spotify

[pauldownton1979]

im new to all this pc based stuff. please help!

can i simply connect my laptop to my amp via a 3.5mm - 2xrca lead in order to listen to spotify through my amp ?

what is a dac/airport express/airfoil ? are they just for streaming wireless stuff ? it says in another thread that you can only stream 320kb if you pay the premium. is this the same story if you connect with a wire ?

if so, at what level am i going to recieve ? im playin stuff at the mo through the laptop just seeing what spotify its self can do. however it doesnt seem to tell me what quality the stuff im playing is ? is it lossless until you stream it ?

lots of questions! most of which prob obvious to most of you

cheers

paul

 

[Anonymous]

1. Yes you can use 3.5mm cable but you will get better sound quality using a USB cable into a DAC.

2. A DAC converts a digtital signal into analogue so you can hear it. Plenty of other threads will tell you what airport express / airfoil are - I dont know.

3 etc Look at the Spotify FAQs - open Spotify and look in Help.

 

[Anonymous]

You get betterquality if you use a digital optical cable from pc->dac than USB apparently. Something to do with the USB method only being 16-bit.

 

[JoelSim]

pauldownton1979:
im new to all this pc based stuff. please help!

can i simply connect my laptop to my amp via a 3.5mm - 2xrca lead in order to listen to spotify through my amp ?

what is a dac/airport express/airfoil ? are they just for streaming wireless stuff ? it says in another thread that you can only stream 320kb if you pay the premium. is this the same story if you connect with a wire ?

ÿif so, at what level am i going to recieve ? im playin stuff at the mo through the laptop just seeing what spotify its self can do. however it doesnt seem to tell me what quality the stuff im playing is ? is it lossless until you stream it ?

lots of questions! most of which prob obvious to most of you

cheers

paul

320kbps is only available on the paid-for versions of Spotify.

ÿ

 

[pauldownton1979]

thanks for the input guys really helped. would one of those beresford things be a worthwhile upgrade ? i dont plan on paying for premium spotify, and i wont stream wireless as i have a lap top i can place near enough to my gear to use a wire. the main use i will have for the beresford is for spotify (not 320kbps ) and itunes ripped from my on cds on lossless. so i think i will need the usb version as my laptop has no toslink ? though the usb version is £50 more - is that right ? also am i right in thinking if i connect my cdp to beresford via coax that will improve the sound quality in that sphere ?

rotel r820ax rcd965bx ae aegis 2 chord rumour 2

 

[JoelSim]

I would imagine the Beresford would make a huge difference, although your Spotify listening will be average and interrupted by ads.

ÿ

 

[pauldownton1979]

yeah ive had the spotify on today, i just see it as an alternative to commercial radio, but with far fewer ads, i really dont mind actually, tho obviousley if i had the spare tenner every month.....

the sound quality was better than i thought it would be actually, tho no match for the itunes. tho far better than when i ititially setup in the phono stage rather than aux !! nearly blew me speakers!!

going back to the dac, is my laptops internal card now doing what i want the beresford to do, as i assume something must be converting the signal ?

 

[unison]

yes, your computer dac is doing what you want the berisford to do.

I'd be interested to know how big an improvement the berisford makes to your rotel cd player as well?