dedicated music streaming Vs all in one wifi streaming

[admin_exported]

Hello,

Recently I`ve been interested in audio wifi streaming as opposed to burning cds from my pc, and then playing them on a cd player. I was thinking of buying a dedicated wifi player like squeeze box connected to my rotel av preamp (coaxial connection usind the rotels DAC).

1) How does streaming losless audio Vs playing directly from a cd player sounds/compares?

2)Is a dedicated audio box like squeze box better than an all in one box like an apple tv? when it comes to sound?

Thanks,

Kevin .

 

[Anonymous]

Anyone?

 

[nads]

can of worms.

I use a Squeezebox into a DAC and to be honest my CDP has not been used this year.

I am a lover of wires but when i get a new SB i will be trying the current one wireless in a different location.

the apple sorry no idea it does not interest me.

 

[John Duncan]

My thoughts on streaming to a quality DAC compared to CD replay here.

I think Squeezebox vs Apple TV is more about convenience and what you want to use it for. To my mind, Apple TV (or WD HDTV Live or Netgear Media Extender or whatever) wins every time, particularly in view of your earlier question about photos and video.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the informative thread link.

My main concern is music 90% of the times. But , it`s still nice to have the video/photo streaming addition at a touch of a button. If the apple tv or others compare to the sound of a dedicated audio streaming decice such as squeezebox, it`s more worth it to buy the all in one gadget.

Cheers

 

[John Duncan]

In my experience Apple TV sounds slightly better than streaming to an airport express when fed into a DACMagic. I put that down to it having the music stored locally rather than having to stream it (though you can stream as well if you don't want to use the local storage, or want to use Airfoil to stream other sources such as iPlayer).

However, if you get an offboard DAC, most of the devices you've mentioned will give you pretty much the same quality, so it's down to budget and usage requirements.

 

[Anonymous]

That`s awesome. I`m thinking of going for the apple tv.. Music will be stored on the apple`s local 160gig hard drive, only the photos and some radio stations will be streamed. Will you be needing a special device for streaming Radio stations on Apple tv? Or this could be done directly from the pc, wirelessly?

Thanks

 

[John Duncan]

The defualt position is that everything is stored on the hard drive - music, photos, video etc. You can however choose not to sync some (or indeed any) of the content to the hard drive and just stream it instead.

However, the default is also that all of this content has to be stored in iTunes for the @TV to see it. if you want to hear something else (like internet radio from the BBC, which is only available through its own player and not through iTunes), you need to use a piece of software called Airfoil, which allows you to stream anything playing on your PC to the @TV. It costs about $25 and is genius.

 

[jockey.wilson]

Daft question from someone yet to discover the art of streaming music...

If I were to get an Airport Express, how would that integrate with my BT Homehub router? Would I have to run 2 seperate wifi networks or can I 'slave' the AE to the Homehub?

Thanks

 

[John Duncan]

You tell the AE to join the existing network, give it the current network password and off you go.

 

[jockey.wilson]

Thanks for that.

I hate iTunes. I take it that downloading Airfoil will allow me to use Windows Media Player to play the WAV files I have on my laptop?

Sorry for the bone questions. Bit of a luddite...

 

[Anonymous]

JohnDuncan:The defualt position is that everything is stored on the hard drive - music, photos, video etc. You can however choose not to sync some (or indeed any) of the content to the hard drive and just stream it instead. However, the default is also that all of this content has to be stored in iTunes for the @TV to see it. if you want to hear something else (like internet radio from the BBC, which is only available through its own player and not through iTunes), you need to use a piece of software called Airfoil, which allows you to stream anything playing on your PC to the @TV. It costs about $25 and is genius.

Do you have to buy Airfoil in order to stream radio stations which are freely streamed online.. i.e. radio stations not like the BBC??

 

[John Duncan]

daspaceman:
JohnDuncan:The defualt position is that everything is stored on the hard drive - music, photos, video etc. You can however choose not to sync some (or indeed any) of the content to the hard drive and just stream it instead. However, the default is also that all of this content has to be stored in iTunes for the @TV to see it. if you want to hear something else (like internet radio from the BBC, which is only available through its own player and not through iTunes), you need to use a piece of software called Airfoil, which allows you to stream anything playing on your PC to the @TV. It costs about $25 and is genius.

Do you have to buy Airfoil in order to stream radio stations which are freely streamed online.. i.e. radio stations not like the BBC??

It depends on whether you can get them to play in iTunes - depending on the format, you can get some of them to play in a playlist in iTunes. If that's the case, then you're fine. if not, Airfoil it is.

 

[John Duncan]

jockey.wilson:I hate iTunes

Oh well.

jockey.wilson:I take it that downloading Airfoil will allow me to use Windows Media Player to play the WAV files I have on my laptop?

Yes, or any other media player.