ARSY Ne-2 Streamer Review

[DavidEdwinAston]

Needs at least 200 hours of burn in to sound its best.... 300 for that last final bit of resolution, soundstage depth/width, veils lifted, blacker blacks etc

Also needs at least $5000 of associated analog/digital cabling and a $3000 LPS (with USB C output obviously).

Don't forget the reclocking ethernet switch and cat 8 cable (has to be cat 8 else you will lose bits).

You are just not "doing it right"!!!

Peter

/S if needed

Peter
I'm not really complaining that I have a genuine ARSEY-hole.

 

[M.C. Logan]

It’s missing Chromecast and AlexaCast, as well as voice control and a BT remote control, all included with most WiiM devices. The WiiM will be easier to configure for WiFi, and supports MANY more services. So, unless you’re set on Roon, the WiiMs have many advantages for most folks.

Aren't the target demographic for this Spotify, Tidal, Apple or Roon users (the vast majority of users)? It's missing Qobuz, but that's not unusual. Just as cheap, and much easier to implement, as a Pi + HAT/DAC.

 

[M.C. Logan]

Audirvana works great with Qobuz. It will be interesting to see if Audirvana works with the ARSY UPNP just as well as it works with Rpi4/Moode.

But that ties you to Apple walled garden, outside the USA Apple kit is not so popular.

 

[M.C. Logan]

is there any advantage of this over the Wiim Pro or Wiim Pro +? That is a tried streamer with constant updates and measurements for the same (if not cheaper) price.

Less complexity in the firmware, less chance of bugs/crashes/bricking.

 

[M.C. Logan]

Because for example; if I were to purchase it I would feed it into the DAC that runs my speaker system which also is fed from my TV and HTPC. So I would output from this using Coaxial into the DAC so I could switch to the streamer.

Different use case, not the device for you?

 

[Alvaro7]

It plays similar role except that it supports additional protocols that provide higher (objective) fidelity than Airplay/airport.

Thanks!

 

[Piotr]

Great to see more devices like this.

Plus for usb-c charging and airplay. For the price quite nice...

For me personally, no hdmi-arc, no buy.

 

[VientoB]

Hard to find this anywhere.

 

[VientoB]

In Australian slang you would call someone arsy if they achieved something great but by chance. i.e. not by skill.

e.g. in golf say, an arsy shot would be one where the player shanked his shot into a tree and it richoteted onto the green next to the hole.

Perhaps that is what this streamer does with measurements

 

[Multicore]

Are you suggesting many people don't have a) an ethernet cable and b) the wherewithal to plug it into a spare RJ45 socket on their switch/router? I've certainly never come across a router without *any* RJ45 sockets.

Yes. Or maybe the RJ45s are occupied. Or they don't want to remove the thing from where the service provider installed it up there on the wall. Or because they don't know what RJ45 "Ethernet" cables are (plenty people have never handled one). Or not being able to make the browser not use HTTPS. There's lots of reasons people find this sort of thing difficult, worrying or otherwise beyond their wherewithal.

For me it's easy as I know data networks and services quite well.

What's the right way to do it? What my idiotic Canon printer needs to get on a WiFi network is a model of "F**k it! I'll go to the print shop."
What do all the IoT devices do to get on a network? Say you want to install a couple of dozen light bulbs and each needs to know your SSID and PSK.

 

[JakeK]

Yes. Or maybe the RJ45s are occupied. Or they don't want to remove the thing from where the service provider installed it up there on the wall. Or because they don't know what RJ45 "Ethernet" cables are (plenty people have never handled one). Or not being able to make the browser not use HTTPS. There's lots of reasons people find this sort of thing difficult, worrying or otherwise beyond their wherewithal.

If you've set up a roon or squeezebox server yourself I would think you will also be able to set up this device. I would expect this simple device will be far easier to set up than many of the alternatives. As people have mentioned there is not much point in this device if you don't already have something like Roon etc. anyway.

 

[Michael Kelly]

@amirm Do you plan to test the digital outputs of these streamers for noise and jitter? So far I have only seen the analog test.

 

[JakeK]

2. After I got the streamer on the network (replacing RPI4) I attached it via USB to ADI-2 DAC FS. I also tried optical. Both performed similar.

You did get it working as a streamer then to be able to test it's performance?

3. I launched Audirvana. The NE-2 was not recognized as a UPNP device. I could open the Sound Control panel and select it but only as an Airplay connection which automatically downgraded all my Qobuz and FLAC music to 44.1kHz. It sounded OK but the compression made the music sound a bit flat.

4. I tried everything to get the UPNP function to work with the NE-2 but after 3 hours I finally gave up. Without UPNP and hi-res support I'm not interested when I can use the RPI-4/Moode setup and fully support Qobuz 192kHz without compression.

I don't know anything about Audirvana but maybe it's implementation of UPNP is not that orthodox? I tried using UPNP in the past to stream music etc. and found it far from 'universal' and far from 'plug n play' at the time. More PITA than PNP. IIRC it's more of a container so if your 'Universal Plug N Play' playback device doesn't support the protocol or bit rate of the file you try to send or for some other mysterious reason it won't play at all which doesn't seem very universal to me and can be very frustrating. Maybe it's better these days but I have no reason to use it. It may well be that UPNP is not particularly well implemented in the NE-2 device which is worth noting and a deal breaker if you want a device for that.

I wonder if anyone has had any trouble getting it working as a squeezebox player.

5. For $160, this seems way over priced for what you get (especially is you already have a favorite DAC) and the security is sub-optimal for wi-fi use. I can't understand why the sales listing doesn't disclose only Airplay 44.1kHz is supported with Apple devices. Or why it's not discussed in the tiny instruction sheet.

Yes, the value doesn't seem that good if you're not buying it for the built in DAC. I'm curious as to why you bought this when you already have a RPi4/Moode and a RME DAC that works great. What were you hoping to improve on?

 

[VientoB]

Does it work with BubbleuPnP?

 

[watchnerd]

Yes, the value doesn't seem that good if you're not buying it for the built in DAC. I'm curious as to why you bought this when you already have a RPi4/Moode and a RME DAC that works great. What were you hoping to improve on?

I'm not the one you were asking, but I'll reply about why I'm considering it.

I run Roon Core upstairs in my den on an iMac (also happens to be directly connected to an RME ADI-2 Pro, FWIW). The music comes from both a locally attached SSD HD and Qobuz.

Downstairs, in my living room, I have a Roon bridge / endpoint via Raspberry Pi running RoPieee, which then connects to a Schiit Modius.

I would consider the Arsy for a few reasons:

1. Unify the Roon bridge into one box, instead of two. Right now, the cable connecting the Pi and the Modius is prone to losing connectivity if I move things, which is annoying.

2. A slightly higher specced DAC. The Modius tops out at 24bit/192kz and doesn't support MQA. So if I wanted to play with MQA or ridiculously unneeded higher bit-rates, the Arsy could do that.

The big question I have re: the Arsy is if it supports RAAT (Roon's native transport protocol), as this is used for zone grouping in Roon.

 

[Esprit]

What would be the reason for that? It already has good enough DAC.

Connect to amplified monitors with digital input?

 

[antcollinet]

Would be good to see if optical and coax outputs are comparable. In some other streamers they have been materially different.

Measured different? Can you link?

 

[amirm]

Connect to amplified monitors with digital input?

How would you control volume?

 

[Esprit]

Genelec via GLM or remote or cable control for example but I imagine it is possible with other products too.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

^^^ Another WiiM advantage. It “just works”, and if it doesn’t, updates are very fast. Plus it has a very active user community, something this company lacks.