Hey guys, massively overdue an update given all the fantastic input here! I’m ashamed to say I’ve been so busy at work I still haven’t pulled the trigger on this yet but will be doing so in the next month now things are easing off for the winter here.
I have done a fair bit of reading since the original post - which for anyone still interested in this topic I’ll summarize below:
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Direct AES connection without any USB in the chain seems by consensus to be the preferred option still for the yggdrasil.
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Schiit’s Gen 5 USB and Eitr are very highly reviewed, but still fractionally edged out by direct AES according to what I’ve seen written. (As a big Schiit fan I had originally been holding off waiting to see what Mike and Jason had come up with in the Eitr.)
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AES supporting options below $1,000 include a used Bryston BDP-1, @Michael_Kelly’s Pi based 502DAC (with the AES adaptor) or soon to be released (potentially this month), digital only 502AES with a direct AES socket on the board itself.
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Options below $3,000 include a used Bryston BDP-2 (The current bdp-3 is approx $3500), the Aurialic Aries, and now the brand new Bricasti M5!
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If you’re restricted to wireless Bryston have released a wifi dongle now, I believe wifi adaptors are supported on the pi based 502 - I’m sure someone who knows more about the Pi platform can confirm. The Aries and the Bricasti both have wifi built in.
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Mike Moffat did create the tiniest hint he may consider building a streamer in the future but if it ever happens, I don’t expect it to be anything near-term. Also, for schiit fans, the first (entry-level) iteration of the manhattan project is coming soon now, with more to follow)
Had I been a bit richer, I might head towards the Bricasti, for being the all-in-one solution in a smaller form-factor. But I’m shying away from spending a fortune at this stage in favour of a decision between the 502AES and a used Bryston BDP-1 and the newer, but still used BDP-2.
I’d ideally rather a smaller form-factor but my only real holdup on ordering the BDP-1 weeks ago, besides work, was discussion surrounding the unit being a much older player now with long load times, however having not used one, I’m guessing that isn’t really an issue in Roon Ready mode? What was more interesting was that some users have claimed that the additional processing power requirement of Roon has the unit at its limits and leads to slightly increased electrical noise when compared to the BDP-2. Personally, I’m a little skeptical of how much of a factor this really is but would definitely like to hear anyone’s thoughts who’s heard both? More of a push towards the bdp-2 though is that it does seem Bryston have reached their limit with firmware updates on the BDP-1 and are having to restrict features now to enable the software to run on the device. As before I’ll be exclusively using this in roon ready mode so I’m really not sure if that really affects anything or it doesn’t? I do also wonder how long it will be before Roon themselves start pushing firmware via roonready that needs restriction. And finally, now that the 502AES is about to shortly enter the mix as a single purpose tool without all the unneeded extras I’m really keen to see what it’s capable of at such a low price point over AES/EBU.
What’s everyone else been buying and trying? 
Have a great weekend all!