I purchased an EOL Auralic Altair G1 for my office which are connected to a pair of BL17. This is running at approx £1500 used (the G1.1 and G2.1 are a lot more) and more than your budget indicates.
Three points in this:
First, the BL17s, nice that they are are not good enough for the Altair, so I think your budget is more appropriate at the BL17 level
Second, I found the RCA to RJ45 did not trigger the BL17 on/off. The RCA to RCA works just fine.
Third, your streamer will need to have either electronic attenuation adjustment (-3, -6 and -12dB with -6 and -12dB being useful) or an external attenuator (variable or fixed) which when I attempted this…it sounded very bad.
A BSCore May be a good match and fully integrate into a B&O system and match the qualities of the BL17s. Personally, I did not like the core playing into the 90s so never tested it on the 17s as I have already migrated to an Auralic streaming system across everything in my home.
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Beolab 17 best streaming option
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Hello,
I bought a pair of Beolab 17 and now I am looking for a streamer in the price range between 100 € and 1000 €. I would like to connect it to the speakers via Toslink or Wisa and use Spotify/Tidal. Thought about the Beosound Core, Bluesound Node, System Audio Stereo Hub or the Wiim Pro, but I have no idea, which one gives me the best sound quality. Maybe there are other options I don't know about. Can someone give me a recommendation?
Thank you
I use a BS Core to drive my BL17s. I also tested a Bluesound Node 2i, which only worked well through optical Toslink; RCA connections did not allow for the speakers to shut down as they normally would. But the Node 2i worked well through Toslink. I did not hear a difference in sound between the two so I ultimately returned the Node 2i and kept the Core to maintain complete B&O functionality through the app.
I posted a lengthy thread about this on the old Beoworld forum. If you care to google it, you may find it useful.
But in short, either work and I did not hear a difference in sound between the two that swayed me either way so for simplicity, I chose to stay within the B&O ecosystem.
Ok, thank you for the information. Just read your post on the old forum. Will probably go for the BS Core then. I'm wondering if there will be a new version/successor of the BS Core soon.
Just to add here, as a 17 owner, I found the Node to be a vastly superior product to the Core. I don’t own it anymore (have a Theatre now) but I sold my Core for a Node and never missed the Core for a second. The Node has eARC HDMI that works flawlessly, supports way more streaming services, and costs far less. I also had no issues powering my 17s using the RCA outs. I know this merely one person’s anecdotal experience, but I felt compelled to share. Good luck.
Thank you for sharing your experience. Think I will test both the Node and the Core and then make a decision.
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