Inexpensive route into digital
- Thread starter MVV
- Start date
Tigerjones
Bagpuss
Streaming’s alright, it just doesn’t give you that feeling of superiority you get from lowering a two grand cart on to some revolving plastic.
Howdy
pfm Member
I've been reading this thread with interest.
Can some of you smart folks explain something to me, please.
With a thing like Wiim Pro... and e.g. Tidal...
Does Wiim Pro "play" (I guess the proper term here is stream) from e.g. Tidal on it's own, and the phone is only some sort of remote and display, or does the phone do the actual playing of music and the streamer is only some kind of bridge to the amp?
And is this different to Chromecast Audio?
Because I have all sorts of problems, glitches, bugs, distortion... with phone-CA. Would more proper streamer, like Wiim Pro, sort this problems.
Can some of you smart folks explain something to me, please.
With a thing like Wiim Pro... and e.g. Tidal...
Does Wiim Pro "play" (I guess the proper term here is stream) from e.g. Tidal on it's own, and the phone is only some sort of remote and display, or does the phone do the actual playing of music and the streamer is only some kind of bridge to the amp?
And is this different to Chromecast Audio?
Because I have all sorts of problems, glitches, bugs, distortion... with phone-CA. Would more proper streamer, like Wiim Pro, sort this problems.
Alex S
carbon based lifeform
I feel more nervous than superior.
The phone is a display and remote only,once you’ve selected and pressed play you could turn your phone off,or even flush it down the toilet !
Chrome cast audio was good when it came out,mine went flaky in the end,the Wiim is about as simple and reliable as it gets,also nice to see not just the sample rate,but the kbps on the display app.
Arguably the biggest Hifi bargain in History.
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
Thats at the lower price for so called high-end! My (mid-end) cart cost twice as much and then the diamond went walkies......... I'm now listening to digital.
DV
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
In my experience you'll get a lot more bang for yer buck with digital - music player and DAC. To improve on this you'll need to spend around five times as much on record playing kit TT/arm/cart/phono stage. A good recording on an LP can sound really something even in mono. It can be almost a holographic experience difficult to describe if you haven't heard it.
So with the high price for record playing kit its not really worth the outlay unless you already have an extensive collection of records.
DV
So with the high price for record playing kit its not really worth the outlay unless you already have an extensive collection of records.
DV
ex brickie
pfm Member
My goodness what a minefield…. I think I need a week off work to read and understand it all - wait until I retire
Andy1912
pfm Member
Totally agree. I have a SME 20 with Koetsu cart, it is sounds beautiful. However I can plug in my laptop streaming HD music from Amazon feeding a Schitt Modi and it comes way to close for a fraction of the price.
Brown Bottle
UTB
I’ve been streaming Qobuz via a Raspberry Pi for a year now, the quality on offer for the same price as a vinyl LP per month is amazing.
Cheers BB
Cheers BB
I'm with you there, running a Brinkmann Bardo/12" Enterprise4/ Koetsu RSP > BB3, my pimped Node2/Mutec/Black Ice DSD made a pretty good fist of getting close to it.
I've since had the Black Ice maxed out with mods, sold the Node & mutec and added a ZenITH 3, this combo now easily matches my vinyl chain for 25% of the cost. So much so, I often wonder why I bother with a £21k vinyl rig, yes it sounds wonderful, but since sorting my digital in Oct 22 it now accounts for less than 5% of my listening. The same goes for my Lector CDP (<5%) which is at a very similar SQ level as the tt & streaming.
As I see it, the problem with getting into streaming at a level you'll be happy with longterm, is the level of your other sources which your looking to replace it with.
In your case your already at a very good level with your tt & CDP, so the cheap end of the streaming market will struggle to satisfy you in the longterm. The likes of the Wiim mini/Node etc are great for dipping your toes in the water to see if streaming for you,. Although for longterm satisfaction I think your going to need to spend £5 - 6k on say a used Innuos ZenITH (storage/ripping) or New Innous Pulse and a decent DAC, possibly valve based like the LAB12 Reference 1, to get the level of SQ your used to.
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Howdy
pfm Member
I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
Just kidding, mostly... low hanging joke.
