Streamer Recommendation to use with DAC? Budget Suggestion

[CaptSham]

I have a working amp, preamp, speakers and considering the Schiit Modi 3 instead of using something like a Sonos Port.

I've got an extensive FLAC collection on a NAS and would like to send 16 or 24 bit files via ethernet or WiFi to the above pairing.

I also want to do this as inexpensively as possible and that it why I am focusing on the $99 DAC.

Any thoughts appreciated.

Thanks

 

[tw99]

Depending on your tolerance for messing with DIY IT stuff, a Raspberry PI with PiCoreplayer would be about $50.

 

[CaptSham]

Any url to the DIY PiCoreplayer?

 

[Jimbob54]

If you can get one - Chromecast Audio , optical out to DAC. Use BubbleUPNP or similar app to cast from Android to the CCA, bingo. Lossless etc etc . Before discontinued were going for around £30/$30 I believe.

 

[kmplng]

Raspberry Pi with SPDIF Out Board with Software: Volumio or HifiBerryOS or Moode Audio or piCorePlayer…

 

[BDWoody]

If you can get one - Chromecast Audio , optical out to DAC. Use BubbleUPNP or similar app to cast from Android to the CCA, bingo. Lossless etc etc . Before discontinued were going for around £30/$30 I believe.

I'll second this...CCA is a good option if you can find one.

 

[Piotr]

Is CCA 192/24 or 96/24? Google is kinda contradicting and I see some info that it was 192 but google has limited it to 96 programmatically.

I agree it's great option especially for the price. Wonder if new DACs would handle MQA decoding from toslink. Imo the toslink is so natural for sound, should be preffered all way down in compare to USB. No ground loops, RF interference and shit like that....

 

[Jimbob54]

Is CCA 192/24 or 96/24? Google is kinda contradicting and I see some info that it was 192 but google has limited it to 96 programmatically.

I agree it's great option especially for the price. Wonder if new DACs would handle MQA decoding from toslink. Imo the toslink is so natural for sound, should be preffered all way down in compare to USB. No ground loops, RF interference and shit like that....

Not sure. Roon wont stream to CCA past 24/96. I assume that is because the device itself tells it that but maybe its a profile on Roon that could be updated should capability change.

By the way, tidal will only cast to CCA at 16/44 (or maybe 48). Not sure if qobuz /amazon behave differently.

 

[Piotr]

Oh I am surprised by that; why Tidal made this choice? Is this limited also in hifi subscription?

EDIT: ok I found 44/11 is their default hifi lvl so it's everywhere 44/11. Exception is for MQA where it's streamed at 96 kHz / 24 bit but currently there are not DACs supporting MQA through optical fiber. Shame.

 

[Jimbob54]

Oh I am surprised by that; why Tidal made this choice? Is this limited also in hifi subscription?

EDIT: ok I found 44/11 is their default hifi lvl so it's everywhere 44/11. Exception is for MQA where it's streamed at 96 kHz / 24 bit but currently there are not DACs supporting MQA through optical fiber. Shame.

I didnt know the second bit. That may mean the Chromecast Audio might play Tidal MQA cast from the app on its native DAC. Think it will only send 16/48 out of the optical though. I dont have a way of testing that though other than if the Tidal app shows the text in yellow not blue when a song is casting . Roon handles it differently and takes control of the CCA and streams it locally from your Core to the endpoint (CCA) at up to 24/96 (for MQA, doing the first unfold to 24/96). Whereas the Tidal app on your phone simply points your CCA over the web to the Tidal servers and the phone does nothing in terms of handling the stream. I thought as the CCA isnt MQA enabled to decode , Tidal wouldnt cast the full MQA file to it.

 

[Jimbob54]

Why would he need or want better than 16/44.1? For A/V I can understand 24/48 because that seems to be what A/V receivers most want to see. That sort of barely makes sense. Otherwise, I don’t get it.

Dont disagree , I'm just pointing out the technical limitations as I understand them, not whether those limitations are a real life barrier. Some people like to know they are getting the "full" experience that the source can offer regardless of the functional value of the extra "stuff". Also, some files may simply not play if the source file is beyond the capabilities of the devices in the chain depending on the resampling/ converting capabilities in the kit.

 

[murraycamp]

Not sure. Roon wont stream to CCA past 24/96. I assume that is because the device itself tells it that but maybe its a profile on Roon that could be updated should capability change.

By the way, tidal will only cast to CCA at 16/44 (or maybe 48). Not sure if qobuz /amazon behave differently.

Qobuz casts to 24/192 (limited to 24/96 for CCA optical out) I believe.

 

[StevenEleven]

Dont disagree , I'm just pointing out the technical limitations as I understand them, not whether those limitations are a real life barrier. Some people like to know they are getting the "full" experience that the source can offer regardless of the functional value of the extra "stuff". Also, some files may simply not play if the source file is beyond the capabilities of the devices in the chain depending on the resampling/ converting capabilities in the kit.

Fair enough. The other day I had to “turn down” my Behringer Swiss-army knife DEQ 2496 to 24/48 so a downstream 1990s 24/48 DAC could see it.

 

[StevenEleven]

Qobuz casts to 24/192 (limited to 24/96 for CCA optical out) I believe.

As I’m sure you know you can can set max stream in Qobuz. . I am using Qobuz streamed from my iPad and set to 16/44.1 right now. : )

Sorry, i was messing with this stuff last night and am finding hi-res more aggravating than ever. There are standards and compatibility problems and people pay all kinds of extra money for equipment that flashes the right numbers for no audible benefit, only eating bandwidth and $ down the drain. CCA and Raspberry Pi sounds like nice options.

 

[Jimbob54]

Fair enough. The other day I had to “turn down” my Behringer Swiss-army DEQ 2496 to 24/48 so a downstream 1990s 24/48 DAC could see it.

How on earth did you cope? ;-)

 

[Jimbob54]

As I’m sure you know you can can set max stream in Qobuz. . I am using Qobuz streamed from my iPad and set to 16/44.1 right now. : )

Sorry, i was messing with this stuff last night and am finding hi-res more aggravating than ever.

I long for a world where every bit of kit can play every file you throw at it. Not sure hifi or even the whole consumer electronics biz would want to let that happen though.

 

[murraycamp]

I find Qobuz streamed to my CCA - opt out - SHD (dac/dsp) really easy, but I'm not trying to integrate Roon, Volumio or other platform to play native digital files so I may have a different opinion if I was trying to do that.

 

[AudioSceptic]

Raspberry Pi with SPDIF Out Board with Software: Volumio or HifiBerryOS or Moode Audio or piCorePlayer…

No need for the S/PDIF board: just use USB with Volumio or similar.

 

[somebodyelse]

No need for the S/PDIF board: just use USB with Volumio or similar.

Certainly as a starting point. Pi 4 to avoid potential USB issues, 1GB RAM is probably sufficient. SPDIF is a viable workaround in the unlikely event of DAC compatibility issues on USB. My personal preference is PiCorePlayer but they're free to download and try so see what suits you.

I'd also look for used fanless thin clients on ebay to install Daphile on - could be even cheaper than the Pi, but might need more knowledge of computers. Volumio might be an option there too.

 

[krabapple]

I long for a world where every bit of kit can play every file you throw at it. Not sure hifi or even the whole consumer electronics biz would want to let that happen though.

AFAICT if you have wasapi output from a player like foobar2k, file data goes out bit-perfect from your player; playback pretty much comes down to what your connection (S/PDIF, USB, HDMI, wifi, bluetooth) and your AVR can handle as input.