Hi, got a bit stuck in deciding how to get the best out of old and new techs. All my music is on laptop in Lossless I stream spotify premium via iphone I want to connect to a NAD 3220 amp I don't want my laptop on all the time So my consideration has been Airport Express (but need laptop on permanently for iTunes) or a DLNA with hard drive that has iTunes installed on it and I can move my music onto the hard drive. Can't quite seem to get the right combo. Don't want to spend a fortune. Any thoughts?
iTunes and Spotify via old NAD amp
- Thread starter shamblesuk
- Start date
This comes up quite often...
my system is all based around iTunes so I stream. Yes it means my Mac is on unless I use my Apple TV then it streams via iTunes Match
Take advantage or Airplay where you can; get a second hand Airport Express and get yourself a Fiio D3 DAC; connect via optical cable and connect DAC to amp via basic interconnects and you'll be sorted 🙂
The DAC is only about £30 and it's brilliant; rave reviews etc...
my system is all based around iTunes so I stream. Yes it means my Mac is on unless I use my Apple TV then it streams via iTunes Match
Take advantage or Airplay where you can; get a second hand Airport Express and get yourself a Fiio D3 DAC; connect via optical cable and connect DAC to amp via basic interconnects and you'll be sorted 🙂
The DAC is only about £30 and it's brilliant; rave reviews etc...
I only had an AirPort Express for a few months and only used it's own DAC a handful of times.
Sounded good but the FiiO D3 did make an improvement I felt but it was definitly bettered when I had it plugged into my MF M1DAC!
Personally I think using the AE as the 'source' and let an external DAC dcover that side of things; it just sounds better
Sounded good but the FiiO D3 did make an improvement I felt but it was definitly bettered when I had it plugged into my MF M1DAC!
Personally I think using the AE as the 'source' and let an external DAC dcover that side of things; it just sounds better
The Airport Express is great for Spotify and that was my first consideration. What I don't like is the idea of having the laptop on all the time I need music, hence the looking for a system that has an in built, or separate, hard drive containing all the music that just streams via maybe an app on my iphone. That wouldn't need to be wirelessly connected to the amp as the normal old shcool cables would be fine.
psurquhart
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Just food for thought !
I had an Apple A Express connected to my Sony DA5400 AV amp streaming Spotify (fom both Airplay fom iphone and using Air Foil via Sony Vaio pc) and it sounds excellent for what you pay. I just used the AE dac and was very happy.
I then bought an Apple TV3 and sold the AE to CEX. I swear the Apple TV3 dac sounds better than the AE dac. This is probably a debatable thought but imo it did sound better. Also, for the money (not a lot more), you get all the added benefits fom the Apple TV.
Interesting to hear about that cheap Filo dac though, if it improves my Apple TV3 sound further for only £30 it may well be my next purchase !
I had an Apple A Express connected to my Sony DA5400 AV amp streaming Spotify (fom both Airplay fom iphone and using Air Foil via Sony Vaio pc) and it sounds excellent for what you pay. I just used the AE dac and was very happy.
I then bought an Apple TV3 and sold the AE to CEX. I swear the Apple TV3 dac sounds better than the AE dac. This is probably a debatable thought but imo it did sound better. Also, for the money (not a lot more), you get all the added benefits fom the Apple TV.
Interesting to hear about that cheap Filo dac though, if it improves my Apple TV3 sound further for only £30 it may well be my next purchase !
psurquhart
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Airplay is fine for Spotify, but the limited memory on the iphone means I have no music on it, it's all on the laptop. I've considered a NAS but being a novice need to know more about it (hence my reason d'etre!) Plus doesn't the NAS really focus on video whereas I purely want audio, nowt else?
Perhaps something like the Synology https://www.synology.com/en-us/dsm/home_multimedia_itunes_server server, connected to the amp via a DAC, with a hard drive installed into it?
psurquhart
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shamblesuk said:
Synology would be perfect and seems in general to be the NAS of choice. I see where your coming from now - I have an Iphone 5 with 64GB of memory (which is still nearly full, I just re-sync my music / un-tick / re-tick albums etc). I want this NAS too and experience your same frustrations but just cant afford one yet. Just bought an iPad 4.
Loads of advice on the NAS section and is exactly what you need - does video, audio, photos in fact just about everything to make switching on your pc a thing of the past.
So I have music on the NAS hard drive, with an output via a DAC into the amp. What about Airplay for spotify? I still need the airport express for that presumably?
just wondered why you are so bothered about having your laptop turned on (and I know you aren't alone in this)
Its not like they use a lot of power, I suspect if you left it on all day it would still use less power than the kettle you used to make that cup of tea while you were listening 🙂
and you'd save the money that you would have spent on having to buy more kit that you need so you can turn it off
Its not like they use a lot of power, I suspect if you left it on all day it would still use less power than the kettle you used to make that cup of tea while you were listening 🙂
and you'd save the money that you would have spent on having to buy more kit that you need so you can turn it off
Before I got my Mac Mini I used my MacBook to stream the iTunes library via an Airport Express to the DAC. Both computers are in another room than the stereo but that's not a problem because we use an iPad as the remote control for iTunes. Works very nice.
psurquhart
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shamblesuk said:
If you do go down the Nas route - the newer Synology's have Airplay intergrated but you obviously have to pay more for it.
d_a_n1979 said:
thanks for for reply, for £30 I just bought one, it will be my first separate DAC!
d_a_n1979 said:
dan what cable do I need to connect the airport to the dac? Can't see an optical on the airport express.
d_a_n1979 said:
dan what cable do I need to connect the airport to the dac? Can't see an optical on the airport express.
Ah...
have you got the most recent as I'm unsure; I had the 2010 model
http://www.bizzybee.be/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/airport_express_802_11n_2.jpg
if it's got a 3.5mm out it'll be optical also so you'll need a mini toslink to toslink cable such as: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Install-Series-Mini-Toslink-Optical/dp/B003NT7IRI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386109086&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+toslink
have you got the most recent as I'm unsure; I had the 2010 model
http://www.bizzybee.be/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/airport_express_802_11n_2.jpg
if it's got a 3.5mm out it'll be optical also so you'll need a mini toslink to toslink cable such as: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fisual-Install-Series-Mini-Toslink-Optical/dp/B003NT7IRI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1386109086&sr=8-1&keywords=mini+toslink
yes most recent, just dug out my airport instructions and as you said its the same connection as the analogue out.
thank you.
thank you.
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