[SunRa Fan]

If it isn't too late to join the list for trialing the Stream I'd like to do so. I've been all digital as a source from the beginning and I still use Logitech Squeezeboxes and LMS as a server. Years have passed by, the Squeezebox is no longer made and LMS is now open sourced. While my Squeezebox Touch continues to work just fine, I can foresee that in the next five years it will need to be replaced and this new streamer from Bel Canto might be just the right thing for me. More specifically to my setup, Bel Canto says this streamer is UPNP compatible and I have a UPNP plugin in LMS that "should" allow this to work. Even more critical to me is that I use AND LOVE iPeng as the main app for controlling my system and it should be able to control a UPNP streamer. A lot of "shoulds" here. The only way to know is to try hooking one up and seeing if it works. iPeng is quirky and complex but I've come to enjoy it's endless customizability over the years and nothing I've tried since has ever come close to beating it. Not Roon and not JRiver.

 

[davehg]

SunRa, I also use a Squeezebox - an SB3 that was modified professionally and comes with a high end custom power supply (from Boldercable, no longer in existence). I've become less enamored of Logitech's media server over the years, and even using IPeng app, I find the search functionality limited and clunky. The main audible weak link of the Squeezebox is its DAC - I find its sound glassy and flat and have only used an outboard DAC since I've owned it.

Roon was a recent discovery. Roon includes an LMS/Squeezebox lite emulator which works nicely, and lets me continue to enjoy my Squeezebox. The Roon interface is leaps better than iPeng IMHO and not buggy (IPeng regularly crashes or hangs and I have close an reopen the app). Tidal integration in Roon is generally great (inability to easily search Tidal playlists are the only niggle).

I bought a Roon Nucleus which has also proven to be a fine piece of kit - silent and without error so far, and a breeze to install and maintain. Only real issues are (i) cost - of the Nucleus and the license, which is more than offset by the music discovery and meta data features of Roon and the ease of use of the Nucleus, and (ii) Tidal MQA compatibility - try as I might, I can't get Tidal MQA files to play nice with my SB3 using Roon (though they play well when I just go directly via Tidal).

I'm very optimistic about the Stream. Like you, I worry when the SB3 decides to give up the ghost, and the built in MQA support is a bonus. I'm especially interested in the built in MQA DAC capability - though I am still sentimentally attached to my Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista, and not keen to drop yet another $2k on a current DAC. Finally, I am eyeing Qubuz as a potential alternative to Tidal, and Qubuz is natively supported by the Stream (not sure when Roon integration of Qubuz will happen).

As far as I can read now, the only real nit I can see with the Stream is the lack of a USB digital output - it has USB in, but only traditional digital outputs (Toslink, RCA, and AES) that preclude the use a USB only DAC. Of course, since I have the Roon Nucleus, which has a USB and HDMI digital output, I wouldn't really need Stream if a USB DAC was my choice, but since the Roon Nucleus has no digital output that I can use with my Tri-Vista...well you see my dilemma and interest in the Stream.

If the Stream proves to be all that, I'll pick one up and enjoy comparing its MQA dac vs my TriVista DAC, and then as budget and time allow, start considering a potential replacement for the MF if the sound quality warrants it. Given that the majority of Tidal and Qubuz offerings are limited to Redbook or 24/192khz, I am less confident that adding another DAC is cost effective, especially if the MQA DAC in the Stream proves sufficient.

 

[SunRa Fan]

My main issue with Roon is cost. For what it does the software is ridiculously over priced especially when LMS is free. The critical part for me is iPeng. I love iPeng because it runs circles in usability around Roon or anything else I’ve tried. It took a few years to really learn it but now that I have I prefer it to anything else. I still buy lots of music and the “New Music” shortcut on iPeng is the single most important feature to me. If iPeng could control another server I would be happy to look into that. Also, I continue to use iTunes for putting files on my phones. The LMS/Squeezebox combo has brought me a long way but it’s starting to show its age. High bit rate music chokes even the Squeezebox Touch when streamed over WiFi, Ethernet cable works fine though. The Squeezebox was years ahead of its time and in many ways is still superior to modern alternatives.

 

[davehg]

Yeah, I wish Roon were about half the cost. $500 for a lifetime fee feels expensive, and maybe $50 annually would be more tolerable, given questions about any software company’s staying power. Might also expend the pool of licensees too.

 

[SunRa Fan]

Totally agree. They’re out of their minds with that pricing especially with free alternatives that actually have greater functionality.

 

[davehg]

The flip side is that I want their revenue to be strong enough to ensure they have incentive to continue to innovate and update. That’s why we’re in the state we are now with LMS which Logitech quickly abandoned and which thankfully the open source community stepped back in. Sony still barely supports my HAPZ1ES with infrequent updates, but nothing to accommodate Tidal or Quboz, which probably interferes with their misguided business strategy of trying to sell hi res files.

So while I wished it was cheaper, I appreciate Roon enough to fork over the money.

 

[Krutsch]

...

As far as I can read now, the only real nit I can see with the Stream is the lack of a USB digital output - it has USB in, but only traditional digital outputs (Toslink, RCA, and AES) that preclude the use a USB only DAC. Of course, since I have the Roon Nucleus, which has a USB and HDMI digital output, I wouldn't really need Stream if a USB DAC was my choice, but since the Roon Nucleus has no digital output that I can use with my Tri-Vista...well you see my dilemma and interest in the Stream.

...

The DAC section is something for which Bel Canto is well known. You shouldn't need to use an external DAC with the Stream.

 

[Krutsch]

My main issue with Roon is cost. For what it does the software is ridiculously over priced especially when LMS is free. The critical part for me is iPeng. I love iPeng because it runs circles in usability around Roon or anything else I’ve tried. It took a few years to really learn it but now that I have I prefer it to anything else.
...

Ha ha... I loved reading that

 

[davehg]

So a bit of news, to me at least. Perusing the online Stream owners manual, it states that when used as a network bridge, the Stream can only output a digital signal to an external DAC at a max of 24/192, via any of its digital outputs. I knew its DAC was limited to 24/192 but I mistakenly assumed it could pass along a DSD signal to a DSD capable DAC.

For Tidal or Qobuz this is a non issue as they max out at 24/92 and 24/192. But it precludes using the Stream to pass along DSD files to your DSD DAC. I’ve only got 8 DSD albums and except for one (Madman Across the Water), I don’t really care nor do I plan on buying more hi res music, and I have my Sony HAPZ1ES if I do need to play DSD.

But if there are those who do care, this won’t be the network streamer for them.

 

[SunRa Fan]

That's unfortunate. DSD, from what I understand of it, is supposed to be an excellent format for digital. Speaking as a dinosaur who still buys their HD music from online sites, the actual choices of DSD releases available are extremely limited so I've largely admired the format from a distance. I find technology like the DirectStream DAC from PS Audio interesting because it up converts to DSD before analog conversion and is generally gotten rave reviews. In spite of its pedigree I'm just not sure what the future of DSD is given how limited the usage scenarios are. I would like to see it succeed but I don't know how it ever will in a way that would appeal to the mass market and seriously get the attention of record companies.

 

[Krutsch]

It's been 2 months since I wrote my mini-review of the e.One Stream.

Who has the loaner and where is the next review?

 

[SunRa Fan]

I'm still looking forward to getting it. The email I received a two or three days ago said to expect it in three weeks. I don't know who has it now.

 

[davehg]

Hopefully you are after me

@Krutsch, the ability to upsample redbook to DSD is interesting - Roon supports this, though I don't know if the Nucleus I bought has enough horsepower to upsample to DSD (I really didn't want to spend another $1k for the Nucleus + just for this feature). However, reality is that 24/192 is likely all that I will want and need. Aside from the Bel Canto, it seems the next best priced streamer that has a DAC, is MQA compliant, and can also do DSD is the Lumin D2, at $2300. Another $800 just to support a high rez format I don't really use seems like a poor use of my audio dollars.

I think the Bel Canto's price point is pretty competitive. Let's hope its DAC is great (or that the interface with my Musical Fidelity which does 24/192 is also great).

 

[Todd]

Hi All,

Unfortunately the Stream got hung up at Christmas time and was not used/received for about 2+ weeks. It is currently in the hands of a loaner participant and will be moving on next week to the next person. I would look for reviews very soon!

I want to thank all for their input so far. I will get to play with my Stream as soon as you guys are done with it! I had 1 week to use it before it shipped out and I liked it a lot. It worked well for what I would use it for - streaming Tidal in my headphone system. Once I get it back I will experimant more with it and use it in my big speaker rig and see what it can do there.

If anyone else wants to sign up, please do so soon. There are currently 2 or 3 more loaner participants and then the program will be over if no one else signs up. Basically this is last call.

Todd

 

[gordec]

I want to thank Todd for providing me with the opportunity to test the Bel Canto E.One streamer. This was particularly exciting to me because I’m just starting to explore network audio. I have been doing extensive research on Sonore Microrendu, Ultrarendu, SOTM SMS-200, and SOTM SMS-200 Ultra. My interest in a network renderer is purely to improve sound quality and eliminate any USB noise from the equation. I haven’t pulled the trigger because I’m simply very happy with my current setup.

Paul Pang USB Card V2 (Windows 10 PC) -> Wireworld Platinum Eclipse USB -> iFi Pro iDSD -> Soundaware P1 -> Hifiman Susvara. Both PPV2 and Pro iDSD are powered by Uptone JS2. All audio equipment are plugged into Audioquest Niagara 1000. I want to see how the E.one fair against my USB setup.

For testing the E.One, I tried the following, Coax from the e.One to Pro iDSD and RCA out to Pro iDSD. Pro iDSD only has miniToslink, so I didn’t get to try optical out or AES. From pure sound quality standpoint, streaming from e.One sounds inferior to PPv2 USB to Pro iDSD setup. It has less detail, smaller soundstage, less separation. It still sounds good just not great which was disappointing because one of the benefits of a network streamer is to eliminate noise, and Ethernet is galvanically isolated by default.

Even though the E.One is not advertised as a network player/DAC, I also tried to plug the E.One directly to the Soundaware P1 amp via RCA. This does work, but unfortunately it sounds even worse than the using the Pro iDSD as the DAC.

In terms of ease of use, the E.One was plug-n-play. Once I plugged in the ethernet cable, the Bel Canto app immediately detected the E.One. The best part of the app is that it allows you to connect to Onedrive since most other streamers don’t have that option. I happened to backup all my music to Onedrive. However, you cannot sort songs by artist, albums, etc. So basically you are limited to navigating to a folder and play music from that folder. The Tidal features in the E.One is somewhat limited. Also the app only works in portrait mode. I usually use my iPad Pro with the keyboard case. It was annoy that I can’t use it in landscape. I would only recommend using the E.One as a Roon endpoint.


In summary at $1600, I cannot recommend the E.One to anyone who is looking for a network streamer. You have so many other better options at this price range. I think the SOTM SMS200, SMS200 Ultra, Microrendu, and Ultrarendu will likely all sound better depending on your setup and are significantly cheaper than the E.One even after you add a LPS. They also have more choices for network connectivity like HQ Player embedded, Squeeze Lite, etc. I think at $1600, it needs to be a good network player not just streamer.