Looking for an android-controlled DAC

[dimedrol]

Hi All, kindly excuse my poor English

So... I am finally sick and tired with my NAD CD player and tons of CDs and resolved to migrate to the computer files. I have Dune HD media player but:

1. it is not as good musically as one would expect

2. it requires my huge plasma to be turned on to browse songs

therefore I was thinking of other opportunities. I came up with the following requirements:

a. the device should be of a quality of a decent sound card like ASUS Essence STX

b. the device should be fully controlled from Android smartphone

c. the device should be able to play music from network share + have usb storage connection port

d. the device can take digital signal from my Dune media player using optical or coaxial cable

Also it would be nice to somehow utilize Dune HD to cover item 'c'

Is there any hardware on the market that you are aware of capable of fulfilling the requirements? Thanks!

 

[Overdose]

One option would be to use a cheap netbook and USB DAC (Beringher UCA202) and use something like XBMC as a media player. XBMC has an Android remote app.

You could use this with a Windows OS or if you are more adventurous, try Linux (Linux Mint or Ubuntu might be best for a first time user).

XBMC runs on most, if not all OS platforms.

 

[John Duncan]

Hmm. Overdose's suggestions are good ones, but you may think them a bit fiddly. If so, a StreamMagic 6 might cover your requirements, but it's not exactly cheap. Did you have a budget in mind?

 

[dimedrol]

the Beringer is worse then built in DAC of my media player though.. If I were to go with an external DAC it would be something like ASUS Essence STU or Cambridge Dacmagic plus. Having a dedicated netbook would do the job for sure. thats a valid solution, although a bit on the pricey side and a netbook is quite a bit overly complicated device for the intended use

 

[dimedrol]

I was hoping to spend less then 700 dollars but it will rather depend on what I get for the money. I understand a good DAC may cost much more than that per se.

 

[Overdose]

Is this of any use?

Cocktail Audio X10, it also has a remote app.

£299 GBP

 

[dimedrol]

Is this of any use?

don't really want to spend money on another amp, I already have Cambridge Audio 840A

 

[Overdose]

I know you consider a DAC to be important and it is in a sense, but having had the DAC Magic Plus and several other DACs and audio interfaces, I found very little, if anything between them all, so the cheap Beringher might be worth a try if only to eliminate it from your list.

The old Squeezbox Touch would have been a good choice, but the X10 looks to be its successor of sorts.

 

[Overdose]

Is this of any use?

don't really want to spend money on another amp, I already have Cambridge Audio 840A

? It's a streamer.

Granted it contains moderate amplification, but does have a line out, so its own internal DAC would be in play.

Anyway, goodnight, I've an early start.

 

[dimedrol]

thanks for your contribution to the thread

 

[dimedrol]

Got it settled in the end.

So now I have a small nettop with windows installed. It has ASIO drivers for my DAC and connected to it via USB. I installed foobar with http listener on it, and also foobar remote on my android smartphone. Works pretty well.