Thinking of getting into streaming from a NAS device (on a budget) Any advice?

[wulbert]

Yamaha wxc50 in ” pre amp mode ” is very average sounding , doing SRC to 48 kHz with every material. In ”player mode” one looses the digital volume regulation but the sound is better . Not as good as using a WiiM pro though.

My experience with my former Wxc50 is that its not good enough as a digital drive .

Thanks. Those observations are very useful.

 

[tonyx]

I have just bought a WiiM mini to replace my Pi (with Moode) that for some reason wasn't streaming Spotify any more without crashing. It was super easy to set up and it seems to me better sounding than the Pi was (into my SMSL 9 DAC, and on through Naim amplification into ProAcs). I can now use lots of other services to. I had been looking at streamers like the Auralic, but as I realised that I can get all the streaming I want from the WiiM mini for £89 it became clear even to me what made sense. I think that at £89 it is a no brainer, and it is so small you can hide it away. An Auralic or similar will however look great on your rack.

 

[Thegreatroberto]

If you have cds to rip, then rip to a synolgy nas and serve using asset. Of course youll still need a basic streamer inc dac. But they can be had from £200

 

[Woodface]

It all comes down to the user interface, WIM do appear good in this regard. It really is a golden age for music fans.

 

[Peter Stockwell]

I thought I would be happy going back to CDs but it seems I'm not. Then again, I'd need to get an iPad or something to control the streamer....yet another bloody screen in the house.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Eversolo DMP-A6 player. It has a screen, can be controlled by Android/IOS, has a bay for a NVME SSD, up to 4TB. It can also be used as a DAC for optical/usb/coax input. In the EU they are about 860€. You could still use your Tilbury on it, if you wished, but IMO that's just another set of wires and a pot. (I've had Tisburys, they a fun and great sounding kit).

Would an old Mac Mini, connected via USB to my Apple Superdrive give me a cheapo, disc ripper/NAS drive? Is there an elegant way to control a Mac Mini's music output from a phone or tablet?

if you have or buy a late 2012 Mac mini, you can stuff two SATA SSD drives in it, and it will be your NAS, but bare in mind that if you chose the Eversolo option, you could use it as NAS/DAC/Streamer. (It also does Spotify, among other stuff). My 2012 Mac mini is my NAS.

Stay with cd's.

They take up a huge amount of space, especially if you've been collecting 40 years or so and don't plan to stop. I haven't tried CD into the DMP-A6, I ordered one but it hasn't arrived yet. You can attach a USB drive to the DMP-A6 and use it to rip.

And the missus keeps bringing up the dusty CD racks as something that needs "sorted out" which is ominous. Every media has its good & bad points. I'm very reluctant to get into a system that has recurring costs and uses gear that becomes obsolete quickly. Versus my age (60yrs) and thinking I should just get something small and easy to use and forget about the rest.

Same response as above, really. Apple Music and my misunderstanding of how music match worked, wiped out my Lossless rips, so I had to start again. I'm missing a box of CDs somewhere. I have a Qobuz sublime subscription, as well as using Bandcamp. I've also a lifetime roon subscription. The Eversolo DMP-A6 is Roon Ready, and that's a big plus for me.

Apple Music is a pretty decent library manager, just don't go using music match without fully understanding what it will do (it replaces lossless rips with 256 .aac).

 

[Musician]

Thanks. Those observations are very useful.

The best thing with WiiM, other than the low price, good fuctionality and good sound is the inbuilt PEQ function thats also active trough the spdif output. In practice this means better sound from your speaker in most cases, and the function can be turned off completely for easy comparisons. Better or worse ? You choose. If your speaker sounds a little dull - use the shelving function +2 dB from 8 KHz .
You can store 4 completely different peq settings .