Out of the Loop! Streamer Recommendations?

[Rexp]

Your friend is totally right ;-)
I use Jcat's Jplay instead of the native Lumin app. it sounds better.
I never liked the sound of Roon - I play only through uPnp protocol as it's much lighter.
Jplay user experience is excellent

Makes sense, how would you describe the difference between your Lumin X1 on it's own and with the L2?

 

[surfing_dude]

I'm unable to listen to music without the L2. It sounds so much better when playing local files, or even through internet streaming when it acts as an excellent switch. Qobuz never sounded so good!
But IMHO, it is a must taking care of the EMI/RF noise entering the L2 from the local router,
with a good network filter such as the network acoustics (True to any server/streamer outthere... it makes a huge difference)

 

[PLF]

In my experience my current streamer (Aavik S-280) handily beat and replaced my SoTM trifecta (SMS 200 ultra neo, txUSBultra, sMS 500 power) with an attached SoTM sCLK-OCX10 external clock with its own sMS 500 power.

The SoTM set up itself is quite capable and I had purchased it after home evaluations in which it beat Melco N100, Aurender A100 and N10, and MicroRendu (forget which model).

 

[jfrech]

I just bought the new Nagra streamer. Very happy vs my previous arrangement. I addition to liking the way it sounds better, I can play 4x DSD and 32bit PCM files. Previously I was limited to 2xDSD and 24 bit PCM. Also tried high end ethernet to connect it. After I heard the Siltech Royal Double Crown I bought it. (between router and dac). Then I tried a second, between NAS and router, I have another on order. They are gulp ~5k each.

 

[TDX]

Definitely worth to check out the pachanko servers. They are a lot better than a few options you mentioned above.
https://www.pachankolabs.com/constellationmusicservers

 

[V-Fi]

I'm quite happy with the Auralic Aries G2.2 that I ended up with. But I also enjoy seeing the recommendations people keep throwing out, just for learning purposes if nothing else.