Posts with tag "Network player"

Our new buyer's guide and equipment rating is visited by full (with a digital-to-analog converter) streamers or network players. The number of these components is growing day by day, which is why the selection turned out to be interesting - from inexpensive models to High-End class mastodons.

Choosing a top network player is now complicated by high competition in this market – the digital audio industry is developing at a very fast pace and new models of equipment are released very often. We have compiled a compact rating of the best and proven High-End network streamers for you – which will offer you stunning sound quality and impeccable technical characteristics.

When it comes to a modern Hi-Fi audio system based on a digital sound source, you can’t do without a network player or audio streamer, usually with a built-in digital-to-analog converter. These devices offer amazing flexibility of connection (both streaming clients of well-known services and wireless signal transmission options are “on board”), and their sound quality has advanced greatly in recent years. So much so that even relatively budget devices paired with an integrated Hi-Fi amplifier and acoustics can provide excellent sound quality. Our new rating or hit parade contains just such modern audio streamers.

FiiO presented a new DAC with a built-in streamer and headphone amplifier FiiO K17 at CES 2025. The device's arsenal includes a parametric 31-band equalizer inherited from the K19 model and a precision digital-to-analog converter based on an assembly of AKM AK4191 + AK4499EX x 2 chips.

The second generation of the Eversolo DMP-A6 Gen 2 network audio streamer offers the user a built-in digital-to-analog converter on two audiophile ES9038Q2M DAC chips from ESS Technologies, a proprietary EOS audio engine that further optimizes sound quality and expanded HDMI commutation capabilities (ARC support and multi-channel audio streaming, including DSD Native).

FiiO has introduced the S15 model - a digital music streamer (network player) and DAC with a high-quality analog section and a balanced XLR output. FiiO S15 can also be used as a preamplifier, which allows you to connect the player directly to a power amplifier or active loudspeakers.