--- title: "What Is a Music Streamer? Roon, UPnP and Connect Explained" description: "What a network streamer does between an app and your DAC, how UPnP, Roon and Connect differ, whether it beats a computer, and Wi-Fi against Ethernet." url: "https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/streamer/" type: "article" author: "Jakub Charkiewicz" published: "2026-09-26T00:00:00.000Z" modified: "2026-09-29T00:00:00.000Z" --- > Markdown rendering of https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/streamer/ > Canonical URL to cite: https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/streamer/ > Generated from the published page. Text and links only; see the HTML for layout. Breadcrumb: [Home](https://theaudiostuff.com/) > [Glossary](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/) > Streamer # What a music streamer does, and whether you need one {#term-title} A music streamer is a small network computer that fetches music from a service such as Tidal or Qobuz, or from a server at home, and sends it to a DAC, built in or separate, while an app on your phone acts as the remote. Played bit-perfect it delivers the same data a computer would, so choose one by the services, software and outputs it supports. - By [Jakub Charkiewicz](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) - Published Sep 26, 2026 - Updated Sep 29, 2026 - 5 min read ## Glossary definition {#term-define-title} - **Streamer**: A network device that pulls audio from a local server or a streaming service and hands it to a DAC, taking the computer out of the chain. Its whole job is delivering bit-perfect data on time; the conversion still happens downstream. ## What happens between the app and the DAC {#what-happens-between-the-app-and-the-dac} A [streamer](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#streamer) is a small computer with one job. You pick music in an app on your phone or tablet, and the streamer fetches it, from a service such as Tidal or Qobuz over the internet or from a NAS or a computer on your home network. It decodes the file, which from those services usually arrives as [FLAC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#flac), into a plain stream of samples, keeps some of it in a buffer against gaps in the network, and sends it on at the file's own [sample rate](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sample-rate/), either to a [DAC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/dac/) in the same box or out of a digital socket to yours. None of those steps changes the music data unless something along the way alters the samples. The conversion to an analog signal happens in the DAC, which the [DAC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/dac/) page covers. ## Streamers, streaming DACs and all-in-ones {#streamers-streaming-dacs-and-all-in-ones} Three kinds of box carry the name. - A streamer on its own, sometimes called a network transport, has only digital outputs, such as USB, coaxial, optical or [AES/EBU](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#aes-ebu), and feeds a DAC you already own. A USB DAC that follows the USB Audio Class 2.0 definition can play through it without a driver from the DAC's maker. - A streaming DAC puts the converter in the same box. - An all-in-one adds an amplifier. The [HIFIMAN EF499](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ef499/) puts a streamer for Tidal, Qobuz and a NAS in a $299 box with an [R2R](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/r-2r/) DAC and a [balanced](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/balanced/) headphone amp. It has no analog input, so everything it plays goes through its own converter. Built-in streaming can widen what a unit accepts. The [HIFIMAN Serenade](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-serenade/) takes up to 32-bit/768 kHz and DSD512 over the network, against 32-bit/384 kHz and DSD256 over USB. A [DDC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#ddc) is a different box again. It takes USB from a computer and passes the data to a DAC timed by its own clock, and it fetches nothing from a network. The [jitter](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/jitter/#what-a-ddc-or-reclocker-changes) page explains what that changes. ## How a streamer finds your music {#how-a-streamer-finds-your-music} Files stored at home usually reach a streamer over UPnP, often labeled DLNA. Server software on a NAS or a computer shares the library, the streamer acts as the renderer, and a control app browses the server and tells the renderer what to play. Streaming services have their own routes. [Spotify Connect](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#spotify-connect), [Tidal Connect](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#tidal-connect) and Qobuz Connect work from the service's own app, which tells the streamer what to play; the streamer then pulls the music straight from the service. The phone is only a remote, so a call or a flat battery doesn't stop the music. AirPlay works the other way round and sends the audio from an Apple device to the receiver, while Google Cast hands the stream over much as the Connect protocols do. Both have format limits of their own. Which of these a streamer supports decides what you can play on it, so check the list against the services you use before you buy. ## How Roon works, and what Roon Ready means {#how-roon-works-and-what-roon-ready-means} [Roon](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/streamer/#how-roon-works-and-what-roon-ready-means) is music software built around a server, which Roon calls the core. The core runs on a computer, a NAS or a dedicated box, holds your library and merges it with Tidal and Qobuz, so they browse as one collection. Apps on phones, tablets and computers control it, and the core sends audio to endpoints around the house. [Roon Ready](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#roon-ready) is a certification for those endpoints. A streamer or DAC that carries it receives audio over Roon's own network protocol, RAAT, and has been tested by Roon Labs. Roon can also play to AirPlay and Chromecast devices. Processing happens on the core before the audio leaves. Roon's [DSP](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#dsp) can apply EQ, sample-rate conversion, [crossfeed](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#crossfeed) and room-correction filters, and its signal path view shows every stage between the file and the endpoint, marking whether the stream stays [bit-perfect](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#bit-perfect). Roon needs a paid subscription, and the core has to be running whenever you listen. ## Does a streamer sound better than a computer? {#does-a-streamer-sound-better-than-a-computer} Played bit-perfect, a streamer and a computer hand the DAC the same numbers. Bit-perfect means nothing between the file and the DAC changes a sample: no resampling to a fixed system rate, no volume set in software, no mixing with alert sounds. A computer's operating system can do all three unless the player takes exclusive control of the DAC. What can differ is electrical. A computer's switching supply and busy circuits can put noise on its USB connection and ground, and whether any of it reaches the DAC's output depends on how well the DAC isolates its input. A streamer is a computer too, so the result depends on how each box is built and powered, and the same swap can be obvious on one system and inaudible on another. The rest of a streamer's case is practical: no computer to keep running or to interrupt playback with updates, and control from your phone. Whether a hi-res file holds anything a CD couldn't is a separate question. The [hi-res audio checker](https://theaudiostuff.com/tools/hires-audio-checker/) shows what a file contains above CD bandwidth. ## Wi-Fi, Ethernet and network upgrades {#wi-fi-ethernet-and-network-upgrades} A CD-quality stream runs at about 1.4 Mbit/s before compression and a 24-bit/192 kHz one at about 9.2 Mbit/s, and FLAC shrinks both. Ordinary home Wi-Fi carries that comfortably, and the buffer absorbs short drops in signal. Ethernet removes the radio link altogether, which makes it the steadier choice far from the router or among many neighboring networks. The [EF499](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ef499/) and the [Serenade](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-serenade/) both stream over an Ethernet jack. On a network, data that arrives damaged is discarded and sent again, so a cable or a router can't change the numbers the DAC receives. What gets argued about is electrical noise riding on the network into the streamer. The standard requires Ethernet ports to be electrically isolated, usually with small transformers, though a shielded cable can still join two chassis through its shield. The reviews here are listening reports, and they differ. The [Synergistic Research Network Router UEF](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/synergistic-research-network-router-uef/), a wired-only router from $2,995, gave everything its reviewer streamed a darker background and narrowed the gap between Tidal and local files. Its review lists as a con that nothing it changes shows up on a [frequency response](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/frequency-response/) chart. To guard against placebo the reviewer matched levels and swapped the routers many times, and is certain the difference is there, while declining to call that listening proof. The one [OFC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/#ofc) CAT 8 cable in our [Monosaudio cables](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/monosaudio-cables/) review ran from a network switch to a music server, and its reviewer found the change barely noticeable, if at all. The [best headphone amplifiers](https://theaudiostuff.com/guides/best-headphone-amplifiers/) guide ranks the streaming DAC and amp units reviewed here, the EF499 and the Serenade among them. ## Reviewed gear that shows this {#term-products-title} 3 reviews in the catalogue. Each score is set against its own category's reference. - [![Matte-black HIFIMAN Serenade on a white desk, three buttons on its raised front, the volume knob at right](https://theaudiostuff.com/images/thumb/hifiman-serenade-front-panel-160.avif) HIFIMAN Serenade Reference $999 Score 9.3 out of 10](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-serenade/) - [![HIFIMAN EF500 tower next to its retail box, a small gain and oversampling selector above the volume knob](https://theaudiostuff.com/images/thumb/hifiman-ef500-front-panel-160.avif) HIFIMAN EF500 Recommended $549 Score 8.2 out of 10](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ef500/) - [![HIFIMAN EF499 standing upright, a gold knob under four lights for High or Low Gain with NOS or OS](https://theaudiostuff.com/images/thumb/hifiman-ef499-front-panel-160.avif) HIFIMAN EF499 Recommended $299 Score 8.1 out of 10](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ef499/) ## What our reviews say about streamers {#term-said-title} 2 reviews raise it in their pros and cons: 2 lines credit it and 0 fault it. each quoted as its review states it. - Strength: Built-in hi-res network streamer (up to 32-bit/768kHz, DSD512) - [HIFIMAN Serenade](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-serenade/), 9.3/10 - Strength: Built-in network streamer - Tidal, Qobuz, NAS - [HIFIMAN EF499](https://theaudiostuff.com/reviews/hifiman-ef499/), 8.1/10 ## Compared head to head {#term-h2h-title} Comparisons between products on this page, each weighing the two reviews side by side. - [HIFIMAN EF499 vs HIFIMAN EF500](https://theaudiostuff.com/compare/hifiman-ef499-vs-hifiman-ef500/) ## Put it to use {#term-use-title} - [Analyzer Is this file really hi-res? FLAC & Hi-Res Audio Checker](https://theaudiostuff.com/tools/hires-audio-checker/) - [Buying guide Best Headphone Amplifiers Every headphone amplifier on this list is a HIFIMAN desktop unit with an R2R DAC built in, priced from $299 to $999. 4 ranked picks, led by the HIFIMAN Serenade](https://theaudiostuff.com/guides/best-headphone-amplifiers/) ## Sources and further reading {#term-sources-title} - [OCF: UPnP standards and architecture](https://openconnectivity.org/developer/specifications/upnp-resources/upnp/) Standard Open Connectivity Foundation The body that maintains UPnP, the architecture of media servers, renderers and control points behind playing files from a home server. - [USB Device Class Definition for Audio Devices, Release 2.0](https://www.usb.org/document-library/usb-device-class-definition-audio-devices-release-20-errata-and-ecn-through) Standard USB Implementers Forum USB-IF's class definition for audio devices, which lets a streamer play through a compliant USB DAC without the maker's driver. - [IEEE 802.3: Standard for Ethernet](https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/802.3/10422/) Standard IEEE Standards Association Paid full text The IEEE standard for Ethernet, including the electrical isolation its ports must provide. - [IEEE 802.11: Wireless LAN medium access control and physical layer specifications](https://standards.ieee.org/ieee/802.11/10548/) Standard IEEE Standards Association Paid full text The IEEE standard for wireless LANs, the Wi-Fi link a streamer can use in place of a network cable. ## Keep reading {#term-more-title} - ### [Balanced](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/balanced/) A signal transmission method using two opposite-polarity signal lines plus a ground; noise induced on both lines is canceled at the differential input. - ### [DAC](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/dac/) Digital-to-Analog Converter, a device that translates binary audio data into an analog electrical signal that can be amplified and heard. - ### [Sample Rate](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/sample-rate/) How many audio samples are captured per second; 44.1kHz captures frequencies up to 22.05kHz (Nyquist limit), well above the 20kHz hearing limit. - [The full audio glossary](https://theaudiostuff.com/glossary/) - [How we test](https://theaudiostuff.com/about/how-we-test/) Written by ## [Jakub Charkiewicz](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) {#term-author-title} Founder & lead reviewer Writing for The Audio Stuff since May 2023 [Everything by Jakub](https://theaudiostuff.com/authors/jakub-charkiewicz/) [@TheAudioStuff](https://www.youtube.com/@TheAudioStuff) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-charkiewicz) [Report a correction](mailto:contact@theaudiostuff.com?subject=Correction%3A%20Streamer%20explainer&body=Page%3A%20https%3A%2F%2Ftheaudiostuff.com%2Fglossary%2Fstreamer%2F%0A%0AWhat%20looks%20wrong%2C%20and%20where%20you%20read%20the%20right%20figure%20(if%20you%20have%20a%20source)%3A%0A%0A)