The severe lack of a £1,000 - £1,500 wireless DAC...

[admin_exported]

I have spent a portion of today at my local dealer demo'ing a 152/155xs paired with an ND5 XS streamer. To cut a long story short, I dont want to walk away from the interface that is iTunes and my retina screen in favour of an app, so have opted to ditch upgrading to the ND5 XS in favour of carrying on using my rDAC wireless with the new naim pre/power combo (which I tried and also sounded very nice, contrary to popular internet Arcam/Naim incompatability hype).

It at this point I'd like to say that the manufacturers are surely missing a trick here. There is to my knowledge currently no DAC that enables me to maintain my laptops portability around the house that is befitting of the rest of my system (that has taken a long long time to accumulate i hasten add) shy of spending £2k on the musical fidelity m6 - other than the £300 rDAC from Arcam.

I dont want to get into streaming, my main source isnt a PC that stays in one place, its a Macbook Pro that I move all around the house and work/listen to music in many different places from, so I need the portability that a bluetooth dongle type system offers - not having to carry my iphone or ipad around everywhere with me too just to change the track.

Am I the one missing a trick? is there something out there? Paul Darwin if you read this can you make the Rega DAC wireless please? many thanks.

 

[Craig M.]

Airplay + Airport Express into the dac of your choice? Not quite what you asked for but...

 

[Anonymous]

Tried that once, I couldnt get it to work - I even made a youtube video of my efforts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-luPKggkJrQ

the walls arent that thick.

 

[Craig M.]

I just watched your video, weird! Mine works all over the house - my ATV is wired to the router though, maybe that makes a difference.

 

[Anonymous]

My iphone worked perfectly, which makes it even more bizarre.

 

[Anonymous]

Further to the above, I havent tried the new version that doesnt plug straight into a socket. Maybe I should give it another go?

 

[Anonymous]

Aaaaaaaand.... reviews by audio minded people dont bode well

http://store.apple.com/uk/reviews/MC414B/A/airport-express-base-station?fnode=4d

 

[Craig M.]

Might be worth trying. Another option could be to use an Airport Extreme to perform router duties, I've read of people curing Airplay problems this way - apparently the Airport Extreme has a very strong wifi signal. I'd say either option could be worth trying if you can return if it doesn't work for you. Very strange though that your iPhone works fine.

 

[Anonymous]

I currently have a BT box, how easy is it to integrate? so you're saying get an express AND an extreme?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Might be worth looking into whether the Chord Electronics Chordette Peach ticks all of your boxes...it seems to from what I've read so far.

 

[dragon76]

I believe Chord Electronics Chordette Peach doesn't have wireless, but includes bluetouth capability, which obviously has a bit different application. Personally I don't know any wireless DAC is this price category given that wireless will never be able to provide high audio quality that will justify such a high price tag. Among the DACs with wireless I can only recall NAD, new Nuforce Air DAC, Audioengine. The latter is a bit more complicated system so carrying laptop around house with this may not be optimal.

 

[stevebrock]

Paul Darwin if you read this can you make the Rega DAC wireless please? many thanks.

If only!!

I tried the AE into my Rega DAC and suffered so many drop outs it was unbearable and the AE didnt like just being a streaming device as it had a constant flashing amber light as it wasnt set up with my router as I didnt want to do this.

Squeezebox Touch does the job better, but would of liked to use my iDevice to control things - I may try an Apple TV at some point!

I refuse to buy a hifi streamer with a DAC in it that wont get used as I love the sound of my Rega DAC.

So if you are reading Paul Darwin/Roy Gandy please make a Rega streamer Im sure it can be done - amp, DAC & streamer in one box based on a Brio R.

 

[Anonymous]

I refuse to buy a hifi streamer with a DAC in it that wont get used as I love the sound of my Rega DAC.

So if you are reading Paul Darwin/Roy Gandy please make a Rega streamer Im sure it can be done - amp, DAC & streamer in one box based on a Brio R.

No, No, No! not a "streamer", as this means relying on NAS drives, apps for control etc etc. I just want a simple product (like the rDAC wireless) that contains a decent DAC and a USB bluetooth device to stream to said device from my laptop and enables me to use iTunes as an interface. Those that say you cant get high quality audio through Bluetooth are very much mistaken, fair enough through a reference system but for most 16/192kHz is more than acceptable through a decent system.

 

[Anonymous]

Personally I don't know any wireless DAC is this price category given that wireless will never be able to provide high audio quality that will justify such a high price tag.

Really? are you sure about that?

 

[The_Lhc]

No, No, No! not a "streamer", as this means relying on NAS drives, apps for control etc etc. I just want a simple product (like the rDAC wireless) that contains a decent DAC and a USB bluetooth device to stream to said device from my laptop and enables me to use iTunes as an interface.

What you're doing is still streaming...

 

[Anonymous]

No, No, No! not a "streamer", as this means relying on NAS drives, apps for control etc etc. I just want a simple product (like the rDAC wireless) that contains a decent DAC and a USB bluetooth device to stream to said device from my laptop and enables me to use iTunes as an interface.

What you're doing is still streaming...

Ok, Now we've got a firm grasp of the obvious; current hi-fi terminology suggests that a streaming device is one that connects to a NAS drive over a network. Streaming products are marketed as streamers, a wireless DAC is usually under the DAC section on websites/online stores.

 

[Helmut80]

I was once in the same position. Just bought a Mac mini for music duties and never looked back

 

[stevebrock]

I was once in the same position. Just bought a Mac mini for music duties and never looked back

Probably the way to go and connect to your DAC via optical or a NAS drive!

I do have an iMac but its nowehre near my DAC - But I may look into a Mac mini and use my TV as a display!

 

[The_Lhc]

No, No, No! not a "streamer", as this means relying on NAS drives, apps for control etc etc. I just want a simple product (like the rDAC wireless) that contains a decent DAC and a USB bluetooth device to stream to said device from my laptop and enables me to use iTunes as an interface.

What you're doing is still streaming...

Ok, Now we've got a firm grasp of the obvious; current hi-fi terminology suggests that a streaming device is one that connects to a NAS drive over a network.

There's no specific requirement for a NAS in order to stream, in your case the laptop is acting as the streamer. My point is that your aversion to streamers isn't logical as you're simply doing the same thing with a laptop rather than a device specifically designed for it.

 

[pgoody]

What you are doing is streaming.

I would suggest a Linn DS because you can install Songcast on your Macbook Pro and then your DS will play everything you do on the Macbook. This really works great. I use this to stream Spotify from my MaBook Pro. With the Kinsky app you can also directly stream music from your MacBook. You do NOT need a NAS! And if you want to stream from itunes you can use the Linns AirPlay feature. I think a DS ticks all the boxes for you.

The Sneaky DS would be in your price range.

 

[trj007]

The only wireless DAC that I'm aware of is the
NAD DAC 1 Wireless USB Digital-to-Analogue Converter.
I can't vouch for its SQ.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok, Now we've got a firm grasp of the obvious; current hi-fi terminology suggests that a streaming device is one that connects to a NAS drive over a network.

There's no specific requirement for a NAS in order to stream, in your case the laptop is acting as the streamer. My point is that your aversion to streamers isn't logical as you're simply doing the same thing with a laptop rather than a device specifically designed for it.

[/quote]

Sorry, I was trying to be funny with my post, all it did was sound stupid.

My logic is as follows. As my original post stated, to my knowledge there there isnt a decent £1k and above DAC with bluetooth option. I require bluetooth as most high-end streaming boxes (think Naim, Cyrus etc) require you to use an app on an ipad/pod/phone to control them. I want to continue to use itunes as it was intended as i sit at my desk a lot, im already cluttered with paperwork so to have my ipad on hand all the time just to change the track sounds silly when I have all the controls for itunes at my fingertips on my Macbook. Someone has just informed me of the Linn product above, im now going to investigate.

 

[Anonymous]

Linn looks nice, although there would be a wasted pre-amp stage.

 

[pgoody]

You DO need a streamer! :rofl:

 

[Anonymous]

You DO need a streamer! :rofl:

I changed my comment just as you replied.

I wasnt aware of any streamers that allowed me to use iTunes, I was never averse to streamers per se.

I have a Naim pre/power, If i bought a Linn I would be paying for a 20w amplifier that I dont need. I would rather put that money solely into the DAC.