AMP DAC Streamer stack for Focal Utopia 2022

[Dreborn]

hi all! So....I went down the rabbit hole of rabbit holes. i finally settled on the Focal Utopia 2022 cause well...they are amazing. I tried every flagship and none were bad of course but the focal just hit all the buttons for me.

ok so I am setting up a dedicated headphone listening chair and need some sort of streamer for my source. I keep going back between an all in one or separates.

currently, i have the Naim Uniti Atom HE which is fine but honestly it doesn't sound that much better than my JDS Element 3. And the interface on the screen i will never use. It's pretty but 3k more pretty? just to see the song im playing? meh.

I am debating between the following (but would love your advice on any endgame stack setup):

RME Adi 2/4 Pro SE + Streamer (either the Node X or the Eversolo A6/8)
Topping A70 + D70 + Streamer (Node X or the Eversolo)

here is my main question...if i am JUST streaming, like this setup is not going to be connected to a computer, how important is the streamer? like is there actually any difference between Node X, Eversolo, or even like a Sonos Port? Because all the streamer is doing is getting my source music, putting it into the DAC?

Appreciate any advice! Thank you

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[Nutul]

... like is there actually any difference between Node X, Eversolo, or even like a Sonos Port? Because all the streamer is doing is getting my source music, putting it into the DAC?

It becomes a matter of services / options the streamer is capable of handling: Tidal / Qobuz / Amazon / AppleMusic / Spotify / Local files / shared folders / NAS / etc. etc.
But apart from these, any streamer's job is to get the audio data from somewhere, and route it to the input of your DAC. From this point of view only, all streamers are equivalent.

 

[Dreborn]

It becomes a matter of services / options the streamer is capable of handling: Tidal / Qobuz / Amazon / AppleMusic / Spotify / Local files / shared folders / NAS / etc. etc.
But apart from these, any streamer's job is to get the audio data from somewhere, and route it to the input of your DAC. From this point of view only, all streamers are equivalent.

Got it! So with the rme for Instsnce there is little benefit to getting the a8 since the a8 dac is basically not being used.

For streaming only any reason to get node x over node?

 

[Nutul]

Got it! So with the rme for Instsnce there is little benefit to getting the a8 since the a8 dac is basically not being used.

Exactly.

For streaming only any reason to get node x over node?

I know none of them; if I had to chose one, I'd go through some reviews of them, searching for any flaw in their streaming capabilities and/or UI etc. etc.
I use a RPi4 as a music source feeding my Eversolo DAC-Z8 and am very satisfied with it, although it cannot compete with other boxes when it comes to integrate streaming services: it cannot do AppleMusic / Amazon / Tidal / Qobuz directly the way you can on the Node, for example (no matter if all, or just a few of the mentioned ones); but LMS/Squeezebox, Spotify-connect and local/NAS/SMB files are superbly handled.

 

[Dreborn]

Exactly.

I know none of them; if I had to chose one, I'd go through some reviews of them, searching for any flaw in their streaming capabilities and/or UI etc. etc.
I use a RPi4 as a music source feeding my Eversolo DAC-Z8 and am very satisfied with it, although it cannot compete with other boxes when it comes to integrate streaming services: it cannot do AppleMusic / Amazon / Tidal / Qobuz directly the way you can on the Node, for example (no matter if all, or just a few of the mentioned ones); but LMS/Squeezebox, Spotify-connect and local/NAS/SMB files are superbly handled.

appreciate it! tough to make that final decision but glad we have alot of choices to choose from! it appears that for a basic STREAMER (no dac, headphone output etc) the Node is tough to beat at the price point (or any price point).

as of now i will test out the RME with the Node and see how it goes. From there I have a few tube amps i want to try as well with the Node. But i suppose if your ONLY source is streaming, it makes things pretty simple.

anybody have tube amps they love with the Focal Utopia 2022?

 

[Overseas]

Only because you said Node is hard to beat as basic streamer, what about Wiim Pro for digital out?

 

[Jimbob54]

Wiim mini optical out to rme adi 2 dac. Perfection. No need for the pro version.