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Streaming, what's that all about?

john & Jake

john & Jake

Jake was smarter than me
Hi, I,m going to seem pretty stupid now when I as these questions I know, but I am :confused: and would like to know more:)

Streaming music, I thought that the broadband compressed music and CD was still better. Is this not right now?
I'm still modding CD players, am I a Dinosaur:D

What do I need to get started without spending a fortune and is the music on subscription, I have a standalone DAC.

cheers:)
 
It depends whether you want to stream from the net or rip your CDs to a hard drive and stream from there. The latter can be done very cheaply if you already have a DAC and a computer.....
 
I think there are two types of streaming that people are referring.

The first type refers to streaming of music over the internet. A user can get music on demand with a service provider, and once the music is selected the music is stream from the server to the user's computer. The sound quality of the music tends to be less than CD.

The second type refers to streaming of music from a computer to a special kind of DAC call a streamer. This streaming occurs within one's home. The sound quality of the music can goes up to studio master quality (24bit 192Hz).
 
Hi Inter, thanks.
Streaming from the net is what I don't understand yet.
I would probably keep my CD's and play them alongside streaming. I don't have a very large collection though and eventually putting them on hard disk may be an idea.:)
 
Hi naimsg thanks,
Ahh, the internet can be dis-counted then, that's what I thought.

Streaming in the home would involve, as Inter said, copying my CD's and streaming them to my HI Fi.

If the quality goes up this way then it is certainly worth considering.

Are there any recommendations for an in home streamer?
 
Since you have a standalone DAC, its going to cost very little. All you need is a device to use convert one of your USB port to become a digital output. This can be done by using a device like the M2Tech hiface. Another way is to use airport express. Then use a digital cable to connect it to your existing DAC. I am not using this method, so I think the rest of the guys here will know better. Lots of experts here.

Another way is to use a dedicated streamer. Naim has a few like the unitiqute, ND5 XS, NDX and etc. Linn has the ADS/1, KDS/1 and etc. This option will be more expensive. :)
 
naimsg said:
The first type refers to streaming of music over the internet. The sound quality of the music tends to be less than CD.
Click to expand...

Bit-rate is currently lower. Whether the SQ is audibly degraded is another debate entirely.......


naimsg said:
Since you have a standalone DAC, its going to cost very little. All you need is a device to use convert one of your USB port to become a digital output.
Click to expand...

plus if your DAC has a USB input you can just hook it up directly (although rumour has it that on many DACs the USB is the worst implemented input). If you use a mac it has an optical digital output in the headphone jack and you can get the correct 'cable' to access it.

As for streamers.... if you don't want to connect your computer directly to your DAC something like a squeezebox touch is a good starting point.
 
Hi, so that's what a squeezebox is:D
many thanks for clearing things up for me, I'll scour the net for a suitable interface for the computer to my DAC.:)
 
There seems to be so many ways towards computer audio! :)

Increasing, I am starting to believe that the so call sound quality of the music file (bit rate and sampling rate) is really not that important. I find that internet radio can be equally enjoyable as well. Even a 32kbps radio channel can have lots of toe-tapping! :)
 
I avoided streaming for a long time and was devoted to my CD player. However, I've recently bittern the bullet using a Vortexbox set-up and, for the small outlay, am delighted with the results. I now only use a disc-spinner for discs that won't rip. The learning curve hasn't been too steep really.
 
Don't forget the joys of internet radio into your hifi. Through my Naim streamer I could happily listen to Radio Paradise at 320kbps and not play a disc for a year.
 
+1 Chris M, Radio Paradise is the best thing to happen to radio in years, can even be listened to or streamed from the free app for your phone.
 
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