My adventures in stereo
Senior Member
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2022
- Messages
- 302
- Likes
- 295
I use spotify, for exploring new music & for a quick preview of media I am about to purchase
Connecting a laptop to my rig, through USB was too clunky
Hence I was on the market, for a compact streaming solution
1 Chrome Cast Audio
I was a late adopter, having picked one up late in 2021
Paid a 100$ on ebay, for a new in box, out of production product
well packaged, compact and well made, comes with a power adapter & a small analog plug for aux input
Set up was easy, very compact puck sized device, connected easily to my home network
I was up and running very quickly,
Audio quality was average & sounded worse than what I was experiencing through USB playback from my laptop
I tried the minitoslink to optical input, sound quality was not much better
Also had connectivity issues intermittently and varying volume levels, hence gave up on it
2 Volumio on minidsp SHD
I liked the idea of reducing the number of devices on my rig & was excited about trying out the raspberry pi based volumio player on the minidsp SHD
After following the instructions provided in the minidsp manual, I was unable to find the plug ins for spotify on my volumio web interface
Finally ended up contacting the minidsp forum & after a usb based volumio software, the spotify plug ins magically appeared
The setup was straight forward, I had spotify running pretty soon
Sound quality was a step up from the CCA, no latency or sound drop off issues so far
3 Wiim Mini Streamer
while I was having issues with the volumio, came across this highly regarded product on ASR & picked one up
Ironically the day it arrived, I was able to fix my issues with volumio
comes well packaged, with a whole bunch of cables, lot of connectivity options & a mobile style USB type C charger, which works 100 -240 V
Set up is straight forward, for initial setup, keep it close to your router & phone
Install the app, it gives you straight forward instructions
Plugged it in to my Topping DX 7 Pro, through optical set audioquality to 24 bit 192 KHZ
Sounded very good
Better than the CCA, cant say if better than volumio, gain is a bit higher, I used the 2V fixed output
I tried the audio sync option & this caused some sync issues, which I am still trying to sort out
So far, the volumio player, seems the best option for me
No need for extra cables or components, decent sound quality & connectivity
The Wiim is a much more polished device than the CCA, more reliable & has better sound quality
Connecting a laptop to my rig, through USB was too clunky
Hence I was on the market, for a compact streaming solution
1 Chrome Cast Audio
I was a late adopter, having picked one up late in 2021
Paid a 100$ on ebay, for a new in box, out of production product
well packaged, compact and well made, comes with a power adapter & a small analog plug for aux input
Set up was easy, very compact puck sized device, connected easily to my home network
I was up and running very quickly,
Audio quality was average & sounded worse than what I was experiencing through USB playback from my laptop
I tried the minitoslink to optical input, sound quality was not much better
Also had connectivity issues intermittently and varying volume levels, hence gave up on it
2 Volumio on minidsp SHD
I liked the idea of reducing the number of devices on my rig & was excited about trying out the raspberry pi based volumio player on the minidsp SHD
After following the instructions provided in the minidsp manual, I was unable to find the plug ins for spotify on my volumio web interface
Finally ended up contacting the minidsp forum & after a usb based volumio software, the spotify plug ins magically appeared
The setup was straight forward, I had spotify running pretty soon
Sound quality was a step up from the CCA, no latency or sound drop off issues so far
3 Wiim Mini Streamer
while I was having issues with the volumio, came across this highly regarded product on ASR & picked one up
Ironically the day it arrived, I was able to fix my issues with volumio
comes well packaged, with a whole bunch of cables, lot of connectivity options & a mobile style USB type C charger, which works 100 -240 V
Set up is straight forward, for initial setup, keep it close to your router & phone
Install the app, it gives you straight forward instructions
Plugged it in to my Topping DX 7 Pro, through optical set audioquality to 24 bit 192 KHZ
Sounded very good
Better than the CCA, cant say if better than volumio, gain is a bit higher, I used the 2V fixed output
I tried the audio sync option & this caused some sync issues, which I am still trying to sort out
So far, the volumio player, seems the best option for me
No need for extra cables or components, decent sound quality & connectivity
The Wiim is a much more polished device than the CCA, more reliable & has better sound quality