Student system

[Anonymous]

You could try a QED uPlay apt-x Bluetooth receiver and Creative apt-x Bluetooth dongle for less than £100 new. OK you might notice some compression artefacts in the transmitted music, but not that much. It's a good enough technology solution for Chord Electronics, so I think it should be fine (I have a Chordette Gem which is great for audio streaming via apt-x). The added advantage of this approach is that your student pals can play their i-thingies or tunes on their mobile phones onto your system when they pop round, no cable swapping, logging on to wireless networks or sharing files via memory sticks. Just pair up over Bluetooth and go. The QED uPlay should alo be able to sync up to 4 separate devices (but not play them all at the same time).

Another budget option (assuming you already have a phone or tablet) is to use a phone/tablet to control the music player software on your laptop which is plugged into the hifi. It does mean however you won't be using the laptop away from the hifi for other things while you are listening to your music.

PS I'm aware that there are USB wireless audio streamers, and Apple Airport Express ... maybe one of these might work for you, but can't vouch for the quality of the internal DACs.

Thanks for the reply, I was under the impression that music via bluetooth was a big 'no, no'? But perhaps not, I'll look into them thanks.

The airport express that you mentioned is looking like the best option at the momment, but i'm worried about connectivity issues - but not much I can do about that either way I guess. I lke that you can upgrade it later with the digital out/headphone socket thingy.

Must have posted at the same time

 

[tino]

Thanks for the reply, I was under the impression that music via bluetooth was a big 'no, no'? But perhaps not, I'll look into them thanks.

The airport express that you mentioned is looking like the best option at the momment, but i'm worried about connectivity issues - but not much I can do about that either way I guess. I lke that you can upgrade it later with the digital out/headphone socket thingy.

Bluetooth audio is not great (but still passable) if you are streaming using the standard SBC codec that is included in most Bluetooth audio devices. The apt-x codec improves things enormously - I think it will be good enough though you are correct in saying that it won't be as good as a lossless streaming or cabled solution. The QED uPlay is the cheapest apt-x receiver I can think of ... great value at £65 RRP (or £40 new if you spend 10 seconds on t'internet)

 

[Anonymous]

Right after a night of putting off coursework in order to spend hours looking at pointlessly expensive hi-fi which I can not hope to afford I've finally come up with an idea which might work.

I had no idea that products such as this existed. Reviews on WHF gave it 4, but other websites seem slightly more optimistic. Providing me with a DAC and a way to have my music source and speakers further away from me. I don't know that much about DAC technical specifications, but I know that few budget DACs offer 24/192. I'm aware that this is not going to compete with proper standalone DACs such as the DacMagic but at least this dock offers me the option to upgrade eventually so, for me, it sounds like a cheaper way of doing things, and subsides my apprehesions about wifi connectivity in a house of adolescents.

Its not the ideal solution but its cheap, it works and I think it will be sound improvement over my laptop.

Has anyone had any experience of these? It seems strange that more of these aren't on the market. A dock which completely bypassed onboard DAC of iPod and supplies its own rather than just transporting to another external DAC, seems to fill a bit of a niche.

 

[Cpt.Issues]

Perhaps look at second hand Active monitors such as M-Audio AV40 + second hand USB DAC such as HRT Music Streamer (most laptops etc will only support usb out anyway (not come across one with TOSLink for example). Should just about fit your budget?

 

[tino]

Its not the ideal solution but its cheap, it works and I think it will be sound improvement over my laptop.

Has anyone had any experience of these? It seems strange that more of these aren't on the market. A dock which completely bypassed onboard DAC of iPod and supplies its own rather than just transporting to another external DAC, seems to fill a bit of a niche.

These devices are known as Digital Docks, and there are quite a few about, although the Pure one is good vaue. Other examples are the Wadia 170i, Onkyo NDS1, Arcam IR Dock etc. etc. They take the digital output of an iPod, and use a separate higher quality DAC to ouput to an amplifier via analogue outputs, or they can act purely as a digital transport to another DAC of your own choosing.

To use one of these would imply you want to use an iPod/iPhone as the source of your music. You sure about that? You will need to factor in the cost of the i-thingie unless you already have one, and the storage capacity may be limited in future.

I thought you wanted a wireless solution to enable music stored on your computer to be played through your hifi?

 

[tino]

Right after a night of putting off coursework in order to spend hours looking at pointlessly expensive hi-fi which I can not hope to afford I've finally come up with an idea which might work.

PS Stop obsessing about hifi and get that coursework done, otherwise you'll never get that system you always wanted!

 

[wilfredcp]

you could get a dacmagic plus and the optional bt100 bluetooth reciever:

http://www.cambridgeaudio.com/summary.php?PID=872&Title=DacMagic%20Plus%20Digital%20to%20Analogue%20converter

i know its probably way out of your budget, but if you can save up i promise its worth it: whilst an ipod dock could break/become obselete in a few years, the dac should last decades (like most hifi seperates). with all its connections it can plug into anything you want (including an ipod dock) and should be well futureproofed.

Obviously it will give you a way better sound from your computer (or anything else you plug into it) – you were looking at a dac already anyway right?

Oh and its got an awesome inbuilt headphone amp: if youve got a decent pair of heaphones you can see just how good they really sound.

I got one a week ago and its sitting next my computer... its made me fall in love with music again. Im listening to an album ive had for years, through an eight year old pair of headphones, and i never even conceived that either could sound this good...incredible

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I would love to get a DacMagic and I will when the current version gets cheaper on eBay. And as for the bluetooth reciever I think I may have found something better, forgive me if i'm horribly wrong.

I stumbled upon an app called 'air speaker' on my iTouch (really old). 69p and it works exactly the same (to my knowledge) as the airport express. Plays songs from my iTunes, over airplay, out of my pod. Clearly serving no benefit until plugged into a hi-fi/dock. But If i was was to get the pure. Then I would have a way of wirelessly getting my itunes music (normally use foobar2k but I don't mind itunes if it means wireless) to my hifi via a dac, albeit not in the same league as DacMagic, its still going to be better than my lappy dac through 3.5mm jack to RCA which is far from ideal.

So in my head, thats an improvment on sound, and its now wireless?

Furthermoe, to my knowledge my lappy doesn't have an optical out (which a DacMagic needs), but the pure has digital outs so I can use the DacMag at a late date when they become cheaper?

Have I missed something. Im sure that paying 69p for the use of airport express-esq product seems a bit to good to be true

 

[tino]

Don't know the particular app you mention, but you should be able to get some free DAAP client software e.g. Simple DAAP Client to run on your iPod touch. Your iTunes software should act as a DAAP server and be able to stream to it. Try it first via the headphone jack and if it works for you, get yourself a digital dock.

 

[tino]

Also ... if you've read some of the forums posts on here, why not wait for the Logitech Squeezebox Touch to drop to £135 and get one of those. You won't need a DAC and you should be able to control it from its touchscreen, a remote, your latpop, or your i-Touch. Brilliant device.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, just tried it with the headphone jack and it worked, music from laptop accross the room into my hi-fi. Sounds the same as if I was to directly plug the ipod into the hi-fi, which is to be expected as i'm just using the DAC from the ipod i guess. The signal drops every now and again, but picks itself up, slightly annoying, but thats what I was expecting due to wi-fi being used a hella lot.

While the squeebox would be great, I don't think I can warrant it until next year, when i'm in a smaller house and my hi-fi will be in the living room. Plus, isn't that £200? I haven't looked on eBay mind you.

I think for me, for now, the pure seems like a good shout. Just a neat way of getting better music from my itunes and ipod. And if i get annoyed with the wi-fi dropping too from my lappy then I can switch to my ipod music- only 16GB not ideal with lossless but I'm sure i'll live.

Thanks for the help tino.

To my knowledge, I'm not losing any clarity with such a means of wirelessly transporting music? I understand that the Sonos system has its own server for better reliability but, fundamentally, If my music is being recieved by ipod and then the music being handled by an external DAC (of any kind) then I am not losing or gaining any quality of sound by using a SB or Sonos or my veery basic itunes>ipod. (I know that the sonos and squeezebox certainly look better and have more features but simply in terms of playing music from lappy to hi-fi, it either works or it doesn't right?) :?

 

[tino]

While the squeebox would be great, I don't think I can warrant it until next year, when i'm in a smaller house and my hi-fi will be in the living room. Plus, isn't that £200? I haven't looked on eBay mind you.

£135 new from PC World, but unfortunately the offer is over. It pops around every couple of months though. You can get wireless Squeezebox Duet receivers for less with little reduction in SQ.

I think for me, for now, the pure seems like a good shout. Just a neat way of getting better music from my itunes and ipod.

Glad you found a solution that works for you ... would have helped save some time if you told us you had an iPod in the first place

I'm not losing any clarity with such a means of wirelessly transporting music? I understand that the Sonos system has its own server for better reliability but, fundamentally, If my music is being recieved by ipod and then the music being handled by an external DAC (of any kind) then I am not losing or gaining any quality of sound by using a SB or Sonos or my veery basic itunes>ipod. (I know that the sonos and squeezebox certainly look better and have more features but simply in terms of playing music from lappy to hi-fi, it either works or it doesn't right?) :?

Sonos uses its own wireless mesh network, not a server, which is why you won't get the dropouts ... probably. You will need some form of network attached storage for a Sonos to play music files from. Your solution should have "bit perfect" streaming to your iPod touch, in the sense that the iPod should receive what you send. You can read on t'internet and these forums whether buffer sizes, network packet delays/dropouts, I2S and SPDIF jitter blah blah makes an audible difference to what you hear.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok after a few more days of playing around, research, and doodallying i've come up with a couple more questions (sorry).

Using the app above I get itunes to ipod via airplay which is fantastic - i just have occassional unavoidable network isses. However, audiogalaxy (and a bunch of others) let me stream my entire library to my ipod (and phone which could be useful for parties blah blah) and seemingly I get this without any network drop out at all. Fantastic. Not sure where the difference is, maybe because the audiogalaxy app has some sort of server, but either way, fine, it works! Now of course this isn't what I originally asked for, but I don't have a lot of issue throwing it on shuffle, or creating playlists and changing songs from my ipod if it means I won't have any chance of losing signal occasionally (no longer having a 16GB limit.)

My questions are: What kind of quality are the files being sent from my lap to the server to the ipod via audiogalaxy, is it bit -perfect? and, the flac files are appearing on my ipod, are these being downscaled or is my ipod streaming pure flac?

THANK YOU :shifty: