Why use a music streamer?

[Dave_]

As has been pointed out above, even the lowest spec RasPi will do this without raising a sweat, and can be yours for £27 or there abouts.

There is some excellent open source software available, and I believe a number of high quality piggy back audio boards if you don't want to use a separate DAC.

The Pi Zero W is only a tenner, the Pi Zero is only a fiver, but by the time you've bought an Ethernet or WiFi dongle for it you may as well just buy the W.

My original Pi Zero, Pimoroni pHAT DAC, adapters and case cost me just under thirty notes at the ti

Though the Pi Zero and pHAT DAC require soldering of the GPIO headers. So if soldering isn't your thing, then a Zero WH or Pi 3 and DAC from Justboom, HiFiBerry IQaudIO et al will make it plug and play..

hows the sounds with the pHAT Dac? I've been sorely tempted for a while to knock up something so small with the zero

Fine to my ears.

Though I'd probably go for a HiFiBerry or Justboom DAC Zeros instead and save the soldering of GPIO headers (neither was an option when the original Zero launched)

 

[cheeseboy]

Fine to my ears.

Though I'd probably go for a HiFiBerry or Justboom DAC Zeros instead and save the soldering of GPIO headers (neither was an option when the original Zero launched)

awesome cheers - I'm to go and buy stuff

 

[insider9]

I probably should've mentioned that anything for playback that produces any noise I class as noisy. My PC is near silent and I spent a silly amount of money making it such that even at full pelt (over clocked) it still remains very quiet. But it annoys me that it makes any noise at all

if you haven't already have a look here - http://www.streacom.com/products/chassis/ - Look at the ones that are tagged as fanles.  Then add one of the silent power supplies - http://www.streacom.com/products/power/ and you've gone totally silent.  No need to sacrifice on performance.

If anybody is looking to not faff around, I can recommend these http://www.hystou.com/products/fanless-mini-pc/intel-kaby-lake-mini-pc/c-90/ - fully silent from the get go and given they even do i7's, which is more than overkill for all things audio playback, performance should never be an issue.

Thanks for links. I'm familiar with Streacom but not the second company. In fairness I'm alright with it for now. Built it a while back. It is a 4th gen i5 so not the lowest TDP but handles everything I throw at it with ease. Considering quality of components used it should last a long time. And particularly with Roon I can use it as a server somewhere under the stairs one day and just improve the quality of the endpoint.

The efficiency of CPUs and GPUs have improved drastically over the last 2-3 years. That's true however components have gone up in price also.

I prefer a PC based solution as it's more flexible and I'm not restricted with DSP. However used streamers in the past because they're no faff operation. Important to pick the right solution as it saves money in the long term.

 

[Sliced Bread]

I use a mac mini £349, I know they went up after brexit, USB out Optical out , itunes streams to 4 different devices from 2 different makes all over the house all at once, local amps remotes control skip repeat volume play/pause etc, remote app can control every speaker/amp and adjust volume on each, one little remote for £15 does play/pause skip repeat and volume. Eye connect running on the mac means everything can see the hdd as a pnp device if I want to use a device on its own.

Why buy a steamer ?

Actually sounds like a good idea. I’m guessing you can use Tidal Masters too.

Do you have to turn the monitor on at all, or can you just stuff it on the Hifi rack, use the app and forget about it?

 

[MajorFubar]

I probably should've mentioned that anything for playback that produces any noise I class as noisy. My PC is near silent and I spent a silly amount of money making it such that even at full pelt (over clocked) it still remains very quiet. But it annoys me that it makes any noise at all

Reasons I migrated from a PC, #237: the Mac Mini I used for streaming before I decided to do everything via Airplay was quieter right out the box than even the CD player it replaced. No faffing, and no need to be a Jedi Master PC guru to instantly enjoy that level of refinement

 

[Romulus]

Just the thought of having to use a laptop or any other computer to control music is such an cumbersome retro step for me, I just use a remote control, much less hustle and a lot slicker and easier in every day practical use. I see the smart phone as the only modern equivalent to the remote control as to ease of use.

 

[insider9]

Just the thought of having to use a laptop or any other computer to control music is such an cumbersome retro step for me, I just use a remote control, much less hustle and a lot slicker and easier in every day practical use.  I see the smart phone as the only modern equivalent to the remote control as to ease of use.

I can use both smartphone and a remote for playback from a PC connected to my amp.

It really depends on software you use.

 

[MajorFubar]

Just the thought of having to use a laptop or any other computer to control music is such an cumbersome retro step for me, I just use a remote control, much less hustle and a lot slicker and easier in every day practical use. I see the smart phone as the only modern equivalent to the remote control as to ease of use.

Depends how you picture the set-up in your mind I guess. For several years I used a Mac Mini as a source. Can't say it was a major issue using it, but generally I used it headless, from iTunes Remote on the phone. To me this was lightyears ahead of shelves and shelves of CDs. But I'm with you all the way regarding smarphones. These days, I stream my entire library losslessly using my phone.

 

[ellisdj]

This is where the phone app is make or break of the experience.

Nothing beats JRemote on JRiver for usability and the ability to star rate each individual track - miss that feature - but dont miss J River

 

[JamesMellor]

Day to day I use the iPad and remotes. It’s hdmi output goes to the TV for ripping new cds and installing updates.

You can’t stream anything outside of iTunes to multiple devices and as they haven’t updated the app you can’t use it to search Apple Music but you can control it once playing, which is why I neve4 w3nt further than the free trial. Insider9 posted about an app that seems to allow you to stream other services, ill try the free trial this weekend.

You can stream anything to any single device by selecting it as the computers audio out, I tend to that if I’m surfing around you tube.

I did try jriver and it was excellent apart from no multi room ( jriver will convert your applelossless to flac files )

I’m typing on a pad so apologies

 

[insider9]

I've only briefly used JRiver and it didn't float my boat.

You really should try Roon. I'd love to hear what you think. Think how many cool vids you could do

 

[JamesMellor]

I have now, I’ll download the trial at the weekend

thx

 

[Sliced Bread]

Day to day I use the iPad and remotes. It’s hdmi output goes to the TV for ripping new cds and installing updates.

You can’t stream anything outside of iTunes to multiple devices and as they haven’t updated the app you can’t use it to search Apple Music but you can control it once playing, which is why I neve4 w3nt further than the free trial. Insider9 posted about an app that seems to allow you to stream other services, ill try the free trial this weekend.

You can stream anything to any single device by selecting it as the computers audio out, I tend to that if I’m surfing around you tube.

I did try jriver and it was excellent apart from no multi room ( jriver will convert your applelossless to flac files )

I’m typing on a pad so apologies

Thanks James

I only need to stream Tidal to one room. Do you think this is doable without using a monitor on a day to day basis?

thanks again

 

[insider9]

I believe in your setup you could stream Tidal from BubbleUpnp to your Panasonic Ub900.

 

[Gray]

hi-fi component streamers are absurdly expensive for what they are

I've always thought so.

There's some potentially good news for some at the moment though.

Thanks to the new improved version 2, Richer Sounds VIP* customers can have an original CXN for £499.

*Anybody with a pulse and some money

 

[Kubs]

I had some spare time over the weekend so I thought I would start tidying up my 'stuff' - the stuff that my wife keeps telling me to sort out. Anyway, I came across a USB cable (probably came free with a printer) which gave me the idea of using it to connnect my dac to my NAS drive - so I did.

The result of using this connnection was amazing (I wont go into what I heard) but I will say it made the background noise darker and it sounded less digital. I controlled the NAS drive using the DS Audio app and set the output to USB Speaker. The app is OK but a bit clunky so it made me wonder if there are alteratives out there that will allow me to access the music on the NAS and push it to the DAC using USB?

I then realiased there is USB output in the SQT, so I've just made the connection but have not pressed play yet (kids have just gone to sleep). If the results are the same, then happy days, I'll get to use the SB interface which serves my needs.

Next step will be to try different USB leads ....

 

[ellisdj]

I've only briefly used JRiver and it didn't float my boat.

You really should try Roon. I'd love to hear what you think. Think how many cool vids you could do

I had a quick go by chance at Nintronics - it looked lovely but seemed overly complex, especially for me I only play local stored music.

All my music is ripped Wavs and the odd high res track, I dont listen to Tidal but can see why a good app for controllng it would hugely beneficial to the experience

 

[JamesMellor]

In the set up I have iPad/AirPlay I would install the tidal app on the pad and set its audio output to the 3060 airplay and not use the computer

 

[Sliced Bread]

I believe in your setup you could stream Tidal from BubbleUpnp to your Panasonic Ub900.

Thanks for the suggestion.

I can directly stream from the amp, but just looking for a way to use the external dac instead

 

[Sliced Bread]

In the set up I have iPad/AirPlay I would install the tidal app on the pad and set its audio output to the 3060 airplay and not use the computer

Thanks James. My plan is to try and go through the mojo. The amp has Tidal connect, but the mojo sounds better. I can plug the iPad in directly but hennthese is no remote.

Not a huge problem, but just looking for a solution without spending a fortune

 

[newlash09]

Are all PC's. And cost a bomb for a reason. And they are called streamers to justify their price, and unique operating systems, and power management. So no harm chosing one if one can afford it. For all other purposes and intents, the humble PC is good enough. But going by the reviews, those aforementioned streamers , whack even severely tweaked PC's out of the ball park in sound quality.

 

[hybridauth_Facebook_100004211376004]

Superuniti with tidal on board is a dream to use....in fact I might even disconnect my synology nas as I haven't played anything from it since I took up the free 90 day trial of tidal hi-fi .this is superb and the reason I opted for a dedicated streamer as opposed to the faf of pc/,(which is sited in another room) dac,amp etc.

 

[JamesMellor]

Chord poly ? Maybe buy a streamer

 

[insider9]

I believe in your setup you could stream Tidal from BubbleUpnp to your Panasonic Ub900.

Thanks for the suggestion.  

I can directly stream from the amp, but just looking for a way to use the external dac instead

That's why I suggested it.

Tidal via BubbleUpnp from mobile or tablet to Panasonic. Panasonic out via optical or coax to Mojo that's connected to amp.

If you stream directly to amp you can't use the Mojo.

 

[Alantiggger]

Insider9, you are right.