Reply With QuoteYou seem to have discounted Sonos; look up Sonos Connect. It does precisely what you want.
A couple of threads have touched on this but I thought is was worth asking...
Until now, my broadband has been useless. Those rural folk who are so digitally disadvantaged you keep hearing about *that's me. However, I'm moving soon to a freshly cabled village so everything's about to change. Meanwhile, I'm once again putting thousands of CDs and albums into boxes most of which haven't been out of their sleeves for years.
These facts have got me thinking that the solution might be a decent streaming solution for my hi-fi.
I'm not one of those people who 'burns in' their ludicrously expensive cables and changes valves every six weeks but, conversely, I do like decent hi-fi and have some much-loved vintage stuff (Nad, Croft & Leak amps, Linn TT, Various 70s speakers) so a Sonos or other 'one box with a speaker' gadget isn't an option.
I'm currently thinking of a £300-ish streaming separate like this...
http://www.blog.richersounds.com/pro...work-streamer/
...plus a subscription to a lossless streaming service.
Does anyone have any experiences to share? Is there a big difference in the hardware you get for £100, £300 and £500+? Which streaming services are you using and are they any good (particularly in terms of catalogue)? How big is the difference between Spotify's highest level and lossless streaming *and what's the interplay between the stream and the hardware?
The only thing I have to go on so far is a few comments that a £300 player sounds great with lossless but shows the limitations of lower quality streams whereas better hardware will upsample stuff like Spotify to make that difference less obvious.
You seem to have discounted Sonos; look up Sonos Connect. It does precisely what you want.
I use a Apple Airport express to play from my iPhone to my amp, works well, I don't subscribe to a music source, just use my iTunes.
Cheers..
Jase
I mentioned Sonos because they seem to be the go-to option for 'a streaming box with a speaker in it' systems that, as I said, I'm not interested in. The Connect might be perfect but my question was more about the service that goes into it and what the differences are between hardware above & below the £300 price point.
I can't say I've tried lots of different set-ups but I've been very happy with the sonos connect approach.
I've run one through a sony surround system, a teac integrated amp/B&W speakers and an old quad power amp/passive pre-amp/B&W speakers.
In each case I've used a combination of NAS and amazon music streaming.
Personally I think the amp and speakers make a lot more difference to the sound than the source.
Sonos connect sounds like it fits your bill. They seem to pop up relatively regularly on SC, so keep a look out.
It also integrates with TIDAL which offers the following:
TIDAL HiFi - Lossless FLAC 16bit/44.1kHz (£20 per month)
TIDAL Premium - AAC 320kbps (£10 per month) - this is the same as Spotify set to "Extreme" quality.
When I had my 5.1 Arcam setup it ran flawlessly using a Sonos Connect.
Spotify, Soundcloud, Amazon, Tidal, LastFM all work perfectly - or rip your CDs to a NAS in lossless format and run them directly via Sonos to your HiFi
Thanks folks. Can anyone enlighten me on whether Tidal is a noticeable upgrade from Spotify on a decent system?
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I use Sonos for exactly this. I have all my CDs ripped to lossless files sitting on an Apple TimeCapsule. These are then added to the local Sonos Music Library which can be searched and played using the Sonos app on my iPad, iPhone, PC and Mac. I play the sound on a Play:5 or Play:1 but there would be no problem playing it on a hifi separates system with a Sonos Connect.
I would be reluctant to buy an amplifier with support for a streaming service built in. This is after reading this article about Spotify withdrawing support for a large number of devices:
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbrea...-pioneer-denon
https://support.spotify.com/us/liste...on-my-speaker/
Last edited by Phil Lee; 28th February 2018 at 11:52.
If you 'decent stuff' I always point people towards this Naim - https://www.naimaudio.com/mu-so
It connects to both Tidal and Spotify and frankly provides incredible quality from a fantastic manufacturer - i think pricing is around £900 ish.
Comparing both systems, I prefer Spotify because of the much broader range of music. Tidal is too limited in my opinion. Quality wise in theory we're talking FLAC versus full 320 mp3. There is a difference, but only if you're really paying attention. And I query if you could even detect it on anything that isn't 'decent' - I have an ok hi-fi and Spotify plays fine. When I was a bit obsessed with headphones/hi end portable systems most certainly there - but I'm over that phase!
Although I'm listening to vinyl these days, I do like my streamed music to sound better than through a Bluetooth speaker, so stream it through my Amp, an Onyko 9010 with Dali Spektor 2 speakers. I use a £35 Google Chromecast Audio dongle connected to my Amp through an RCA to headphone cable. It sounds great. I have Spotify, and am on a trial with TIDAL lossless, and switching between them, I can't tell the difference. Streamed Spotify through chromecast is 256 AAC, but I can't tell the difference between bit rates above this.
Dave
Last edited by helidoc; 28th February 2018 at 12:08.
Thanks again.
The thing I'm thinking of buying isn't an amp it's a streaming device like the SONOS so I'm not too worried on that front.
I have a cheapie Gramofon thing that streams Spotify to my hi-fi but compared to CD and vinyl it sounds a little dull. I was thinking that something more serious (with lossless coming into it via Ethernet) might deliver a much better sound.
The Naim looks like a streaming speaker system. Is that the one you meant or was it this one https://www.naimaudio.com/product/nd5-xs
<edit: Just looked at the price – would appear not!>
Last edited by jamesianbriggs; 28th February 2018 at 12:38.
Sorry - forgot to see you wanted a dedicated streamer! Though that Naim is certainly incredible and really the standard for streamers - if you increase the budget a littleOriginally Posted by jamesianbriggs
I guess my argument is that its a bit unnecessary for most and just to get a quality all-in-one system for your streaming endeavours. It certainly will easily fill a good sized living room.
Looking quickly around on the 'net (been a while since I was into this stuff...) it seems Arcam are producing good stuff like this: https://www.whathifi.com/arcam/rplay/review
The pioneer looks a decent option too.
Blimey, as a result of this thread I just signed up for a trial of Tidal FLAC/Lossless on my iPhone X, even just listening over my AirPods I can hear a big quality improvement on the same album I was listening to on Apple Music earlier.
Looking forward to trying it out on my Sony WH-1000XM2 headphones later which should sound even nicer. I hope it doesn't push me closer to buying a Chord DAC though...
Buy a dragonfly red if you want a portable DAC that can plug into the X, a friend has one and absolutely loves it....
I've got the Dragonfly black and Camera Connection Kit (CCK) and can attest to the difference in quality over headphone jack (although any new iPhone won't have this issue of course). I've also got a chord Mojo which is a truly amazing bit of kit but gets left at home as it's not really portable with an iPhone (I'd put it on SC but I know as soon as I sell it I'll regret it, like with my iBasso DX90...)
I use an arcam irdac connected to a naim amp, music is kept on a netbook in flac format and streamed to the irdac using jriver, remote is JRemote on an iPad , you can also use free software to do the same job - foobar/ monkeymote.
Thanks a lot for the recommendation...
(You can take that both ways, it looks awesome so I've impulse bought one - doh!)
From some research it appears it'll work on Linux Ubuntu as well which is handy. :)
Well done! you're more of an impulse buyer than me! I really need to buy one too. I have a pair of ace headphones and should upgrade the way I listen to them.
I started off with an Arcam pebble and progressed to a Bluesound system which was much better,I tried Tidal but through my Arcam A19/Monitor Bronze system couldn't tell any difference over the standard Spotify downloads and certainly wouldny justify the huge difference in monthly cost.
I'm heavily bought into Sonos in the house with two Connects for existing hifi and various Sonos speakers throughout the house. However if I were to do it again I would use Google Chrome Audios, at a tenth of the price. Even the built in DAC is supposed to be good...
I've been looking at Sonos and the main thing that's put me off is the price. I'll check out Google Chrome Audio. Thanks fella.
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I use a Node 2, it's as good as anything out there
http://www.bluesound.com/en-gb/products/node-2/
Another vote for Naim here - I use a Unitilite all in one system with Linn floor standing speakers. Sounds great and easy to use. Mostly I listen to my own CD collection, which I ripped to FLAC and stored on a NAS. Also great for internet radio. Today I was working from home and rather than listen to endless updates on roads and weather I listened to FIP, a French radio station with a great range of music.
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I have just bought a villa in Spain and most broadband out there is supplied via satellite. I just presumed that the villa was the same and a few days before returning to the UK I noticed that not one house in the road had a broadband receiver.
After speaking to a few neighbours I found out that the area has optic fibre cable up to 300 mbps. This was a pleasant surprise. Why the estate agent never mentioned it, goodness only knows.
Most of them take the TV and radio off the broadband as it is ultra reliable, which in Spain is bloody rare.
I took a look at a Naim Muso a few days ago which belts out quite good music of CD quality via Netflix or similar and you can pick up any TV or radio station in the world. The Mu so can also be used as a TV sound bar.
There is hardly any Naim agents out there so I need to figure out a way of getting the thing out there safe and sound.
Last edited by Mick P; 1st March 2018 at 21:04.
Sonos is poor from a user interface perspective; I went all in and all out again.
Airport extreme gives a surprisingly high sound quality; stream tidal to it. Easy.
I doubt you regret buying one Mick. If this thing existed before I bought my hifi setup I'd have got it. Convenient and delivers more than most people need in a stunning package.
I stream the iTunes library on my Mac via Airplay to my Apple TV, which is connected via optical to a Sony Soundbase under my telly.
I'm no audiophile, but it sounds fine to me and "it just works".
Yes I went into the hifi shop on Tuesday with the wife to dem the Muso and we were both impressed. This was the first time we have visited a hifi retailer in about 15 years so we are well behind the current technology. I have two Naim hifi systems at home the best being based on a CDS3 / NAC52 / NAP300 / Shahinian Arc set up and it cost a lot of money and takes up a fair amount of space. The Muso is just one piece of equipment, is easy to set up, sounds good and can be used as a TV sound bar.
I may give Bose a dem but I think I will end up going with a Muso.
I love Naim stuff - everything they do is amazing and I very nearly splashed 10k to upgrade to listening nirvana before coming to my senses. I move a lot and the space/optimising each time wasn't worth it.
What impresses me about the Muso is they haven't really cut much corners in delivering the Naim experience. The 'limitations' are all due to size/one box solution.
I can't think of anything else worth demo-ing unfortunately, some of the B&O stuff maybe, but they're usually more expensive.
I have a Mu-so and it is a fabulous piece of kit. Weighs a fair bit too.
When we re-decorated I ditched the multi-box hi-fi and thought I would miss it (Cyrus stuff), but the Mu-so really fits the bill.
I mainly use Tidal, but have a Spotify a/c, and am currently ripping all my CD's to FLAC.
Another vote for Naim, I have all my collection stored on an Innous Zen which streams on a Muso in the lounge and a Qb in the bedroom. Neat, minimal and unless you are a serious audiophile then the sound is more than good enough. Good os as well.
J
Raspberry pi3 with a decent audiophile siund card hat seems to offer high end streaming performance for less £100.
And could probably double as a kodi box and a retro arcade machine . And its about the size of a packet of fags.
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