budget streamer for nait 5i

How about a PC or a Mac Mini?

-Patrick

With what sound card? He needs something to convert d to a.  And on that budget, he can probably use his own computer and not buy another.

Funk I assume that you own some sort of computer already.  How about a usb dac to go between your computer and 5i?  I've never heard any, but the Meridian Explorer at $299.99 is worth researching.

Denon 720 network player?  It sells for £200 new in the UK. 

I've just bought a second-hand Denon network player to connect to the Denon system in the kitchen - it seems to work fine picking up files from my Asset server.  It has it's own app too.

Hi,

You could try the Squeezebox Touch (SBT) or the earlier Squeezebox SB3. Both are available secondhand.

I'm sure that the Logitech Media Server is available on the Synology NAS see http://forum.synology.com/enu/...hp?f=131&t=50065

The SB3 is limited to 24/48 but plays ripped CDs @ 16/44.1 very well, for little cost. Infact the 24-bit files, although limited to 44.1 & 48 kHz played very well.

The SBT will play up to 24/96 out-of-the-box and with a 3rd party plugin up to 24/192.

There is the iPeng remote control app for iPhone and iPad which works well.

I had the SB3 for a number of years, taking a digital feed into a Pink Triangle DAC, which all sounded very good. I tried a SBT but was limited by the 48kHz limitation in the DAC, so went the Network Player upgrade path with a ND5XS (now with a XP5XS), rather than a replacement DAC.

Certainly the SBT route would give you better future-proofing than a Sonus, which I believe is limited to 48kHz, and the SB3 would give you the same functionality but at a lower cost.

Simon.

+1 to what Simon says.

If you cannot find a SB you could check out this alternative:

http://www.communitysqueeze.org/index.jsp

I am a "streamer" (UPnP) myself at home, but some use "stream" interchangeably with 'hard drive storage.'  I don't know which of the budget devices sound best unfortunately. 

I guess one other option, again w/o a true UPnP server, is iTunes from the computer to an Airport Express to a dac.  I'm focused more on keeping costs down and trying to be a little more agnostic as to technology, but by all means stick with UPnP if you want

Squeezebox Touch every time, there is nothing to touch it at the price. 

Its internal DAC punches way above its price point.

You should be able to pick one up at half your Budget.  

SJB 

I'm just using the analogue outs into a Denon all-in-one box.

In time I'll probably compare it against my Qute into the main system, and would be interested to know how it would perform into an nDac (or even a TeddyDAC).

If you have a network already in place and a smart phone (for control) you won't regret a sonos connect.  There are many who claim the SBT sounds better but if you do a wider (than this forum) internet search you'll find opinion is more or less evenly split.  I will be better through a seperate DAC but the on board one isn't as bad as many claim (again search widely and you'll see).

I have a Sonos Connect streaming from a NAS, connected through a Nait3 Into Royd The Minstrel SE speakers.

it's OK but not as good as my CD3.5 (by quite some margin).

The Sonos sounds quite veiled and less expressive Than the CD3.5

I find it fine for background listening and most people who hear it think it's fine. Until I play a CD....

The interface for Sonos is great, it's simple and flexible.

Sonos or Squeezebox into external DAC, e.g. Rega or Arcam, makes a significant improvement to SQ. Squeezebox can be further improved by external linear PSU upgrade. IMHO.

There are a number of radio stations available (Spotify etc), I believe they may be country specific - I was asked which country when I first set up my Sonos.

I do not subscribe to any of them personally.

I did a quick trawl and came up with this http://omegasales.wordpress.co...rom-free-to-nominal/ which may answer your question.  As for general radio listening the world is the mollusc of your choice with sonos.  Hope this helps.

Here in the States the Musical Fidelity M1 Clic is on sale for $499 (normally $1500) from audio advisor. Could be the perfect solution. Would pick one up myself for the office if it wasn't so close to tax time. 

I just looked.   It's not out of stock now

anyway, I think you are better off with the early advice.  Why not use a computer, you can get a used mini for $300.  Keep your music on that and get any number of good $250 Dacs. I have a audioquest dragonfly.  You can control the mini from the remote ap on your iPhone or iPad. Or you can use screen share if you have a mac desktop or laptop

You can go to stereophile's web site and read the review.  Or download the recommended component ap to your iPadiPad