Intro
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On Saturday, April 29, we checked out four very nice streamers for you: the Yamaha WXC-50, Audiolab 7000N Play, FIIO R7 and the Volumio Primo. And as a bonus, we threw in a power supply upgrade. We write up the test for you here as well as show you some measurements on the streamers.
A poll on our Patreon page quickly showed the need for a multi test of streamers in the class up to 1000 Euro. And that is not surprising: around that price you can get some serious quality. However, we find the choice of streamers with dac very limited in that price range. We have therefore created a bit of a “staircase” test: an affordable Yamaha WXC-50, the new Audiolab 7000N Play and FIIO R7 and the now famous Volumio Primo. On the Primo we are going to do another power supply upgrade.
The test setup
- TAD Evolution 2 loudspeakers
- Pass Labs XP-12 and X150.8
- Pura Audio Dodo PSU (5V) for the JCat cards
- YETI Nextgen interlink
- Isotek filters(Titan / Aquarius)
- YETI Power cables
- Van den Hul Nova speaker cable
The Primo is interesting…I’ve been using a Pi2design Mercury (CM4 rpi based streamer) with Volumio to really good effect. The software has some adjustability via pluggins that can improve the sound further – particularly Sound shield which can quiet the cpu and lower its functions while playing music. Then also a lps (all the typical things like cabling etc that you guys have covered with great care). Crazy how small and well-placed tweaks can go a long way.
And now of course, that Eversolo DMP is looking to be yet another paradigm shift in this arena and similar price range. Would love your impressions of that one!
Hello John. It seems the Eversolo is the new WiiM. All of the internet is praising it. We’ll see if we can get a review sample (at some point).
Thank you Marrjin! That would be great. Yes, everyone is going kind of crazy over it. But I know you guys would render a very balanced comparo. So many out there now 🙏🏼
Pardon me, misspelled: Martijn
I have toes for thumbs 😂 🙏🏼
Very nice comparison, and I know you can’t compare all streamers in this price category. However I must admit I was a little disappointed to first see my streamer in the list to be tested (cambridge CXN v2) and then noticed it wasn’t present anymore when I sat down to listen to the shootout. Still curious how it would have compared, just like the Innuos ZENmini MK3 which I also have (or the more recent model the Innuos Pulsemini). Maybe in a future test after all you like doing mega tests :-). Like the recent excellent bookshelf speaker test. In any case succes in future shootouts!
Cambridge never send us the unit. Innuos doesnt have samples at the moment. But we get the Zen pretty soon!
Hey Rico!
You know you can switch languages with the language-flag in the menu? :-).
The Node n130 is somewhere in the middle, I think. The Volumio wins, we know for a fact. I don’t know the Node X yet. Maybe I will get a sample.
aaah ok i see the flag now.. thank you for the respons. I get the X in a few days and will compare it with the N130.
Hello Alpha
Would have like 2 see the bluesound node n130 between these streamers. Curious how it would compare.
I ordered the new node X, hopefully 🤞 it has the same powerboard, so I could change it and hook up the sBooster. Pretty interesting product, new DAC an pretty 🤩
Hoi Rico, ben benieuwd hoe de X bevalt en hoe deze zich verhoudt tot de N130? Mvg Guus
Dag Guus. Ik zie nu pas je bericht. Ik ben erg tevreden over de nieuwe node X. Helaas had ik de N130 al verkocht voordat ik de X binnen had. Maar dit is duidelijk beter. Heb wel gelijk een externe voeding aangesloten en alleen zo beluisterd via Roon.