One for the techy audiophiles..

[qigong chimp]

I've been offline at home for a few years because.. well, the net's all a bit crap, isn't it: paying to expose yourself to the reactionary banalities of economic migrants to west Africa and the currish snarls of Brexiteers?
But being set up with first ever smartphone with which to hotspot a work laptop during lockdown saw me making a tentative foray into online sounds. Piping radio and BBC listen again stuff from the phone to cheapo standalone speaker via 3.5mm aux in has been a modest joy. "Ooh, that's lovely" and on to the programme playlist to see what it is then onto YouTube to look for more of a composer/artist's output. Jot that down, for next time you're passing a music store.
Which got me thinking about the potential of quality home streaming to resuscitate with expanded versatility a musical journey that has been a bit circular of late.
I've seen off the itch to splash on something silly like the Naim Uniti Atom and am inclining to getting a respectable streamer to integrate with existing system of venerable separates from the 80s/90s.
My question is would I need to re-connect to the Internet at home to get the best from such kit, or will a hotspotting smartphone be enough to enable a streamer to play hi-res files from sources like tidal or classical music specific streaming platforms/services?

 

[Grant Fondo]

Not sure what internet speed you need to stream hi res, my Naim Unitiqute 2 is ethernet directly into router, so no issues. Stuff like Tidal Masters (which sounds great btw) may need decent speeds. I think Spotify at very high setting sounds almost as good as do some of the hi res iRadio channels. I got the kit secondhand just before lockdown, fraction of Atom price, have listened to more music in last 12 mths than ever before.
Can you do a speedcheck on your smartphone and see what the streaming services recommend?
Good luck

 

[Grant Fondo]

@qigong chimp ... looks like 3mbps needed top end hi res, less than I thought!
On 4G i get 15-20 mbps on smartphone here, not much better on wifi - 30 ish.
One thing to note, 45 mins of Tidal uses 1GB of data!!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Another issue may be that the DAC in your phone will probably not be up to the job of providing the sound quality that you want to hear.

Spotify Premium user here - £10 pm. Has massively changed the way we listen to music and it sounds stunning.

System: Arcam rPlay Steamer / Cyrus One amp / Oberon Dali speakers.

Can't think of any compelling reason to go down the Hi-Res route tbh. I imagined that no Hi-Res was going to be a big issue with Spotify prior to listening to it but I was very pleasantly wowed after.

 

[qigong chimp]

Another issue may be that the DAC in your phone will probably not be up to the job of providing the sound quality that you want to hear.

Spotify Premium user here - £10 pm. Has massively changed the way we listen to music and it sounds stunning.

System: Arcam rPlay Steamer / Cyrus One amp / Oberon Dali speakers.

Can't think of any compelling reason to go down the Hi-Res route tbh. I imagined that no Hi-Res was going to be a big issue with Spotify prior to listening to it but I was very pleasantly wowed after.

The high quality DAC is in the streamer, the phone's only there as conduit for digital signal from the cloud/web/ether into the streamer..

 

[Randomnerd]

I’ve a Ruark R4 which does enough for me. Bluetooth from my phone gives a pretty good sound to me, but maybe my ears aren’t as refined as others ( Wu Tang Clan; Beastie Boys; Tech9; Viagra Boys over Schubert)

 

[Grant Fondo]

I’ve a Ruark R4 which does enough for me. Bluetooth from my phone gives a pretty good sound to me, but maybe my ears aren’t as refined as others ( Wu Tang Clan; Beastie Boys; Tech9; Viagra Boys over Schubert)

Thats a quality bit of kit to be fair

 

[Gunk]

The high quality DAC is in the streamer, the phone's only there as conduit for digital signal from the cloud/web/ether into the streamer..

This is a whole new language. I use an Alexa plug connected to a Bang & Olufsen BeoSound 8, it sounds pretty OK to me.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

The high quality DAC is in the streamer, the phone's only there as conduit for digital signal from the cloud/web/ether into the streamer..

I understand that but I didn't think you had a DAC and Streamer other than your phone as source.

Apologies if I misunderstood.

 

[qigong chimp]

I understand that but I didn't think you had a DAC and Streamer other than your phone as source.

Apologies if I misunderstood.

You're right, I lack DAC and/or streamer, the question being if I get one or the other integrated into my existing system would the wi-if hotspot capability of a smart phone work in lieu of home broadband connection and adequately send hi-res digital audio files from Tidal, say, to the streamer to do it's conversion thing? must you really or ideally have a home broadband environment to make it worthwhile setting off on the music streaming journey..

Actually, while you're all here how about this? I notice my old Marantz CD player has a coaxial digital input connection - who knew? With the right cable might I pipe digital files - from phone, say - into it to exploit its onboard DAC, or am I being naive?

 

[mistyoptic]

Could do that with something like this

 

[Shreds]

Spot on. At the point you hear no difference there is no point spending the extra dosh. Everyone is different, especially the way our ears and brain process music. It why I never became a multimillionaire rock star

 

[russ.will]

A bit late to the party on this one, but have a look at the ifi audio zen blue wireless bluetooth dac.

IMHO, for most systems 16/44.1 CD quality is more than adequate. I do pay for the full monty Tidal experience, but the difference is subtle and only really exposed by absolutely stellar mixes. Sticking with "CD quality" will take the heat off your 4G data!

FWIW - System: NAD C658 BluOS DAC/Streamer: Papworth Audio M100 Valve Monoblocks: Klipsch Forte III Speakers and 2x 15" sealed subwoofers powered by a Crown Drivecore XLS-2502 amp.

Russ

 

[SheilaH]

I use a Chromecast Audio into my Arcam amp and EB acoustics speakers. Sounds amazing. You just have to remember to go into the Chromecast settings to access the highest quality. I do have a seperate Cambridge Audio DAC, but havent bothered plugging it in.

 

[Drago]

I have an Amazon Alexa plugged into my amp and stream through that (1982 120W Kenwood and and Technics speakers). Just a 3.5mm stereo lead, not the optical link that the more expensive Echo Link brings.

Now, my hearing is damaged in one ear, but not that badly, and I can't tell the difference between an album streamed via Amazon Music, and the same album played on my Arcam CD player through the same amp and speakers. I think you need top flight microhpones and am oscilloscope to tell any difference.