Precise, organised, agile ; Transparent, musical delivery ; Controlled bass ; Clear, sparkly treble ; Expressive ; Seamless app and handy ‘n-remote’

Design won’t be for everyone

Best streamer £1000-£1500, Awards 2015. A fantastic performer that sets the benchmark for sound quality in streaming

Files sound great ; natural, engaging delivery ; awesome sense of timing ; remote

Doesn’t sound overly impressive from cold

Best streamer £1000-£2500, Awards 2011. If you build a streaming system around this you won’t be disappointed

High feature count; easy to use thanks to the n-remote; easy to set up, too

Could have a bit more leading- edge definition

An easy to use streaming preamp/DAC, with a great combination of sound quality and features

Lively and engaging sound, Useful feature set, Compact and well assembled

App is iPad only, Some dead links in iRadio list, Works best when wired

As a ‘conventional’ streamer, the Stream Xa was always going to come in for more comparisons to the competition than the more specialised members of the family but the good news is that it acquits itself very well. Cyrus has been tweaking and evolving...