How about get a DAC wired via USB from the notebook, then out to a amplifier and to the speakers? Then you can get anything you want and videos too.
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Does anyone else like FM?
- Thread starter Mark1
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- Thread Starter
- #542
That's an option. But I want to have FM
. What's wrong with the DAC in my laptop or tv? I can output any audio to the headphone jack and to my current receiver. If I decided to stream music more I'd rather do it wirelessly with wifi and my cell phone. So I was thinking either a WiiM pro to my current receiver or springing extra for something like a Yamaha networking receiver that hopefully has a better FM tuner as a bonus.
Two good choices. Can you order in the Yamaha and test drive the tuner?
- Thread Starter
- #544
I could but I don't want to order it to test out until I'm committed to buying it
. I'm not sure but think would have to step up to top art model to get a tuner much better than the Sony's.With the Wiim I might end up with mismatched source impedances, voltages and volume levels connecting to the Sony receiver
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Dude, you definitely worry too much.With the Wiim I might end up with mismatched source impedances, voltages and volume levels connecting to the Sony receiver
- Thread Starter
- #546
Having a mismatched volume level between sources annoys me, as also does under or overdriving my power amp and not optimizing distortion and signal to noise
If you bothered to look at earlier posts, you would find that where he lives FM sounds better than streaming.
And where I live (in a forest, on a river, with 2 15 amp service at the absolute end of the electrical system, streaming is not an option at all. The cell phone works IF you get on a deck & stand in the right spot.
But in both cases we can get great free FM from many (some even good stations). And find out about local to us happenings.
In my case, I don't hear above 15 Khz anyway, so that cutoff doesn't matter. I also get 36 channels of over the air HDTV for free & with no digital compression.
It's OK that some folks have other ways of doing things & it should be OK to you that we don't do things the way you do.
No landline based phone system has ever been out here.
So far: every one of your posts is getting a great score for "winning friends and influencing people".
No hate intended, just making a point.
Maybe not being so reactive?
And going to the forum that I suggested earlier (about speakers) (all you have to do is click on it, it's on this very same site).
Otherwise, you are just flailing around randomly not getting to people who are particularly interested in your query.
I'll suggest it again:
Speaker Reviews, Measurements and Discussion
I just tried it (clicked on it) from the post above & it goes straight to the speaker site (within this site).
Perhaps you need to look down, beyond the heading.
- Thread Starter
- #551
I haven't determined at the moment where streaming has higher than good FM fidelity, but it's probably somewhere between 192kbps and 320kbs, above SiriusXM broadcast and streaming, and all the non-subscription streaming music I'm aware of. My internet has plenty of bandwidth 100Mbps to stream anything, but I don't want to get a subscription to stream music. It's not even just about that. I dislike using most of the streaming apps, fiddling with a cell phone or PC, and the way the content is delivered.
I prefer the user interface of FM tuning and curated music most of the time. I find FM broadcasting and tuners kind of fascinating.
I despise a stereo that I can't just walk up to and use.
It would prevent my 91 year old mother from using it if she came over & I was out & about. Or my 81 year old Uncle. Or actually anyone that I know who comes over & just wants to listen to some music while they are waiting for me to get back with some firewood or whatever it is that I am doing at the moment.
To me, a large part of it is for social purposes & putting in a computer or cell phone requirement for use defeats that openness & freedom.
The exact reason that I live where I do: for openness & freedom in my surroundings.
Cell phones & computers are the ANTI-social things in this instance.
And I go other places for periods of time. 3 months here, pack my gear, 6 months there, pack my gear, 3 months somewhere else or maybe back here.
In 2001, I told my parents that I was going to be gone a couple of years. I cam back in 2018.
Being beholden to some contract for streaming or whatever is NOT for me.
Kr2d2
Member
I love FM radio!
It's wonderful when I can hear Mozart's Jupiter Symphony on WDR3 public radio via my old & beautiful Revox B 780 Receiver, as I'm writing this on a late Sunday morning!
It's wonderful when I can hear Mozart's Jupiter Symphony on WDR3 public radio via my old & beautiful Revox B 780 Receiver, as I'm writing this on a late Sunday morning!
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- Thread Starter
- #554
Thumbs up to your mother making it to 91 and still going.
That's what I like about FM and tuners too. It's like a direct and fast working purpose-built machine or system. Often I'll play music at the beginning of the day before I'm half awake or ready to start looking and swiping on computer screens. I don't usually really care for using an app to play music any time of the day.
When you count cost of just one music subscription over the life of my last receiver 17-20 years and counting, that's $1000s of dollars. And think of all the other equipment and services you need to make streaming happen, internet service, a router, a streamer, a laptop or cell phone. Granted most people have all those things already, but an FM tuner doesn't need any of those things. You could even get a really good FM super tuner for a lot less and play it for free for years. I'm not totally against digital music streaming. FM today does have more challenges to get its full potential sound quality. I do value digital streaming's potential for higher sound quality, but it comes at an inconvenience and cost I don't always want to bother with.
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Even if I could bother with it (For those that have not been reading earlier posts, it can't happen by normal means where I primarily reside) streaming is something that I don't feel like bothering with. I leave my phone in the truck for the same reason, I don't want to be bothered with it.
I'll check it 2, maybe 3 times a day & that is it.
I'll check it 2, maybe 3 times a day & that is it.
- Thread Starter
- #556
I know what you mean. It's like to stream at hi fidelty I have to add all these layers, complication and junk to my trusty hifi system. I do use my PC and phone a good bit through the day, but not for music much. Maybe it's because I grew up using FM tuners (less often along with cassettes, records, then CDs which kind of all are similar to use) and computers were just a new thing to play video games and type programming into. I associate tuners and not computers with music.
It's a little surprising to me that it seems most people even much older than me, have ditched FM and their tuners and receivers for streaming long ago. But I never was one to jump on the newest fads right away
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MLaranjeiras
Active Member
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With Audirvana I can listen Antena1 Radio, my favorite, with a good sound quality. I use FM for listening some local news and some radios that still alive and help me to remember my golden era, the second half of the 1970's
- Thread Starter
- #558
I got a new Yamaha R-N600A receiver in silver https://usa.yamaha.com/products/audio_visual/hifi_components/r-n600a/index.html. I haven't had a silver one in a long time. The tuner is better than my old STR-DE197. It doesn't seem to be affected by interference and is more sensitive pulling in stereo even on the two weak stations the Sony rarely or never did. It seems most of my reception problems are gone and the old receivers tuner wasn't working good enough.
I liked the old Sony but being an entry level model I never thought it tuned in and sounded quite as good as receivers I had in the past. Plus it doesn't have a sub out I need and doesn't stream music. At the location I'm at now the old receiver's tuner wasn't really cutting it. It was a little pricey for a 2 ch receiver, but I guess I'll keep the Yamaha.
I liked the old Sony but being an entry level model I never thought it tuned in and sounded quite as good as receivers I had in the past. Plus it doesn't have a sub out I need and doesn't stream music. At the location I'm at now the old receiver's tuner wasn't really cutting it. It was a little pricey for a 2 ch receiver, but I guess I'll keep the Yamaha.
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| R-N600A |
|---|
| FM 50dB Quieting Sensitivity (IHF, 1 kHz, 100% Mod., Mono) | 3 µV (20.8 dBf) | |
|---|---|---|
| FM Signal-to-Noise Ratio (Mono/Stereo) | 65 dB / 64 dB |
Plus you have more options now should you add to what you are doing.
Pricey, yes but...
- Thread Starter
- #560
Agree just hope it lasts a long time. The tuner specs provided had me worried before getting the Yamaha that the tuner wouldn't even be as good.. The FM sensitivity and even the signal to noise specs on my Sony were better18.3 dBf, 76/70 dB. But what was the Sony rating sensitivity at 30dB maybe 20 dB above the noise lol?, Either that or the Sony wasn't performing to specs for whatever reason.
