Looking for advice on DAC & streaming services

[Simon_E73]

Hi all… I have a very similar need - Tidal user in my office using a Naim Muso Qube but I want to stream tidal in the living room through an older Marantz amp with no wireless connectivity. I don’t really enjoy headphones and many of the products on the market seem geared to headphones. Tidal connect over Wi-Fi would be great or do I have to (or benefit from) stream from my iPhone using Bluetooth?

 

[Witterings]

Hi all… I have a very similar need - Tidal user in my office using a Naim Muso Qube but I want to stream tidal in the living room through an older Marantz amp with no wireless connectivity. I don’t really enjoy headphones and many of the products on the market seem geared to headphones. Tidal connect over Wi-Fi would be great or do I have to (or benefit from) stream from my iPhone using Bluetooth?

It's a bit unclear what you're actually asking?
If your Marantz amp has Bluetooth built in then you could use your phone to stream to it ... if not then you need something that will act as a streamer plugged into the amp, either via RCA inputs of optical / coax if the amp has a built in DAC?

The most cost effective way of a quality streaming service would be a WiiM, either a WiiM Mini or a WiiM Pro the weakest part of both of these is the inernal DAC so if your amp doesn't have one and you want higher quality you'll need a seperate external DAC.

WiiM are about to release a Pro Plus that has a much better DAC so you could wait for that.

If you ever want to multiroom to the 2 different systems @ high quality / Ultra HD I'd go for the WiiM Pro as the mini will only multiroom at CD quality and is a pain to have to keep switching between the two.

I hope that's helped, if not maybe provide some more info on exactly what you've got and are trying to achieve.

 

[Simon_E73]

Apologies - you're right, of course; I was vague!

I think it's a streaming DAC I'm looking for - my Marantz amp has no wifi or or wireless capability and certainly not Tidal built in. I think I need something to receive the Tidal stream and output it to the Amp / speakers. Thanks for responding and for the pointer to the WiiM Pro - I'll have a look at that.

 

[Witterings]

Apologies - you're right, of course; I was vague!

I think it's a streaming DAC I'm looking for - my Marantz amp has no wifi or or wireless capability and certainly not Tidal built in. I think I need something to receive the Tidal stream and output it to the Amp / speakers. Thanks for responding and for the pointer to the WiiM Pro - I'll have a look at that.

If your amp doesn't have an onboard DAC, I'd hold off for the WiiM Pro Plus which is due in a couple of weeks ... there are a few places you can pre-order if you do a google search.

 

[Simon_E73]

Wiim Pro Plus available now on Amazon - ordered - thanks for the steer.

 

[Gray]

Wiim Pro Plus available now on Amazon - ordered - thanks for the steer.

I'm wondering what that offers above the Pro.

(Can't take too much notice of the 'product information' on Amazon - which says, 'output wattage - 50 watts' 🙄).

 

[Revolutions]

I'm wondering what that offers above the Pro.

(Can't take too much notice of the 'product information' on Amazon - which says, 'output wattage - 50 watts' 🙄).

Was looking earlier. The DAC is 32-bit over 24-bit. Not clear if it’s ‘better’ for any other measures beyond unnecessary dynamic range. I’m not remixing the Beatles back catalogue so pretty sure I don’t need 32-bit.

Didn’t look at multi-room so not sure if that is different, sorry.

 

[Gray]

Was looking earlier. The DAC is 32-bit over 24-bit. Not clear if it’s ‘better’ for any other measures beyond unnecessary dynamic range. I’m not remixing the Beatles back catalogue so pretty sure I don’t need 32-bit.

Didn’t look at multi-room so not sure if that is different, sorry.

Whatever it's got takes the £149 up to£209 🤨
(When even their most basic model is good enough for many).

 

[jjbomber]

I'm wondering what that offers above the Pro.

Much better DAC by all accounts.

 

[Rodolfo]

I subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited (following a decade or so on Spotify) and have its app running on several devices. I mostly stream through a Surface Pro 2 that is a dedicated music player, first, of my FLAC, WMA lossless, and 320kbps-MPEGs files; and a streamer, second, of my Amazon subscription. I use MusicBee to organize my digital collection on an Intal NUC, and to play it on the SP2. The SP2 connects automatically to my aptX Bluetooth-equipped modest stereo and it all sounds marvelous.

 

[Simon_E73]

Wiim pro plus installed and working - I didn't have the previous version so no direct comparison, but the sound quality using Tidal Connect is outstanding (for me). Not an afficionado so can only speak for myself.