What will a streamer add?

[Womaz]

I guess its more a general question I am asking. Will a streamer add a significan improvement in SQ over AIR.?

Honestly, I think that's a very difficult question for anyone to answer except you...because the question implies the words "in your system, in your listening environment, to your ears".  Of course the answer also depends on what you consider to be significant, and how much money you're willing to spend to achieve an improvement.  So there are many factors involved, most of which are subjective or personal.

While it's very interesting hearing what other people have to say, and it can give you some good starting points, I suggest you should try to audition some streamers in your system and see for yourself whether or not you think they sound significantly different from / better than AIR.

Don't forget that it's not necessarily all about the sound quality.  For me, it's very important that the streamer and its control software are reliable and easy to use; I'd sacrifice the last word in sound quality to be able to easily choose what I want to listen to and have it play without any worries over software crashes, drop-outs, etc., etc.  I suppose that's a conclusion you've also reached after having some problems with AIR.

Yes the problems with AIR mean I may have to look at the next purchase a little earlier than anticipated.
Since using AIR i have been very impressed with the SQ. The more I listened to it the more I loved it. Its a massive improvement on my CLIC. this was noticeable when i used the CLIC today for the first time since last week.
If AIR was stable it would be a no brainer for me. Wait for cash for a speaker upgrade.
I have also started using the JRiver Media software and the JRemote app. This app is a dream to use. It has all that I require.
When I stared my Devialet journey i always thought spend the bulk of the cash on the Devialet and the speakers. Using AIR has strengthened that belief........but yes of course there are the drop outs and white noise. So far for me this has only happened after hours of listening. I may be one of the luckier ones, although when it happens just as you are engrossed in the music.......well there is nothing more frustrating.

In despite of all this the 200 is a bloody delight. i am still in awe of how good it sounds.

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In despite of all this the 200 is a bloody delight. i am still in awe of how good it sounds.

Yup, me too.

[hk6230]

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In despite of all this the 200 is a bloody delight. i am still in awe of how good it sounds.

Yup, me too.

+1 i love it, too. At the moment I found that almost anything I play on it sounds good. 

[DonaldLL]

Hi All... I am new to the forum and new to Devialet. The title of the thread caught my attention. What will a streamer add? Honestly I have no idea but I just bought the D200 along with a Naim NDX. I bought exactly what I auditioned and am awaiting the arrival of my all new system including speakers and cables. I heard it and was floored. I am just getting back into audio after a long absence. Let's just say last time I bought stereo equipment, streamers flew behind kites and were not part of the audio conversation

[Damon]

Hi All... . Let's just say last time I bought stereo equipment, streamers flew behind kites and were not part of the audio conversation

.... I think you'll fit in very well indeed. Welcome DonaldLL. The NDX is an excellent streamer, though there is / maybe some overlap with the Devialet. You will get UPnP with the Naim, thought that is not an advantage in my opinion. The iRadio aspect of the Naim is a great bonus to be sure. I think another member here, PhilP, also uses a Naim streamer into a D200 so he will be a very good source of information.

But yes, I too was floored by the Devialet sound quality, so I get that experience. Good crew here on this forum; much good experience and advice to be had  (not so much from me) so report in after the delivery.

[Foggy916]

I'll add my 2 cents here. Have a aurender n100 fully broken in with Wireworld Starlight platinum usb. Was hoping it would replace my 2009 Mac Mini with custom power supply and its fully optimized for audio. Mini is using air ethernet with AQ cinnamon Ethernet cable.

My hopes were to improve usability and have more convenience then running my Mac Mini headless. Sounded great but was just tired of the bugs and day to day headaches of just getting it fired up to play music. Was also hoping that getting a streamer would not only improve the day to day functionality but also improve upon the sound.

First off, the user interface of the Aurender is way better than the Mac solution. So easy to get music playing and the iPad app is amazing. Absolutely love it.

However, here is the problem. The Aurender clearly is more laid back with regards to sound quality. It's great but I'm definitely giving up detail, separation, and soundstage. It's great to walk in the room and have music playing within seconds from my NAS or Tidal. But if I want to sit down for some critical listening, the Mac Mini is better. This could be system dependent but just wanted to share my experience.

[drdkey]

I have a D250 that I originally had connected to the Moon MIND but the app was cumbersome and unreliable.I have abandoned the MIND. I went with the streamer originally on the advice of my audio dealer. I then tried AIR and found it too unreliable and frustrating although the sound quality was amazing. I have since gone with a mac mini/ separate HD using a Belkin Gold USB cable to connect to the D250. I blind tested the sound using Belkin Gold versus AQ Carbon vs Nordost Blue Heaven. I had several friends over with high end audio systems and they all picked the sound with the Belkin Gold USB. I was shocked at the difference in the interconnects sound quality. I have Magico V2 speakers and I am very happy with the SQ in my set up versus AIR.  I went with the mac mini as I was looking for sound quality but also cataloging of music and the easy functionality of the iTunes interface.

[hk6230]

I have a D250 that I originally had connected to the Moon MIND but the app was cumbersome and unreliable.I have abandoned the MIND. I went with the streamer originally on the advice of my audio dealer. I then tried AIR and found it too unreliable and frustrating although the sound quality was amazing. I have since gone with a mac mini/ separate HD using a Belkin Gold USB cable to connect to the D250. I blind tested the sound using Belkin Gold versus AQ Carbon vs Nordost Blue Heaven. I had several friends over with high end audio systems and they all picked the sound with the Belkin Gold USB. I was shocked at the difference in the interconnects sound quality. I have Magico V2 speakers and I am very happy with the SQ in my set up versus AIR.  I went with the mac mini as I was looking for sound quality but also cataloging of music and the easy functionality of the iTunes interface.

You should also try out Roon.

[Music or sound]

I am also interested in a streamer/server (still find the nomenclature of such a device unclear). I would like something which does not require a home net work and/or external storage with associated cables. Obviously it needs to be connected to the internet and an iPad etc but wireless would be a better option (WLAN) not requiring a router to be plugged in.
One reason I am hesitant is that MQA could change music streaming (Tidal is one of the companies committed to it) and I have no idea how easy it can be implemented in present streamers only by firmware updates. I have not heard MQA and was reading very different evaluations about it. I am also wondering about Devialet's reaction to MQA!

[Antoine]

A music server generally is a (stand alone) device that stores the digital media and can output it into a DAC. A streamer 'streams' the digital media over a network from a remote source (this could of course be a local NAS or some kind of cloud service like Tidal). Very often we see the lines blurring, for example plenty music servers can also stream digital media from the cloud.