2. digital
  3. 174025-96382

Improvement of MacBook Air for Streaming Tidal

OK, admittedly I am a bit ignorant on streaming digital. My analogue gear and knowhow is up to par, but digital...not quite. When not listening to vinyl, for ease of use I usually stream Tidal via my MacBook Air to a DAC (Hegel HD30), then to a preamp(Aric Audio Motherlode) then to amp(Coda Model 16) to speakers(TAD CE1’s). I like how easy it is to navigate my Tidal account and library via the MacBook, but I am also smart enough(I believe) to know that I am losing a lot of the fidelity having to use the USB port out of my laptop.

I ask my audio brethren, what are reasonably priced solutions to raise my digital methodologies so that I get the most out of Tidal?

 

I thank you in advance for your assistance!

laaudionut
jim204
881 posts
 

What I would say is you really need a streamer, purpose built for streaming digital audio and that is all it does so the processor is not taken up with other tasks that a PC has. If you heard a good streamer hooked up to your system you would hear a night and day difference. Get a good dealer who has three or four streamers in your price range and have a good listen. The only good PCs for streaming are ones purpose built for the task and believe me those are worth more than a first streamer.

Hope you get some more positive answers from some of the crowd here. Good luck, Jim.

laaudionut OP
241 posts
 

Jim,

 

I appreciate the advice and am looking into it. Ridiculous question #2- Where does the streamer fit into my current configuration? Is Tidal still controlled by my MacBook? I ask because I look at these streamers and see no screen or platform that allows me to view Tidal. Yes, I am that digitally dense...

fuzztone's avatar
fuzztone
5,501 posts
 

Best starter network player sans DAC is the iFi Zen. You control it with anything on your network. A smart phone is less cumbersome and less noisy than the laptop. If you want bigger use a tablet. Use the laptop for editing not serious listening. BubbleUPnP does Tidal.

sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 

@laaudionut that's good advice. If you can't visit a good dealer w/ multiple streamers, I suggest searching the archives for RECENT threads. This has been answered in gory detail 50 times or more in the last year. They'll all boil down to Raspberry Pi variations and better Intel NUCs for the diy-inclined, budget blusound boxes for low cost simplicity, then stepping to SGC Sonictransporters and Sonore Rendu variants for those looking to leverage large libraries maybe with NAS. Bigger budgets will look at Innous Zen, Aurenders and Lumins. Read up and match your budget & priorities and chances are probably your answer is gonna end up being one of those mentioned above. 

Cheers,

Spencer

dogfish
15 posts
 

I went with SonicTransporter i5>Ultra Rendu>RME ADI 2>Nighthawk Integrated.  I’m getting excellent SQ streaming Tidal and Qobuz vis Roon.  I’m basically a vinyl guy but couldn’t be happier with this setup for my digital listening.  I actually have the ST i5 upstairs connected via Ethernet to my router.   Another Ethernet connection is made downstairs between the Ultra Rendu and a WiFi extender.  
 

I was happy to remove a Dell laptop and insert the ST i5 in its place.

More to discover