Streamers. I don’t get it. Am I missing something?

[Yorkshire Mouth]

What is a streamer for?

My music listening is almost entirely Amazon Music HD, for which I use the desktop app, and for the odd title not available there, I have my old (and extensive) CD collection ripped and in my NAS, which I play using WMP.

What advantage would a streamer bring? Is it purely so you don’t have to use a PC?

 

[Vini darko]

What advantage would a streamer bring? Is it purely so you don’t have to use a PC?

Yep

 

[raif71]

Is DAP the 1st streamer? Well kinda like a desktop DAP ?

 

[diddley]

and when it's intergrated with your stereo it works beautifull, internet radio your NAS the different providers.And the sound is really good.

 

[Frgirard]

What is a streamer for?

My music listening is almost entirely Amazon Music HD, for which I use the desktop app, and for the odd title not available there, I have my old (and extensive) CD collection ripped and in my NAS, which I play using WMP.

What advantage would a streamer bring? Is it purely so you don’t have to use a PC?

The advantages is for the dealer. In your case.

 

[Jimbob54]

Is DAP the 1st streamer? Well kinda like a desktop DAP ?

Not really. The pure streamer is just the transport pre dac. The DAP is an all in one streamer, dac and headamp.

But "steamer" has a pretty broad definition so I'm not sure what definition OP is using.

 

[Jimbob54]

The advantages is for the dealer. In your case.

Yup, the pc is your streamer if you're connecting it by wires to the DAC. A very competent streamer too as you can add DSP as required. Something lots of pure streamers sorely lack.

 

[Matias]

I have my main PC at the office at home and in the living room a small streamer that reads the files from the PC. So I view it as an "extension" of my PC.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Hard for me to imagine that folks STILL use a PC for streaming music. Do you have PCs throughout the house? Streamers are tiny, can go in any room, without any noise or heat, and take up very little space. Many of us use little Sonos speakers in rooms other than the main listening room, huge WAF, integrated streaming, even voice controlled if desired.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Hard for me to imagine that folks STILL use a PC for streaming music. Do you have PCs throughout the house? Streamers are tiny, can go in any room, without any noise or heat, and take up very little space. Many of us use little Sonos speakers in rooms other than the main listening room, huge WAF, integrated streaming, even voice controlled if desired.

Okay, here's what I have.

- Kitchen - Sonos Play 5.
- Main Lounge - Amazon Fire TV Cube into Denon AVR into B&W speakers.
- Office (where I do my main, personal listening, and where the best quality is needed) - PC into FiiO K5 Pro, then various headphones.

So the Sonos is a speaker with built in streamer in the kitchen, and the Amazon Cube is the streamer in the Main Lounge.

I suppose my question is, would a streamer be of any benefit in the office, given my PC is in there anyway to start with.

 

[julian_hughes]

I use streamers. Orange Pi's running a UPnP renderer with the audio files being on a home server. I definitely do not want a PC in my bedroom and when I'm in my living room and not using a PC I want a device which runs silently.
What I also like, aside from the infinitesimal running cost and the quiet, is that I can swap the playback between, phone, tablet, home audio with streamer, and even PC if I like. So if I'm listening at home and then go out I can just transfer the music stream to my phone, put in my IEMs and carry on listening. BubbleUPnP server and app are truly brilliant.

 

[jae]

The biggest benefits of a streamer are not needing to use a more power hungry PC and other quality of life features built into the software that typical playback software may be lacking. You get useful features like remote control via mobile phone etc.

Hard for me to imagine that folks STILL use a PC for streaming music. Do you have PCs throughout the house? Streamers are tiny, can go in any room, without any noise or heat, and take up very little space. Many of us use little Sonos speakers in rooms other than the main listening room, huge WAF, integrated streaming, even voice controlled if desired.

Many people only listen to music at their computer or could have a computer in their listening space. A laptop/net book also does not really make any noise or heat either and could go in any room to be fair, with the added benefit of not needing to turn it off to move it. A majority of people only have one, maybe two listening spaces anyway. I feel standalone "streamers" will start to die off as active speakers become the norm and the prices of suitable SoC components go down.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

I suppose my question is, would a streamer be of any benefit in the office, given my PC is in there anyway to start with.

I use my "PC" (a ChromeBox, FAR more secure than a Windows or Mac PC) strictly as a remote for my LMS running on a RPi 4. LMS can then render to endpoints throughout the house, including the Sonos speakers and to a Pi 3A+ renderer with JustBoom Digi board into my RME DAC, right next to the PC. I like to keep my music system completely independent of my PC, avoiding the inherent competition for resources of a PC. But that's just me.

I use my PC primarily for browsing the web, checking the stock market, editing photos, etc. Very often, web pages will include videos, which will immediately mute apps like Spotify if running on the PC. PITA. The independent RPi renderer is unaffected. Plus, I have JiveLite running on a little 5" display, so can instantly glance over to see what track is playing, vs having to Alt-Tab back to an app.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

I feel standalone "streamers" will start to die off as active speakers become the norm and the prices of suitable SoC components go down.

Yes, that and amps. If I didn't use the Cube in my Main Lounge, I'd stream using the HEOS function already in the AV amp.

 

[hege]

Hard for me to imagine that folks STILL use a PC for streaming music. Do you have PCs throughout the house?

Well I actually have 7 PC's in the house (+ laptop), if we must count. But I only critically listen music in my Genelec-mancave. Elsewhere I like to use my wireless IEMs.

Kind of pointless thread. Some like the multipurpose and processing advantages the (HT)PC brings, some simplicity of streamers. These been beaten to death.

 

[hmscott]

What is a streamer for?

My music listening is almost entirely Amazon Music HD, for which I use the desktop app, and for the odd title not available there, I have my old (and extensive) CD collection ripped and in my NAS, which I play using WMP.

What advantage would a streamer bring? Is it purely so you don’t have to use a PC?

Okay, here's what I have.

- Kitchen - Sonos Play 5.
- Main Lounge - Amazon Fire TV Cube into Denon AVR into B&W speakers.
- Office (where I do my main, personal listening, and where the best quality is needed) - PC into FiiO K5 Pro, then various headphones.

So the Sonos is a speaker with built in streamer in the kitchen, and the Amazon Cube is the streamer in the Main Lounge.

I suppose my question is, would a streamer be of any benefit in the office, given my PC is in there anyway to start with.

Not in my case, no, I wouldn't want/need a "Streamer" in my office, or anywhere else.

I've got PC's everywhere, portable DAC/AMP's, Phone / DAP, Tablets, and not a single Streamer - and I don't feel the need to add a Streamer to my setups.

Why duplicate my setup in the guise of a "Streamer"? My existing setups all have Streamer functionality - all network connected music players with App's to stream music, video, etc.

The PC/Linux/Android eco-systems and wide range of Applications are integral to my enjoyment of Music. I would feel lost without those "features" - by limiting myself to a Streamer with a "fixed" set of applications.

Tidal /AMHD hand off control to whichever device I am currently using to listen to music, while I have many other apps loaded to assist me in my daily activities, while leveraging research of other sources of Music information.

I can see the attraction of a Streamer to a non-PC centric person, the Streamer adds App-like features to their music listening, without the need to "learn" how to install and configure applications themselves.

My suggestion to those that want a Streamer is to figure out what functions they want from a Streamer, and get a PC/Tablet/DAP that can install all the features they want, and take their time to learn and explore the far-ranging possibilities that an open environment offers. They can start small - install a couple of Streaming Apps, and then learn and grow over time at a pace that is enjoyable and never-ending.

A Streamer locks you in to whatever it has from the start, with limited updates and new features. Then when a new device is released that device will get the newer features and you'll need to pay for that upgrade, far more than simply uninstalling old App's and installing new ones.

A PC/Linux/Android device offers an open environment that you can grow with over the years, and you can upgrade the audio components as you desire - without needing to throw out a whole stack of functionality every time you are forced to buy a new "Streamer".

 

[Jimbob54]

Okay, here's what I have.

- Kitchen - Sonos Play 5.
- Main Lounge - Amazon Fire TV Cube into Denon AVR into B&W speakers.
- Office (where I do my main, personal listening, and where the best quality is needed) - PC into FiiO K5 Pro, then various headphones.

So the Sonos is a speaker with built in streamer in the kitchen, and the Amazon Cube is the streamer in the Main Lounge.

I suppose my question is, would a streamer be of any benefit in the office, given my PC is in there anyway to start with.

No. Not if close enough for usb. If you didn't want usb or there was some noise, streamer might be useful.

 

[Yorkshire Mouth]

Kind of pointless thread. Some like the multipurpose and processing advantages the (HT)PC brings, some simplicity of streamers. These been beaten to death.

Given that we've had people come down on different sides of the fence, and offered different reasons for their decision, suggests otherwise.

 

[Jimbob54]

Not in my case, no, I wouldn't want/need a "Streamer" in my office, or anywhere else.

I've got PC's everywhere, portable DAC/AMP's, Phone / DAP, Tablets, and not a single Streamer - and I don't feel the need to add a Streamer to my setups.

Why duplicate my setup in the guise of a "Streamer"? My existing setups all have Streamer functionality - all network connected music players with App's to stream music, video, etc.

The PC/Linux/Android eco-systems and wide range of Applications are integral to my enjoyment of Music. I would feel lost without those "features" - by limiting myself to a Streamer with a "fixed" set of applications.

Tidal /AMHD hand off control to whichever device I am currently using to listen to music, while I have many other apps loaded to assist me in my daily activities, while leveraging research of other sources of Music information.

I can see the attraction of a Streamer to a non-PC centric person, the Streamer adds App-like features to their music listening, without the need to "learn" how to install and configure applications themselves.

My suggestion to those that want a Streamer is to figure out what functions they want from a Streamer, and get a PC/Tablet/DAP that can install all the features they want, and take their time to learn and explore the far-ranging possibilities that an open environment offers. They can start small - install a couple of Streaming Apps, and then learn and grow over time at a pace that is enjoyable and never-ending.

A Streamer locks you in to whatever it has from the start, with limited updates and new features. Then when a new device is released that device will get the newer features and you'll need to pay for that upgrade, far more than simply uninstalling old App's and installing new ones.

A PC/Linux/Android offers an open environment that you an grow with over the years, and you can upgrade the audio components as you desire - without needing to throw out a whole stack of functionality every time you are forced to buy a new "Streamer".

How do you get AMHD to hand off between devices?

 

[Jimbob54]

PS @Yorkshire Mouth, nice profile pic