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No-bull digital audio streamer + DAC sought

Cheese

Cheese

Bitter lover
Hi all,

I have recently played around with a Squeezebox Radio I offered to my mother. It proved to be not only funny to fiddle with, but also a rather useful device, so I'm thinking about going towards computer audio once my CD player dies.

I have tried to rip a few CD's to FLAC and played it throught the SB. I wasn't exactly overwhelmed with sound quality, it was (very) slightly better than mp3 but a long way from the sound provided by the Audiomeca CD player. This player was worth about £1500 at today's rates, and for me it's way good enough, I expect to get a more or less similar result with a digital system, no audiofoolery. Preamp is a 72/Hi, hybrid power amp and Epos ES30, all there to stay for a while.

Making a car analogy, I don't need a Bentley, nor even a Merc. An Audi A4 will do.

I don't want to install iTunes. Don't ask me, I just don't.

A Qnap is on the shopping list.

Internet radio is great fun, therefore it's a necessity.

I guess there is some basic theory about bandwith etc. to look at, in order to avoid data bottlenecks. I presume that a SB has a poor bandwith (wifi at least), that's why it was difficult to distinguish between Flac and mp3.

What I also expect by switching to computer audio is the complete absence of drop-outs, jumping CD's and the like.

Any ideas ? All this has probably been covered in older threads, so if someone can post me a link I'd be just as happy. Thanks.
 
My current Computer Audio setup is an Acer Netbook, running XP and Jriver Media Centre.

Music is ripped to a External Seagate USB Drive (1 TB). DAC is an HRT Streamer II+.

All this plays through a NAD Masters M3 Amp and my new Maggie 1.7s and it sounds just peachy.

The USB Drive is automatically backed up to my Netgear ReadyNas Duo.

Originally, I used to play straight from the ReadyNas over the network but I kept getting occasional dropouts, so I went to the USB Drive config.

One pretty good upgrade that I did was to get a powered USB Hub for the connection of the DAC and Drive. Strange as it may sound, this improved the sound quality a fair bit, making everything sound a little less forced
 
Mac + a MF V-DAC will get you sorted.

Use optical or if you want wireless use Airport Express.
Don't use USB unless you add one of those little gadgets that are all the rage.

The current Macbook Pros will take the largest 2.5" drives so installing 1TB is no issue. Even less box count and clutter to worry about. If you do store locally on the notebook, remember to back-up.
 
Googling a bit I fell onto this but looking at the back, there's no ethernet connection, I must be missing something ?

To all Mac aficionados, I understand you like it and I certainly believe they are good products, but for the time being I just don't want anything Mac or iTunes round my house. Still, thanks Robert.
 
Rega DAC and all other DACs that I know of don't have an ethernet connection, Cheese. Ethernet connection goes to your PC. Then the USB or SPDIF goes from the PC to the DAC, thence to preamp/integrated..... etc.

The kinda kit with ethernet connection is Linn's DS range. But they ain't DACs, they're, erm, replacements for CD players from Linn!
 
What type of files do you use ? And is it of any importance how you rip them ? I use FreeRip.
 
Linds said:
Rega DAC and all other DACs that I know of don't have an ethernet connection, Cheese. Ethernet connection goes to your PC. Then the USB or SPDIF goes from the PC to the DAC, thence to preamp/integrated..... etc.
Click to expand...
Oh, so if your files are ten meters away from the DAC (and therefore the system), just use a usb cable 10 meters long. Very good idea, usb loves to get stretched that long.

We are talking data here, why not use the Ethernet ? Sorry I'm indeed missing something :confused:
 
To be honest, if you want to avoid dropouts and bandwidth issues, the cheapest solution would be an Apple TV gen 1. I know you don't want Apple stuff, but I think it definitely fits your criteria.

Alternatively, you could look into Sonos. They're wireless, but they set up their own network that doesn't get shared with anything else. Not 100% immune to wireless issues, but it's rock solid vs the competition.

Sonos will also do Internet radio and stuff like Pandora. Not sure about high-res, if that's a priority.
 
Hi Cheese,


IIRC, a couple of months ago, you asked for a replacement for your amplification, whatever happened to that plan?

I am asking because if you went for something capable of handling digital signals (i.e. an amp with a built-in DAC), you could already do away with a separate DAC - just a thought.


Samuel.
 
A linn sneaky ds may fit the bill, I use the akurate which my parents fell in love with, they were less sure about the asking price though.

I have set a sneaky ds up for them which is running into a linn kairn/klout/aktiv ninka system, it sounds stunning!
It cost £699 (from a linn dealer via ebay) and outperforms their linn ikemi (£2200 new) and the ikemi is certainly no slouch.

There are some minor down sides to the ds, it's not exactly plug and play for a start, It needs a wired ethernet connection and for the smoothest operation it's recommended that you use a proper nas drive with twonky media although it isn't vital and you can store your tunes on a large hard drive on a desktop pc, obviously it needs to be switched on for the ds to worj though!
 
linnfomaniac83 said:
A linn sneaky ds may fit the bill, I use the akurate which my parents fell in love with, they were less sure about the asking price though.

I have set a sneaky ds up for them which is running into a linn kairn/klout/aktiv ninka system, it sounds stunning!
It cost £699 (from a linn dealer via ebay) and outperforms their linn ikemi (£2200 new) and the ikemi is certainly no slouch.

There are some minor down sides to the ds, it's not exactly plug and play for a start, It needs a wired ethernet connection and for the smoothest operation it's recommended that you use a proper nas drive with twonky media although it isn't vital and you can store your tunes on a large hard drive on a desktop pc, obviously it needs to be switched on for the ds to worj though!
Click to expand...
There seems to be an obvious omission here. You mention the Sneaky and the Akurate but how does the Majik DS compare?

It's such a shame that the DS range doesn't have the usual DAC inputs. They could so easily serve 2 markets and also tell us a lot about what matters in digital audio. Anyone know the relative cost of including ethernet and S/PDIF?
 
Just buy a SB3/SB Classic. They don't make them any more, but they are much less fiddly and more reliable than the latest Linux OS based products.

Wi-fi bandwidth has nothing at all to do with audio quality: that has to do with the quality of the clock and the DAC/output buffer circuitry. If you use the SB3 with an external DAC connected with SPDIF, you will be adding another element of flawed design even though the DAC itself may well be better than the SB3's.
 
Sonos. Avoids the messy iTunes conundrum, has a good integrated DAC, has integrated access to Spotify and other pay-per online services, has varied remote control options, works seamlessly with my qnap/uPnP/Networked PC/Mac, the ZP90 streamer plugs into your preamp or directly into amp or active speakers. Zero drop outs as it uses Wireless Mesh or Wired Ethernet. Is Extendable. Can do optical out but don't bother, the Sonos DACs are fit for purpose, unless you like to needlessly overcomplicate things.
 
Second the Sonos recommendation.

Superb user interface and native Spotify integration.

I use a ZP90 into a Lavry DA10 and whilst not as good as the Akurate DS I once had, it is no slouch in the SQ department.

Lefty
 
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