qobuz (and Tidal and HiresAudio and UPnP and…). I like and use it a lot but I have to note that its user interface is in German only.
As a side note: Auralic only provides an app for Apple iOS - that prevented me buying the Aries Mini and I went for the miniStreamer.
Thanks, will take a look at these later,
For some reason the bluesound hadn’t figured in my thoughts so far but looks a good option and still a current product
I resisted the notion of streaming for ages but then having got into headphones rather thought the sq of some offerings very good. I use tidal now.
So the other day I was in
My dealer checking out more headphones and walked out with a Node.
I have to say that the sound quality is very good. It’s not up to the CDX but through the headline and into some beyerdynamic T5,3 it sounds great.
For me personally I don’t think I would bother adding a dac as I would just cut the the NDX chase. But that’s me.
Not really given them a good go through the sbls and they are a little exposed with my sennheisers but for 500 quid or so it’s a bargain.
So totally agree with the majority of post on the thread.
Good luck !
The node is a fantastic product, very stable and polyvalent, offers good software and support. I use mine simply as a transport.
If you already have a dac also have a look to the IFi zen stream, the zen stream is better sounding than the Bluesound, but the provided software is very poor. If you use another software for streaming it could be a great transport.
I’d agree with Bluesound but unless the new Node is better than my Vault you might also want to add a DAC. In my case i found the sound didn’t match Naim Cd player so bought 2nd hand Naim DAC which is better
It was, yes, but when I realised there were a couple of very nice pre-loved ones on a certain auction site the Yorkshireman in me took over, pocketed the 45% saving on new on the pretext of this being used to make the next few CD purchases “freebies”
