Best streamer(s) alternatives for Devialet Air

[KraaijCheck]

Hi all, was searching for a topic with different streamer options that level or top Air but couldn't find it. Curious witch streamer you guys think top Air for a reasonable price. Think this will be interesting for a lot of people because there is a lot of frustration over Air. Would be cool if everyone who has experience with external streamers could make an short list (top 3) on terms of price/quality. Hope we can get some input!

[PhilP]

Based on comments/reviews posted on here and elsewhere I'll attempt a rough ranking of streamers/music players in terms of SQ - best first  

You're very welcome to shoot me down in flames for posting this because I havent heard all/many of these  Has anyone? [EDIT: I believe that Guillaume and Rufus have ]

Melco N1Z
(Antipodes DX - reportedly very good)
TotalDAC D1 Server
Melco N1A
Aurender X100L/N100/N100H 
Linn Akurate DSM
Naim NDX (I would rate the Naim NDX and by implication the models rated higher in the list as good as or better than AIR)
Auralic Aries/Aries LE
Simaudio Moon Mind

Others that fit in somewhere in the list: Aurender N10/W20, Antipodes DS, NAD M50, Wadia M330, Bryston BDP-2 etc 

Given that we're talking about fairly small differences in SQ between some models the ranking will be system, environment and connection dependent...

[Womaz]

PhilP has give a pretty comprehensive list above. If you look under the streaming section oh here you will find a load of posts to read through.

I have had my 200 for 7 months now and I have finally give up on AIR. Its a real shame as I think the SQ is excellent.
I have a demo of the Melco N1A next week after months and months of sitting on the fence. I decided that if I was going to go down a streamer route then i would like to take my NAS out of the playback chain so I narrowed it down on that basis.
The one thing that does concern me is there are very few people state on here that their streaming solutions actually sound better than AIR. I will find out next week.

[Womaz]

I also seem to recall a "battle of the streamers" thread on here around April time, but I cant find the original post or if the event ever took place

[octaviars]

PhilP has give a pretty comprehensive list above. If you look under the streaming section oh here you will find a load of posts to read through.

I have had my 200 for 7 months now and I have finally give up on AIR. Its a real shame as I think the SQ is excellent.
I have a demo of the Melco N1A next week after months and months of sitting on the fence. I decided that if I was going to go down a streamer route then i would like to take my NAS out of the playback chain so I narrowed it down on that basis.
The one thing that does concern me is there are very few people state on here that their streaming solutions actually sound better than AIR. I will find out next week.

I am looking forward to your test, the Melco is on my list. The main thing is the app to control it if the integration of Tidal is ok using Bubble or some other upnp app.

I saw that the founder of Antipodes comented in the Stereophile test of their DX when they talked about the way they solved the Tidal playback from some sort of external streaming called ickstream and it was not so good and the respond was that Antipodes was going to get ROON in a couple of months. I asume they will have the core in the machine and the app on a tablet or phone.

[JohnH]

I also seem to recall a "battle of the streamers" thread on here around April time, but I cant find the original post or if the event ever took place

Your memory is not at fault.  See http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?tid=793

[Womaz]

PhilP has give a pretty comprehensive list above. If you look under the streaming section oh here you will find a load of posts to read through.

I have had my 200 for 7 months now and I have finally give up on AIR. Its a real shame as I think the SQ is excellent.
I have a demo of the Melco N1A next week after months and months of sitting on the fence. I decided that if I was going to go down a streamer route then i would like to take my NAS out of the playback chain so I narrowed it down on that basis.
The one thing that does concern me is there are very few people state on here that their streaming solutions actually sound better than AIR. I will find out next week.

I am looking forward to your test, the Melco is on my list. The main thing is the app to control it if the integration of Tidal is ok using Bubble or some other upnp app.

I saw that the founder of Antipodes comented in the Stereophile test of their DX when they talked about the way they solved the Tidal playback from some sort of external streaming called ickstream and it was not so good and the respond was that Antipodes was going to get ROON in a couple of months. I asume they will have the core in the machine and the app on a tablet or phone.

I have been recommended to use the Lumin app. I do not use Tidal so i am not sure how it will work with that. My main hope is it is better than AIR. Even on a par would do. I wish I understood these things as I have no idea how it can improve the SQ, but apparently it does.

[Womaz]

I am saying i dont use Tidal. I signed up for a two week trial last week and to be honest I am a little disappointed with the SQ........but wow it can be addictive. I sat down last night to listen to some album new releases and 5 hours later.......wondered where the time has gone. I relived my youth as well , I can see why its so popular.

[Morten]

How are you using it, I also use it on my iPhone and iPad, and at highest bit rate it sounds brilliant, better than my local stored tracks on the devices, but they are also at 256kbits

Kind regards Morten

[MusicLover]

Hi all, was searching for a topic with different streamer options that level or top Air but couldn't find it. Curious witch streamer you guys think top Air for a reasonable price. Think this will be interesting for a lot of people because there is a lot of frustration over Air. Would be cool if everyone who has experience with external streamers could make an short list (top 3) on terms of price/quality. Hope we can get some input!

Hi!

As we share the same speakers and amplifier, I can only recommend you to give the X100 a try. If you are after a very detailed yet relaxed, airy, and meaty sound I think you will love it.
I can't talk for other USB cables (some insultingly expensive of you ask me) but I think it matches very well with the one from Totaldac (very black background/low noise floor).
I haven't tried other options, but of course, as always, if you can home demo, all the better.

What I have really noticed since I have the Aurender is that now I enjoy so much more well mastered standard CD resolution albums than with my previous computer setup, and to be honest I don't really miss Hi-res if not available... BTW, compared to Air, on my setup, the sound is significantly more holographic and physically present with the server.

Enjoy the search and keep us posted!

ML