New streamerboard, what functions do we want?

[octaviars]

I am fairly aligned with octaviars original post, it covers the key features I would want plus a lot more.  Perhaps one thing I would add is some kind of support for iTunes, but that's just me, I do have a strange love for iTunes, which is problematic as it will never be the best sounding solution to anything.

Picking up on Antoine's comments regarding a wordclock input.  To be honest, I would be absolutely staggered if this happens, but I do know what he means.  Hearing a dCS rig feeding a D800, both with and without the master clock, I can confirm that these things do improve sound quality.  However, I would make a more general point.  I would sacrifice many of the 'features' listed here for one thing, the best possible sound quality.  Quite how that is achieved I do not know.  Consider this, if the new streamer board sounds a bit 'average', and can easily be beaten for SQ by the lower range Melco's and Aurender's, then it is a waste of time basically.  If it sounded absolutely epic, better than the Aurender W20, dCS upsampler or whatever, than I could forgive it missing a feature or two.

I can also get along with less functions if they get the soundquality right. Perhaps Roon and DLNA and then most of us are happy.

The future will tell but I dont think we will se more connections on the back if this is a card that the dealers is supposed to be able to change.