2. pc-audio
  3. 174484-170298

when did it all get so complicated?

it was about 8 or 10  years ago that i spent considerable brain power upgrading my system.....now i am doing it again in a smaller space - bought a croft integrated phono and lots of hand wringing there getting the damn TT to work.......then I was delighted to find that tidal now has a huge library of cd quality music (and beyond quality wise but i dont need more)

 

All I want to do is find a player (streamer?) that would allow me to sit at my desk and stream good new tunes through the croft and the pmc monitors.....i was hoping there would be a simple little box that did this....Wow 4 internet days later and i know nothing other than what the flying F is rpi doing in simple streaming threads.....i sort of think the allo boss2 is the answer but i have to say bibi to the nice tidal website interface.  moode.......what the hell is moode.

 

i want to noodle around tidal or qobuz website and hit play and thats it.....no NAS no multi room... if i like it i buy an album....jeez the industry looks like its actively trying to get in the way of listening to music to sell unnecessary software and hardware. bummer.

I guess ill just enjoy tidal on my bowers and wilkins mm1's (not bad) unless -  you dear reader, you .......unless you can help - 1 device - just one, plugged into the back of a croft integrated controlled by my desktop (ok or an old ipad)

in the end the laptop plugged into a dac route seems by far the best ive seen so far - sad.

 

 

rand24us
erik_squires
15,643 posts
 

NAD has a streaming amp for this, and I've grown quite fond of their Class D implementation.

czarivey
5,666 posts
 

looks like nothing gets complicated unless you complicate on purpose. many people do that and then asking questions when answer is already there.

esporma
21 posts
 

Many ways to do this. Hopefully you’ll get the hint... it’s pretty easy, really.

(1,2) In our home offices, I got a couple of NuForce DDA-100 DAC/Amps. Windows 8 laptops via USB to DDA-100 USB input. PC plays Tidal HiFi and using FooBar to play music stored in our LAN. Amplifiers drives Acoustic Energy AE1s. That’s our two home offices: two sets.

(3,4) Main stereo. Old Android Tablet playing Tidal HiFi and FooBar, via USB OTG cable to NuForce HDP4, outputs to aux input of CJ preamp. PC running Windows 10 to UWB to RME ADI2 Pro RS AD/DAC as a tape monitor.

(5) HT, Windows 8 laptop drives USB to 7.1 Asus Xonar U7. From then, 7.1 to Emotiva pre/pro.  Play PLEX client for movies, Tidal, FooBar, etc..

(6) Bedroom.. Old Android Tablet into Nuforce uDAC3 via USB OTG cables. From there to Parasound preamp.  Foobar, Tidal.

(7) "Martini Room"... Old Android Tablets into Nuforce uDAC2 via USB OTG cables. From there to mini receiver in the mid century console.  Foobar, Tidal.

(8) Portable. My Android phone to Topping NX4 DSD DAC / headphone amp. Then I got full sized headphones and IEMs.   Foobar, Tidal.

Hopefully you get the hint? I’m not even discussing the home NASs with all the music in them nor using Bluetooth for the wireless speakers. But that’s pretty much the same, the PCs and Android devices all have access to the LAN, so they can play the music with FooBar. Nothing fancy needed... no fancy streamers need.

The fanciest part for playing your locally network music is to install FooBar which sounds the best to me.

Just take DAC, USB cable to PC, USB OTG cable to Android, install FooBar and TIdal (Qobuz... whatever you might us), plug headphones into DAC or audio interconnects to your stereo... and you are set. No need for those fancy ’servers’ and ’streamers’... IMHO, those are a scam.

I have three Raspberries too, but I’m using them for other nefarious purposes so far... I have not needed them yet for audio because Android tablets and USB OTG cables are dirt cheap nowadays.

I gotta tell you... the best part is having 512Gb of music downloaded into all of my Android devices.  I can grab my phone, hook it up to the battery powered DAC and walk around... or I can hook it up to my car's USB and play music forever.

doni
310 posts
 

 Wiim puck.  Kind of like CCA but better.  Check out John Darko you tube on it.

reubent
6,935 posts
 

I bought  WIIM Mini based on the Darko review. Works great. Sound Quality is not quite on par with a Raspberry Pi 3 / HiFi Berry DAC Pro+ running Volumio, but it is easier to use, so there's that...

I bought my WIIM Mini when it was $89 on Amazon and it is a screaming good deal at that price. Up to $100, hard to beat for streaming. BTW, it has gotten better over time IMHO, or I've just gotten used to the sound. Regardless, enjoyable at less than <$100.

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