Which streamer

[vonchief]

Hi, is there such a thing as a streamer that will work with flac and has a digital out to connect direct to an amp with a dac ?

All I want to do is access my computer to play my cd collection.

I have not ripped them yet but was planning on using flac as it seems to be the best option.

Ive tried searching but am getting nowhere.

Thank you

 

[bluebrazil]

maybe you have reasons for not wanting to use it but a computer is going to do the exact same thing as a streamer. if you only want to output a data signal its going to sound identical to anything else.

 

[smbmetal]

Depending on your budget I'd recommend the Pioneer N-50A, N-30A or the Marantz NA 6005. Both will access the music on your computer and have digital out connections.

I use a discontinued Logitech Squeezebox Touch which will also do the job if you don't mind second hand gear AND you can manage to find one.

 

[vonchief]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The more I look into this the more complicated it gets.

Maybe I should just stick with a CD player , it seems alot easier.

 

[iQ Speakers]

This is the problem with the word steamer. Imagine buying CD player getting it home and has no DAC!

 

[smbmetal]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The more I look into this the more complicated it gets.

Maybe I should just stick with a CD player , it seems alot easier.

I used to think the same. It's not that difficult to access music on your computer via a streamer. I haven't bought a CD in years. Please feel free to post any questions that you have. I should be able to help. There are no "daft" questions either haha.

 

[iancass]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The more I look into this the more complicated it gets.

Maybe I should just stick with a CD player , it seems alot easier.

Trust me! People make it more complicated than it really needs to be. You just need a couple of things. A storage device to stream from which holds your FLAC files, I use a WD Mycloud NAS (2TB), very easy to set up, extremley reliable and not to expenisive, secondily some kind of streamer/box, there are quite a few options on the market right now, just find one within your budget and that ticks your boxes of requirements. I personally use a Node. Once you have these items along with your wifi connectiion you'll be a streaming in a few hours.

 

[smbmetal]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The more I look into this the more complicated it gets.

Maybe I should just stick with a CD player , it seems alot easier.

Trust me! People make it more complicated than it really needs to be. You just need a couple of things. A storage device to stream from which holds your FLAC files, I use a WD Mycloud NAS (2TB), very easy to set up, extremley reliable and not to expenisive, secondily some kind of streamer/box, there are quite a few options on the market right now, just find one within your budget and that ticks your boxes of requirements. I personally use a Node. Once you have these items along with your wifi connectiion you'll be a streaming in a few hours.

I notice you say you use the Bluesound node? What are your thoughts on it? That will certainly work I think for vonchief.

 

[iQ Speakers]

Thinking about it all you need is a Sonos Connect, £279 very easy to install not complicted at all, it does virtually everthing for you and is rock solid. Mac who is blind recenlty bought one and he is not tech savey. He now loves it took me a while to pesuade him to get one and now hes gone out and bought the Playbar as well!

 

[Anderson]

Thinking about it all you need is a Sonos Connect, £279 very easy to install not complicted at all, it does virtually everthing for you and is rock solid. Mac who is blind recenlty bought one and he is not tech savey. He now loves it took me a while to pesuade him to get one and now hes gone out and bought the Playbar as well!

I'm not sure if Sonos does flac though, I recall someone pointing that out about the Sonos before.

 

[vonchief]

So far I have mannaged to download mediamoinkey and rip a couple of cd's using flac.

I can play this through the computer fine.

I think what's confusing me is where do I go from here ?

I like the sound of a nas, which I think would mean I wouldn't need to switch the computer on all the time.

Can I transfer the mediamonkey rips to a nas and how would I play them ? Do you get an app for the control of the streamer ? should I be using a different programme to rip my cd's rather than mediamonkey ?

I'm starting to sound like my gran. Digital TV has blown her mind

 

[iQ Speakers]

Yep Sonos does FLAC

 

[smbmetal]

So far I have mannaged to download mediamoinkey and rip a couple of cd's using flac.

I can play this through the computer fine.

I think what's confusing me is where do I go from here ?

I like the sound of a nas, which I think would mean I wouldn't need to switch the computer on all the time.

Can I transfer the mediamonkey rips to a nas and how would I play them ? Do you get an app for the control of the streamer ? should I be using a different programme to rip my cd's rather than mediamonkey ?

I'm starting to sound like my gran. Digital TV has blown her mind

Quite a few people (including me) use a nas as I hate computers so prefer having all my music on the nas.

The streamers that have been recommended so far have an app that you can install on your phone/tablet or computer to control your music.

Yes you can transfer all your mediamonkey rips to a nas via your computer wirelessly.

 

[vonchief]

Great, I appreciate your help.

Am I right in thinking that once I get a nas and transfer the rips to it, I can then delete the rips in mediamonkey to free up space on my computer ?

If I was to then go back onto mediamonkey would I still be able to play music from the nas ?

I'm sure I will get to understand all this eventually.

 

[smbmetal]

Great, I appreciate your help.

Am I right in thinking that once I get a nas and transfer the rips to it, I can then delete the rips in mediamonkey to free up space on my computer ?

If I was to then go back onto mediamonkey would I still be able to play music from the nas ?

I'm sure I will get to understand all this eventually.

Yes once you have a nas you can copy your music from your computer to your "music" folder on your nas and delete the files from your computer.

I've not used mediamonkey before so I'm not sure whether it can access your music on a nas. A quick google does suggest that it's possible via mapping a network drive (drive letter, like the C drive) on your computer. There are plenty of software apps that would be able to play your music via the nas. Windows Media player will do this.

I access my music via the app of my streamer (logitech squeezebox). I only use the ripping app to rip my music.

Remember, there's no daft question. It took me a while to understand it all.

 

[vonchief]

Brilliant,

you lost me a bit though with " via mapping a network drive (drive letter, like the C drive) on your computer."

Final questin for now.. is there anything particular I should look out for or avoid when buying a nas ?

Cheers

 

[smbmetal]

Google "Mapping a Network Drive" there are plenty of articles that explain. It will appear as another drive in Windows Explorer like your C drive does.

As for a Nas, like most things there are plenty of choices, depending on your budget. I would recommend at least a two bay enclosure so that you can install two hard drives and set one as a mirror of the primary drive incase one of the disks fail. You plug the nas hard wired into your wireless router and set it up via your computer via the supplied CD or downloadable software.

I use a Netgear Readynas Duo v2, with 2 x 2TB hard drives installed. I then backup my music to an external USB hard drive once every 6 months. I've been running my NAS powered up 24x7 for 3 years with no failures.

Popular brands are Synology DiskStation, Qnap, Netgear, Western Digital.

 

[SteveR750]

Why not turn your computer in a streamer, and save some money? There is no SQ advantage in using a streamer, just ease of use / convenience. Take a look at J River Media Player or Foobar. It's easy to rip CDs and store them anywhere in a network, they can be both easily configured to play "bit perfect", so there is no way of improving upon that as a digital source. J River costs around $60 with heavily discounted upgrades (usually around $25 but not necessary if you don't want the new features) that are released once a year ish.

 

[iancass]

Thank you for the suggestions.

The more I look into this the more complicated it gets.

Maybe I should just stick with a CD player , it seems alot easier.

Trust me! People make it more complicated than it really needs to be. You just need a couple of things. A storage device to stream from which holds your FLAC files, I use a WD Mycloud NAS (2TB), very easy to set up, extremley reliable and not to expenisive, secondily some kind of streamer/box, there are quite a few options on the market right now, just find one within your budget and that ticks your boxes of requirements. I personally use a Node. Once you have these items along with your wifi connectiion you'll be a streaming in a few hours.

I notice you say you use the Bluesound node? What are your thoughts on it? That will certainly work I think for vonchief.

Your right! I wanted a no -nonsense box that I could just plug & play that supported high res music, played all the music formats, supported gap less playback, intergrates Spotify/Tida/Qobuz/Tunein radio/girlfriend likes the look of & I think I have found it. I wanted something that I could connect to the speakers of my choice and the amp of my choice. I actually had Sonos for a bit but I didn't care to much for the sound so I moved it on quite quickily.

 

[smbmetal]

It certainly receives great reviews. I might be tempted to give it a try if my SBT ever packs up, although I bet there's not much difference in sound quality between the two.

 

[jjbomber]

I use a WD Mycloud NAS (2TB), very easy to set up, extremley reliable and not to expenisive,

Me too. It has to be the easiest thing I have ever used. Literally 2 minutes to set up, if that.

 

[iancass]

I use a WD Mycloud NAS (2TB), very easy to set up, extremley reliable and not to expenisive,

Me too. It has to be the easiest thing I have ever used. Literally 2 minutes to set up, if that.

Its a really simple set up, I agree. Funny enough though I use it more for streaming films (via Plex) than music as I am either using Qobuz/Tidal/Spotify instead these days.