Best Music Streamers $2,000 - $5,000

At $2,000 to $5,000, music streamers become dedicated audiophile components designed from the ground up for sound quality. Linear power supplies replace switching supplies. DAC architectures move to fully balanced or discrete R-2R designs. Network isolation keeps Ethernet noise out of the audio path. Not computers with audio outputs bolted on, but audio components that happen to connect to your network. At this level, streaming genuinely rivals physical media playback. That's not something you could say five years ago.