Streaming through NAD 3020 - help please (from someone who's lost touch with Hi-Fi over the years)

[andysluf]

Hi folks.

I have ancient NAD3020 amplifier, a Dual CS505 turntable, a Cambridge Audio CD player and a pair of Mission 70i speakers as my upstairs (man-cave) set up. I also have an original i-pod docked into a Lansing Altec active speaker with I-tunes as my living room set up. My music collection is Vinyl from the 70’s, lots of CD’s starting at the 80’s, and purchased I-tunes songs from 2000’s on. Also some ripped CD’s in the collection played through i-tunes.

So it’s all ancient, a bit of a mish-mash and the listening experience on the Altec dock is not good vs the old NAD system which has always sounded great in my view for an old budget set up.

So now I want to try and listen to my I-tunes stuff, and probably sign up to Deezer or Spotify and put this all through the NAD amp.

I am so embarrassingly out of date with Hi-Fi that am struggling to figure out the best way of doing this. Thus far I have found:

• Cheapo Chinese Bluetooth adaptors that will allow me to stream from my phone and plug into the AUX of the NAD.
• The Yamaha WXAD10 which seems a quality bit of kit and seems to fit the bill.
• The Yamaha WXC50 which appears to do the same thing as the WXAD10 but is a pre-amp.

And then I have found a whole bunch of DAC’s, and a whole bunch of Streaming Amplifiers that from what I can make out would replace the NAD.

Beyond the two Yamaha products I am bemused by choice and don't even really know what I am looking for.

So – my questions are:

• What’s the best budget way of listening to my i-tunes collection and also streaming from say Spotify through the NAD amp?
• Which of the two Yamaha products would best fit the bill and why would I chose one over the other?
• Is there anything else similar to these products that I should look at? – I like the price point (£139 and £269) of the Yamaha products amd the look of the Musicast app.
• What about these cheapo Chinese Bluetooth devices? – Yes they will connect but what about sound quality vs the Yam’s?

Lastly – whilst I’m reluctant to bin the old-school system for sentimental reasons would I possibly be better off starting from scratch and building a new / modern system from the ground up? Any new system would still have to be capable of playing records and CD’s as well as streaming media. What budget would I have to spend to get comparable sound quality to the great little NAD3020 in a modern system. I don't want multiple room networked gazzilion speakers with sub-woofer malarky - jusyt a decent "source - amp - speakers" arrangement that delights as much as the old 3020 has over the last 30+ years.

Please be gentle!

 

[Tinman1952]

Hi there! Nothing wrong with your NAD as long as it is still working ok..👍 If you just want to stream from Spotify or Deezer and play your locally ripped files then I think the Yamaha WXAD10 is just the thing for you. It is well made, has an excellent DAC, and built in streaming services and internet radio. You can play your CD rips from a PC or music server via DLNA in the MusicCast app. It only has analogue outputs but that’s all you need to connect to your NAD. 👍

 

[Gray]

You've got a classic old system there (I've had the 3020 and Mission (700) at different times in the past).
If you do consider new stuff, be sure to listen to a few things first. There's a chance you might be shocked by the difference - but that doesn't necessarily mean you'd prefer it.
If it comes to it, your current stuff might easily fund new gear, because some people are prepared to pay stupidly high prices for old classics (I've just seen a 45 year old pair of headphones up for 7 times what I sold mine for).

 

[Trancelona]

Hi folks.

I have ancient NAD3020 amplifier, a Dual CS505 turntable, a Cambridge Audio CD player and a pair of Mission 70i speakers as my upstairs (man-cave) set up. I also have an original i-pod docked into a Lansing Altec active speaker with I-tunes as my living room set up. My music collection is Vinyl from the 70’s, lots of CD’s starting at the 80’s, and purchased I-tunes songs from 2000’s on. Also some ripped CD’s in the collection played through i-tunes.

So it’s all ancient, a bit of a mish-mash and the listening experience on the Altec dock is not good vs the old NAD system which has always sounded great in my view for an old budget set up.

So now I want to try and listen to my I-tunes stuff, and probably sign up to Deezer or Spotify and put this all through the NAD amp.

I am so embarrassingly out of date with Hi-Fi that am struggling to figure out the best way of doing this. Thus far I have found:

• Cheapo Chinese Bluetooth adaptors that will allow me to stream from my phone and plug into the AUX of the NAD.
• The Yamaha WXAD10 which seems a quality bit of kit and seems to fit the bill.
• The Yamaha WXC50 which appears to do the same thing as the WXAD10 but is a pre-amp.

And then I have found a whole bunch of DAC’s, and a whole bunch of Streaming Amplifiers that from what I can make out would replace the NAD.

Beyond the two Yamaha products I am bemused by choice and don't even really know what I am looking for.

So – my questions are:

• What’s the best budget way of listening to my i-tunes collection and also streaming from say Spotify through the NAD amp?
• Which of the two Yamaha products would best fit the bill and why would I chose one over the other?
• Is there anything else similar to these products that I should look at? – I like the price point (£139 and £269) of the Yamaha products amd the look of the Musicast app.
• What about these cheapo Chinese Bluetooth devices? – Yes they will connect but what about sound quality vs the Yam’s?

Lastly – whilst I’m reluctant to bin the old-school system for sentimental reasons would I possibly be better off starting from scratch and building a new / modern system from the ground up? Any new system would still have to be capable of playing records and CD’s as well as streaming media. What budget would I have to spend to get comparable sound quality to the great little NAD3020 in a modern system. I don't want multiple room networked gazzilion speakers with sub-woofer malarky - jusyt a decent "source - amp - speakers" arrangement that delights as much as the old 3020 has over the last 30+ years.

Please be gentle!

 

[Trancelona]

I was in a similar situation, but I started from scratch. I sought out a NAD, which I wanted since I was back in college. Found a 3155 on a used site. From there I found some older wharfdale diamond 9.2 and a used technics sl3300 at a garage sale, an equally ancient but decent Sony CD player took care of all the "basic/traditional" inputs.
I also wanted to do some streaming and other digital media. I took the route of getting the schiit modi 3+. It has 3 digital inputs. Coax, optical, and micro USB. I use the USB for phone/tablet or laptop. The optical for connecting a Google Chromecast, and the coax to bring in the CD player's signal, since the new schiit theoretically has a better DAC than the older CD player. For the price I found the schiit to give me the most flexibility of combining old with new with out breaking the bank.
Hope my older gear lasts a while. I really enjoyed the process of putting together and now listening.
Cheers

 

[jjbomber]

Hi folks.

• 
  
• What about these cheapo Chinese Bluetooth devices? – Yes they will connect but what about sound quality vs the Yam’s?

I use a couple of Elegiant bluetooth transmitters/receivers. As long as they are aptx HD. they will be the match of anything else in your system.

ELEGIANT BLUETOOTH 5.0 TRANSMITTER RECEIVER,WIRELESS SPLITTER FREE POSTAGE | eBay

With low latency function, you can watch video while watching movies without delay. Note: Low Latency requires Bluetooth headphones or speakers supported. The low latency doesn't support RX mode. The product will automatically enter the sleep power-saving mode if no action taken.

www.ebay.co.uk

 

[Tinman1952]

As long as they are aptx HD. they will be the match of anything else in your system.

Really..? AptX HD is lossy and compressed with a maximum bit rate of 576 Kbps……. that’s less than half of CD quality.

 

[jjbomber]

Really..? AptX HD is lossy and compressed with a maximum bit rate of 576 Kbps……. that’s less than half of CD quality.

https://soundsightheadphones.com/wireless/bluetooth-5-0-codecs-and-other-bluetooth-formats/

 

[Tinman1952]

https://soundsightheadphones.com/wireless/bluetooth-5-0-codecs-and-other-bluetooth-formats/

Yes I’ve read this before…..doesn’t alter what I said….. 🙂