Streamer purchase advice

[Marcus85]

Hello everyone,

I would like to buy a streamer for my setup and am looking for the best possible price/performance ratio. I would like to get state of the art technology for as little money as possible, apart from snake oil and vodoo. Accordingly, I have of course already thought about the Wiim Ultra, but I am also open to alternatives. I would pay up to €1000 if I could achieve a really audible improvement.

Best regards

 

[VMAT4]

Do you need Apple Airplay? If you do the WiiM Pro would be the WiiM option for you.

 

[Marcus85]

Do you need Apple Airplay? If you do the WiiM Pro would be the WiiM option for you.

No, I don't use Apple air play, I only have Android devices.

 

[ahofer]

Hello everyone,

I would like to buy a streamer for my setup and am looking for the best possible price/performance ratio. I would like to get state of the art technology for as little money as possible, apart from snake oil and vodoo. Accordingly, I have of course already thought about the Wiim Ultra, but I am also open to alternatives. I would pay up to €1000 if I could achieve a really audible improvement.

Best regards

The good news is that there aren't really "audible improvements" available in streamers, so focus on the features and connections you want. I use a Cambridge Audio Streamer, a Wiim, and a couple of Raspberry Pi 4s running Ropiee. If you have androids you probably want to use Chromecast which is built into the Cambridge Streamers (and they are pretty future proof and stable in other ways) and Wiim. Ropiee is more for Roon.

Now, Roon has EQ and a bunch of other features that really improve the streaming experience, so you might want to consider it, depending on your listening needs/habits.

Cambridge Audio AXN10 Network Player

The AXN10 network player opens the door to a world of high-resolution streaming, seamlessly integrating into your system. AXN10 delivers exceptional hi-fi audio from any source with the convenience of modern streaming services and our bespoke StreamMagic platform.

www.cambridgeaudio.com

 

[Marcus85]

The good news is that there aren't really "audible improvements" available in streamers, so focus on the features and connections you want. I use a Cambridge Audio Streamer, a Wiim, and a couple of Raspberry Pi 4s running Ropiee. If you have androids you probably want to use Chromecast which is built into the Cambridge Streamers (and they are pretty future proof and stable in other ways) and Wiim. Ropiee is more for Roon.

Now, Roon has EQ and a bunch of other features that really improve the streaming experience, so you might want to consider it, depending on your listening needs/habits.

Cambridge Audio AXN10 Network Player

The AXN10 network player opens the door to a world of high-resolution streaming, seamlessly integrating into your system. AXN10 delivers exceptional hi-fi audio from any source with the convenience of modern streaming services and our bespoke StreamMagic platform.

www.cambridgeaudio.com

Are you sure that there are no acoustic differences between the streamers? I mean, they differ in their measured values due to their different dacs, for example, right?

 

[F1Fan72]

Simple, Wiim Ultra!

 

[Purité Audio]

Are you sure that there are no acoustic differences between the streamers? I mean, they differ in their measured values due to their different dacs, for example, right?

They may slightly differently but if any distortion is below the threshold of audibility they they will sound identical.
Remember hi-fi is for the most part based not on actual performance but marketing.
Keith

 

[ahofer]

Are you sure that there are no acoustic differences between the streamers? I mean, they differ in their measured values due to their different dacs, for example, right?

There are many threads, and one HUGE thread dedicated to the topic of DAC differences, which are, ironically, vanishingly small. If they measure transparent beyond audible thresholds, you will not be able to hear a difference in level-matched blind testing. You can get transparent DACs very cheap.

Streamers just need to move the data, so again, they won’t sound different unless something is horribly wrong.

Most of the differences claimed in reviews and elsewhere are about as credible as horoscopes.

 

[Marcus85]

They may slightly differently but if any distortion is below the threshold of audibility they they will sound identical.
Remember hi-fi is for the most part based not on actual performance but marketing.
Keith

Yes, that's my assumption, which is why I explicitly don't want snake oil. However, I would have thought that there is definitely an audible difference, but only up to a much lower financial limit than you might think. For example, that you can no longer hear a difference between a €300 and a €100,000 Dac.

 

[Purité Audio]

Just look at the unit’s measurements if it is audibly transparent it is the finest sound quality possible.
The rest is marketing.
Keith

 

[Timcognito]

I am a Bluesound adopter because there was only Sonos in 2017 and I am happy overall with units in three rooms but the BluOS has its quirks that the parent company is slow to fix. Updates come about every three or four months but some simple requested features get ignored. Avidly reading and posting on ASR, from what I read WiiM, for the price, probably has the most features, including adding highly valued DSP and is responsive with upgrades and fixes. Eversolo is very popular also but tad bit more pricey. Your price range will give you many options unless you want multi-room capability, then think about the total going forward. Both test well and get recommendations from Amir and users.

 

[Marcus85]

Okay, so apparently the rip-off is even worse than I thought.
One thought remains, what about the Bluesound N132 and Dirac? That would probably make a big difference and as far as I've read, Dirac is far superior to Wiim's Room Correction, isn't it? Has anyone here perhaps heard the two against each other and can assess the difference?

 

[Purité Audio]

Hmm not sure about that either, REW and a microphone and implement the filters it creates.
Keith

 

[Marcus85]

I am a Bluesound adopter because there was only Sonos in 2017 and I am happy overall with units in three rooms but the BluOS has its quirks that the parent company is slow to fix. Updates come about every three or four months but some simple requested features get ignored. Avidly reading and posting on ASR, from what I read WiiM, for the price, probably has the most features, including adding highly valued DSP and is responsive with upgrades and fixes. Eversolo is very popular also but tad bit more pricey. Your price range will give you many options unless you want multi-room capability, then think about the total going forward. Both test well and get recommendations from Amir and users.

No, I have absolutely no interest in multiroom, I just want to listen to stereo in the best quality.
Does Eversolo have any significant advantages over Wiim? At least I haven't noticed any yet.

 

[Purité Audio]

Only in terms of features.
Keith

 

[Marcus85]

Only in terms of features.
Keith

In that case, I would absolutely not consider paying the high surcharge for Eversolo. I really just want the best possible stereo sound and don't need any big features or gimmicks.

 

[Timcognito]

Read what owners say here. https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/topics
Another way of thinking is that the steaming component is getting pretty ubiquitous in many devices such as per and integrated amps and DSP is not perhaps look at something like miniDSP products, many have Dirac and then you streaming options plentiful.

No, I have absolutely no interest in multiroom, I just want to listen to stereo in the best quality.
Does Eversolo have any significant advantages over Wiim? At least I haven't noticed any yet.

Some have NAS storage.

 

[Timcognito]

The basic WiiM mini is $80 but basic OS is the same. Try it and upgrade or change later moving it to another room or give to friend.

 

[Apesbrain]

Accordingly, I have of course already thought about the Wiim Ultra, but I am also open to alternatives.

If you already have a DAC that you like, the WiiM Pro at about $150 would be sufficient. Connected via wifi, receives internet radio and online music services. Control via browser, phone, tablet.

For any local music files, you can run Lyrion Music Server which will play bit-perfect and gapless to the WiiM Pro.

 

[Marcus85]

Read what owners say here. https://support1.bluesound.com/hc/en-us/community/topics
Another way of thinking is that the steaming component is getting pretty ubiquitous in many devices such as per and integrated amps and DSP is not perhaps look at something like miniDSP products, many have Dirac and then you streaming options plentiful.

Some have NAS storage.

I've also looked at the miniDSP products, but I'm easily paying twice to four times the price of the N132 or the Wiim Ultra.