What will a streamer add?

[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.