I’ve listened to many very expensive streamers from NAIM, DCS, Auralic, Aurender and I could not hear a difference when outputting digital. If you use the inbuilt DAC, in these machines, the difference is there but very subtle and more a question of which sonic flavour you prefer (if you can hear any difference- most can’t). No one machine is better than another machine.

The important question is: which streaming service do you like and can the machine/device deliver a great user experience with finding music, creating playlists, etc. Is the G.U.I right for you?

If you mostly stream your own files on a NAS Or hard drive, then Roon is the way to go but you don’t need an Innuos or Nucleus streamer because you can Roon from your laptop to BL50/90. I have BL90 and experimented with above options. Don’t spend silly money on a streamer. If you like Spotify and Deezer, a Core from B&O is as good as anything.

If you like multichannel SACD, get a used Oppo and more speakers like BL3 or BL17s for the surround effect. My opinion is that multichannel can outperform stereo.

MichaelFrilund wrote:

Should be connected with a digital cable?

Thank you

Michael

Yes you should go digital out from your streamer to digital in on the speaker.

However, if you connect to BL50/90 using an analogue signal from your streamer, you won’t hear much/any difference at all. The converters on the BL50/90s are transparent.

Sounds like excellent advice!

To the OP.  There are a lot of good YouTube reviews, I like the style of John Darko, there is another guy (Aussie living in Tokyo) who's channel is called Currawong.  The Auralic and Naim both looks really nice.  

I’m going to slightly disagree with some of the other responses

Yes the streaming transport probably doesn’t matter very much, so whether it’s a Core , a Naim or whatever else, this makes minimal if any difference

For my 50s that are about to be installed though, I have bought a streamer/DAC rather than just a streamer though

Here you can start to notice a difference

The Naim sound is a bit less relaxed than the what you get from Linn, for example. I’ve gone for a Linn streamer DAC unit, which will connect via RCA to the 50s.

And this, or many other brands’ units, allow me to use Roon. That’s a big deal for me, as the B&O app is very poor as an overall music experience. Roon is the gold standard by comparison

The above will depend on how sensitive you are when listening.

MichaelFrilund wrote:

Hello everyone,

I am a new member, located in Finland. Not sure if this has been asked several times before, so please do not get upset with me.

What do you think about a streamer from another brand with Beolabs, especially Naim ND 555, PS Audio Direct Stream DAC, Hegel HD 30 and Primare Pre35 DAC? I do not want a Beovision in the room the Beolabs will be in.

Should be connected with a digital cable?

Thank you

Michael

And remember that whatever unit you get, if your want to take advantage of the DAC part of the unit, you’ll need to connect to the 50s/90s using analogue out to analogue in on the speakers.