2026 Digital Streamer Shootout
Jim Hunton | Published on 4/1/2026
There are still many audiophiles who are unfamiliar with music streaming. Many of our fellow foundation members have yet to dip their toes into the music streaming waters. Because of this we held a “Streamer Shootout” at CHRS on Saturday the 31st of January. We demonstrated streamers costing from $350 - $6,500, from cost-effective to luxury-class. We also included a Linux based DIY unit. The goal wasn’t to demonstrate the superiority of the most expensive streamer, but to give members the opportunity to hear a streamer that fits their individual budget and priorities.
We chose to use the Roon streaming software via a Roon Rock server to originate the music stream played by the streamers. For a DAC we used an Esoteric N-05 XD. We also used the Esoteric’s analog preamp to pass the signal to ATI amplification which powered our Linkwitz LX512.4 speakers. The connection between streamer and DAC was USB. All streamers used identical Ethernet cables. We did our best to keep the streaming unit under audition hidden until all streamers had been auditioned.
David Snyder came out from Arizona to set up and run the Diretta system, and he was the wizard behind the curtain that ran the audio system during the shootout. A big shout out to Dave for his technical chops and guidance to set this up!
28 members and guests participated. Our audition methodology was to play four music tracks through a streamer, move on to the next streamer, rinse and repeat. There was a brief break between streamers to allow for the USB cable to be moved and for Roon to recombobulate itself.
This was almost more of a social event than an equipment audition. There was lively discussion about the relative merits of the streamers and members preferences. Many members were impressed by the Diretta streamer and its ability to keep up with the more expensive units. It’s quite a bargain at roughly $500 plus a few hours of DIY time. When the votes were counted there wasn’t a clear winner. But, hopefully we answered a lot questions and demonstrated the practicality of Music Streaming.
Shootout Playlist (Artist,Album,Track):
Attendee preference (by raised hand vote):
- Wimm Ultra 10%
- Diretta System 20-25%
- Innus Zen Mk III 30-35%
- Lumin U2 30-35%
Click the image to view a photo Album
Shootout Impressions (more to be added in the future):
From Jim B.
Wimm: Warm & musical, but diffuse with less focus and transient impact than the others.
Diretta: Great tonality and impact. Much more focused than the Wimm and better separation. More live sounding.
Innuous: Better impact, detail, separation & air than the prior two. Better sound staging.
Lumin: Similar to the Innuous, but perhaps a bit better sound staging and focus as well.