Sonore Streamers

[Confused]

Just to announce that I have ordered a microRendu - one of the 'late June' batch. This one is a VERY long story, but it is fair to say I became a little jaded in my search for the best quality source for a Devialet. Well, in fact I actually found the ultimate source for a Devialet, in the shape of the dCS Vivaldi Upsampler + Vivaldi master clock. The dCS is utterly superb. Plus, not only does it offer top class SQ, but it also has the flexibility that products like the Melco and Aurender lack. The latest version will have Roon, it has Airrplay, you can shove a USB stick in the back and it will play, you could run it from your TV, more or less anything you want. For me it ticks every box. It does however have a list price of £24,000. Curiously, it is the epic performance of the dCS that put me off other streamers. Go with a Melco or Aurender and you do need to sacrifice some functionality, such as using the Conductor app only, no possibility of using Roon, and so on. This was a sacrifice I was prepared to take for a decent hike in SQ. The thing is though, after hearing the dCS, I kind of concluded that AIR, Melco's, Aurenders etc, actually have similar (although not identical) levels of performance, the dCS is a division up. Is it worth spending £24k as a source for an £18k amp? Maybe it is! Depends if you have £24k, depends what else you can think of doing with £24k and depends on exactly what value you put on sound quality. To put this into perspective, I could divert £24,000 of my salary into my pension, saving higher rate tax, this would generate enough cash for me to easily retire one year earlier, and spend that year actually listening to my hifi ! Tempting though the dCS is, it's a lot of dosh!!

Anyway, with all this, I decided that the microRendu was an itch I just have to scratch. I haven't given up on the idea of a nice music server, or maybe even a dCS one day, but I have concluded that now is not the best time to spend big bucks on a streamer. What will be on the market this time next year? New products with Roon, some killer new device, who knows. Plus, how might the rumoured new Devialet streamer board sound like? Maybe this will be the killer product? (although I have my doubts, and it may not even exist, or it might be subject to feverish delays, who knows....)

So as a kind of distraction for now, the microRendu is ordered, once this delivered and up and running, I think I will try a Mutec MC3+USB, which fortunately has a 30 day return policy if I happen to hate it. Will this lead me to audio nirvana? Probably not! But you never know.......

It also occurs to me that if I like the Mutec, and I have found I do have some kind of preference to anything connected to a Devialet via AES, then this could be used with Melco's, CAD CATS, and many other things. The microRendu will serve as a useful point of reference though.

I look forward to joining the club! (sometime in late July I'm guessing)