Bluetooth is a compressed format so sound quality would be better if you are feeding your DAC directly from a streamer. Apple Air Play is uses your WiFi network and is not compressed. I don't know if it is as good as direct streaming but it is much better than Bluetooth. One of the advantages of Air Play is that some streaming services (e.g. Primephonic, which has an enormous classical catalog) use only Air Play or Bluetooth.
"Real" streamer vs. Bluetooth adapter--what's the advantage?
Hi folks. Please explain this to me in simple terms.
I’m currently streaming from a Galaxy 8 phone, Idagio and Amazon HD, to Audioengine B1 adapter connected by digital cable to a Hegel Rost integrated.
Suppose I got a ‘real’ streamer—Bluos or Cambridge or Marantz. Since I would be using a phone app to tell the streamer what to play, why would the sound quality improve? I’d still use the DAC in the amp, since I reckon that will be better than the one in a $1k or less streamer.
I’m pretty certain I’m missing something, but like the entanglement of sub-atomic particles, I just can’t get my head around it.
Any insight gratefully accepted.