advertisement


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

wulbert

wulbert

pfm Member
Listening to the relative quality of Spotify vs a purchased & downloaded AIFF file of the same album (David Darling's Prayer for Compassion) has convinced me that I prefer to own higher quality music files, rather than rent access. I had been planning to get back into CD's but having laid the system out, I'm surprised at how much room the CD player takes up. So, I'm thinking of building up my music collection on some kind of drive so that I can listen to decent quality files whenever I want, without paying anyone any more money ( other than leccy).

I'd really rather not spend more than a few hundred but I am kind of intrigued by the Zen Mini Mk3. Seen it combined with the (essential?) LPSU for about £1,400. It would mean that I could rip and store my fave CD's as well as stream to discover new music (not sure if the Zen does Spotify?) and have a vault of my high-quality file purchases. I am attracted by the idea of paying artists directly for new music via Bandcamp and have just bought a few things to try out. (Next up this afternoon, comparing WAV to AIFF to see if I can hear any difference)

Any advice for someone new to storing/playing music files in this way? Pit falls, things to avoid, flaws in my thinking etc?

I am definitely not into fannying about with Raspberry Pi s and all that. I like simple boxes that just do stuff, without any dialogue.

 
I have two Zen Mini Mk2s and a recently acquired Zen Mark 2.

The faff quotient is far less than the notionally superior units they are replacing and the control app is excellent. I stream them into a variety of Meridian bits of kit. The Zen, for example, is hooked up to the preamp section of a Meridian 808 v3 and the music sounds absolutely fine.

You won’t go far wrong with them and my only two bits of advice are (I) not to fixate on the power supply as there are much cheaper linear power supplies that will see you fine and you can always upgrade later if you are convinced it’s an upgrade, and (ii) in preference, spend the money you save to buy double as much space as you think you need at the outset. The post-purchase Innuos upgrade path isn’t cheap.
 
Sonority said:
For ripping/downloading, please consider using FLAC rather than WAV.
It will save you a whole heap of headaches at a later date should you consider migrating your music library.
Click to expand...
Thanks! Sounds like good advice. The WAV I've just listened to sounded very fat in the midrange and about twice as loud as the AIFF I compared it to, but not in a good way. (could just be my set up though).

If FLAC is the go-to standard for future use ability I'd happily stick with that.
 
Playing the downloaded files from my macbook into the Chord Mojo2 > Tisbury> Quad 306 > Spendor S3/5r2 SE sounds great. I guess I could ditch the Tisbury in this chain though, see if it sounds better.
Really enjoying this album that I've only heard on Spotify to date. There's just so much more music going on. ( Not enjoying the Apple Music App at all though, a nasty-looking interface...red & white FFS!)

calm
 
I have the Zen Mini with matching LPS. Excellent sound quality, great app, native with Qobuz & Tidal. Just works & digital volume is useful for loud recordings. It takes away the need for a CD player.
 
I know there are workarounds but if you are going to stream, you could do with a wired connection with Innuos.
 
Alex S said:
I know there are workarounds but if you are going to stream, you could do with a wired connection with Innuos.
Click to expand...
Not sure I understand you Alex. Do you mean the Innuos unit should be wired via ethernet? That would not be a problem where it would be situated.
 
psi310398 said:
I have two Zen Mini Mk2s and a recently acquired Zen Mark 2.

The faff quotient is far less than the notionally superior units they are replacing and the control app is excellent. I stream them into a variety of Meridian bits of kit. The Zen, for example, is hooked up to the preamp section of a Meridian 808 v3 and the music sounds absolutely fine.

You won’t go far wrong with them and my only two bits of advice are (I) not to fixate on the power supply as there are much cheaper linear power supplies that will see you fine and you can always upgrade later if you are convinced it’s an upgrade, and (ii) in preference, spend the money you save to buy double as much space as you think you need at the outset. The post-purchase Innuos upgrade path isn’t cheap.
Click to expand...
Thanks, sounds like good advice. I have read that the Innuos sounds much better with an external LPSU but if an after-market unit could give the same performance for less cash, that would suit me fine.
 
Woodface said:
I have the Zen Mini with matching LPS. Excellent sound quality, great app, native with Qobuz & Tidal. Just works & digital volume is useful for loud recordings. It takes away the need for a CD player.
Click to expand...
So, it doesn't do Spotify? ( other that via Airplay). That's a pity. I would like something that my wife will use and she's a big Spotify connect user.
The sound quality of Spotify isn't brilliant but it is very stable and well-used in our household.
 
wulbert said:
So, it doesn't do Spotify? ( other that via Airplay). That's a pity. I would like something that my wife will use and she's a big Spotify connect user.
The sound quality of Spotify isn't brilliant but it is very stable and well-used in our household.
Click to expand...
It does Spotify, sorry, it’s just not native you stream via Spotify connect. The device will show in the app.

The advantage of Qobuz is that you can add tracks to your Innuos Library & they sit alongside ripped or downloaded music.

Spotify don’t support plug ins, they like you to use their app as a control point. It allows them to better have your preferences etc.
 
Woodface said:
It does Spotify, sorry, it’s just not native you stream via Spotify connect. The device will show in the app.

The advantage of Qobuz is that you can add tracks to your Innuos Library & they sit alongside ripped or downloaded music.

Spotify don’t support plug ins, they like you to use their app as a control point. It allows them to better have your preferences etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks. I've had a few free trials of Qobuz ( and a year's sub due to forgetting to cancel a free trial) It sounds a lot better than Spotify, but the rest of the family are wedded to Spotify and I'd not feel too happy about paying for two music-streaming services (having said that, the kids chip in £4/month each towards Spotify family, so it actually costs me buttons). Maybe I could treat myself to another year's Qobuz sub as a 60th birthday present.

I'm all over the place with this really. 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.
 
wulbert said:
Thanks. I've had a few free trials of Qobuz ( and a year's sub due to forgetting to cancel a free trial) It sounds a lot better than Spotify, but the rest of the family are wedded to Spotify and I'd not feel too happy about paying for two music-streaming services (having said that, the kids chip in £4/month each towards Spotify family, so it actually costs me buttons). Maybe I could treat myself to another year's Qobuz sub as a 60th birthday present.

I'm all over the place with this really. 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.
Click to expand...
The big advantage of Innuos system is that you can control it from any device that’s on your WiFi. You don’t even need to download the app, just open a browser, type ‘my Innuos’ & up it pops. Totally brilliant.

I paid £120 for a year, buttons really, will ultimately pay for itself.
 
wulbert said:
Listening to the relative quality of Spotify vs a purchased & downloaded AIFF file of the same album (David Darling's Prayer for Compassion) has convinced me that I prefer to own higher quality music files, rather than rent access. I had been planning to get back into CD's but having laid the system out, I'm surprised at how much room the CD player takes up. So, I'm thinking of building up my music collection on some kind of drive so that I can listen to decent quality files whenever I want, without paying anyone any more money ( other than leccy).

I'd really rather not spend more than a few hundred but I am kind of intrigued by the Zen Mini Mk3. Seen it combined with the (essential?) LPSU for about £1,400. It would mean that I could rip and store my fave CD's as well as stream to discover new music (not sure if the Zen does Spotify?) and have a vault of my high-quality file purchases. I am attracted by the idea of paying artists directly for new music via Bandcamp and have just bought a few things to try out. (Next up this afternoon, comparing WAV to AIFF to see if I can hear any difference)

Any advice for someone new to storing/playing music files in this way? Pit falls, things to avoid, flaws in my thinking etc?

I am definitely not into fannying about with Raspberry Pi s and all that. I like simple boxes that just do stuff, without any dialogue.

Click to expand...
A WiiM pro with your Mojo 2 is probably a good choice - here is comparison Wiim PRO / Rega dac R to a Linn klimax streamer .

pinkfishmedia.net

Linn Klimax DS renew vs WiiM pro + Rega dac R - sound quality comparison

Recently I had the opportunity to have a Linn klimax DS renew in my listening room for some days, doing extended listening comparisons with a Rega dac R and a WiiM pro as a digital drive. This gave very interesting results using TIDAL . After testing the WiiM pro as a digital transport for...
pinkfishmedia.net pinkfishmedia.net

Apart from them sounding very similar , the PEQ functionality in the WiiM will make your speaker sound better .

WiiM pro has a very good digital volume control when using spdif out, as good as a Linn klimax ds/0.

Wiim pro is plug and play , and have all streaming protocols + airplay.

(I know Im sounding like a fanboy but Im used to listen to very expensive gear from time to time and have the ability to make real comparisons .)
 
At the moment, lossless files played from laptop through the Mojo2 sound better than the Cambridge Audio CD4 SE straight into amp. However, that might change if I had the correct cable to route the CD4 SE's digital output through the Mojo 2. I'd be interested to know how the CD4 SE sounds as a transport. I'd need to splash out £31 on the correct cable to find out though.
www.ebay.co.uk

2m Gotham '3.5mm to RCA' coaxial SPDIF soundcard interconnect | eBay

Please CLICK HERE for full item description. ********* Other cables are available ********* ********* Please browse the shop categories ********* Thank you.
www.ebay.co.uk
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
Disaster planning... If you are buying files to download and play, either keep a note of what and where from, or have (at least one) safe backup.
 
vince rocker said:
keep a note of what and where from,
Click to expand...
Is that to allow a re-download? Do sites typically allow you to go back and download again 1st after purchase?

I already have one album that I bought and it's in MP3 format, so not great sq and I can't remember where I bought it. Maybe I could re-download in a lossless format if I can find it's origin?
 
I’m with you regarding raspberry pi - great fun if that’s your thing, but ultimately I came to the conclusion that life was too short and jumped ship to a Cambridge Audio CXN v.2 with the external hard drive I used with the rpi. Loving having a reliable music source again that also sounds great after a few years worrying when the rpi would fall over and require a software rebuild. Normally this would be just long enough after that point where you remember how to do it meaning relearning it all over again. Bliss
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top