JeremyFife
Major Contributor
I get that, but if you use more than one streaming service then you have multiple UIs. The advantage of 'Pull' is you only have one UI to contend with.In the past, I have talked about "push" vs "pull" streaming and how I am in favor of the former. Push streaming means another app is in control of the network device, running on a rich platform such as a phone or PC. The DAC then looks like a local DAC, albeit over a network. This is why I sometimes call these "bridge" devices when they have digital outputs as is the case.
The advantage here is that you don't have to learn a new UI to figure out how to play something. That is what would be required if your streamer was a pull device. In that case, the intelligence is local to the device, initiating/pulling content to its DAC. These require ton more software development and far higher chance of bugs. This workload also causes companies to cease supporting these devices, all else being equal.
In this testing, ARSY Ne-2 immediately showed up as a device for my Roon player to play to. Nothing new to learn. All the rich functionality of Roon at my disposal just as if this was a local DAC. Contrast this with streamers with their own players where it takes me half hour just to figure out what is what.
Obviously, it has to be a decent one. I'm happy with the WiiM's ... it's better than the native Amazon one IMO.