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

[Yorkshire Mouth]

PS @Yorkshire Mouth, nice profile pic

I've been meaning to put one up for a while. I don't want to chop and change, as that just gets confusing, but I may swap every now and then.

Saw them play the album on full on the 20th anniversary tour at the Manchester Apollo.

 

[Jimbob54]

I've been meaning to put one up for a while. I don't want to chop and change, as that just gets confusing, but I may swap every now and then.

Saw them play the album on full on the 20th anniversary tour at the Manchester Apollo.

Seen them many times between 97 (I think) at Reading (that blew my mind). Stopped going around Songs in A&E.

 

[MaxBuck]

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.

I can't see how a stand-alone streamer would improve your life.

 

[CMB]

I have used for years a Mac mini with Audirvana (before I used Foobar/PC longtime).
I used my large TV as screen.
Most of the time I stream Tidal.
I could plug in Dirac in Audirvana which is great.
I can use my phone and iPad as Audirvana remote.
Perfect.

Well, I had to find the TV remote, launch my TV, choose HDMI, also often my Ipad/Iphone runs out of batterie, most often I had to walk to the MacMini/TV set, I had to use the mouse.
Sometimes, I have to relaunch Audirvana... or even the whole Mac mini...

Then I bought a Node 3 streamer recently and I don't regret it at all, I LOVE IT, even I can not use Dirac anymore.
It is plugged digital into my RME Adi DAC (using EQ).
The best thing being, I can control it from my Macbook (BlueOs) on my knees while browsing or reading ASR...
I don't have to turn my TV on anymore.
It is so convenient for the moment, I am very happy with it.

 

[Zensō]

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.

Considering your setup, I’d say no. If you were to add another listening area and wanted to control it from your PC or mobile device, then a streamer might be useful, otherwise it sounds like you’re covered.

 

[hmscott]

How do you get AMHD to hand off between devices?

Well, it's not the hand off like Tidal Connect, I simply run multiple instances of the App's on different devices with the same playlists in both Tidal and AMHD so I can compare recordings, and playback devices while listening with various headphones and IEM's.

It's really not that hard to set up, I'm sure you can figure it out.

 

[restorer-john]

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.

Our dog sometimes leaves "steamers" on the back deck...

 

[Jimbob54]

Our dog sometimes leaves "steamers" on the back deck...

Oops!

 

[Jimbob54]

Well, it's not the hand off like Tidal Connect, I simply run multiple instances of the App's on different devices with the same playlists in both Tidal and AMHD so I can compare recordings, and playback devices while listening with various headphones and IEM's.

It's really not that hard to set up, I'm sure you can figure it out.

Ah, thought you had figured out a Connect like way of moving the stream around between devices.

 

[Jman]

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

Apart from laptop I also used my cell phone as a streamer until over use of the socket (OTG cable to DAC) caused interrupted usb streams, constant fear for wiggling the wire, tested some wires
Now the phone is a wireless remote control for my Pro-ject Stream Box S2 ultra. Phone socket is merely used for charging now.

 

[SiR]

What is the need of a Streamer when we can connect Laptop to a DAC through USB and use the internal Hard disk of the Laptop or an External HDD to play our music collections we have and play the Music Streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify etc., from the laptop itself ?


What place do a Streamer have here to convince one to go for it ?

 

[mags65]

Small form-factor, silent, specialized solution with relevant inputs/outputs meant for audio directly integrated with streaming services through made-for-purpose app, often with additional features such as PEQ built in.

Your question should really be the other way around given streamer functionality in 2024.

 

[voodooless]

What place do a Streamer have here to convince one to go for it ?

To be able to put your laptop anywhere and still play music. No need to lug a USB cable around. A laptop is a portable device, adding a cabled accessory defeats the purpose. And a streamer means you don't even need a laptop at all. It can stay closed, off, or disconnected. Now, if you use it on a desktop and only listen to music there, a streamer is for little value. It really depends on your use case.

 

[dan_uk]

If USB from laptop to DAC, you might need a usb isolator, like the DSD Tech SH-G01L... Not sure if most people do or not, but certainly I got a hum / grounding noise when I went from PC to DAC.

 

[Purité Audio]

Convenience, but the price you pay is perhaps limited playback options, having said that you with the number of connectivity options offered by contemporary streamers that is less and less of an issue.
Keith

 

[SiR]

Small form-factor, silent, specialized solution with relevant inputs/outputs meant for audio directly integrated with streaming services through made-for-purpose app, often with additional features such as PEQ built in.

Your question should really be the other way around given streamer functionality in 2024.

Your response is right on the use case if one depend on the streaming services alone for listening to music but I have a large collection of songs in WAV and flac format stored in internal hdd of a laptop and external hdd

Listening from the Streaming services is an additional preference for me

Hence, I wished to have a clarification from the experienced members to know their feedback on the usage of laptop instead of a streamer

 

[SiR]

If USB from laptop to DAC, you might need a usb isolator, like the DSD Tech SH-G01L... Not sure if most people do or not, but certainly I got a hum / grounding noise when I went from PC to DAC.

I usually see the other way from various users of Laptop or PC connected to a DAC through USB

Input to a DAC through the USB is the best, effective way to listen to music

 

[Purité Audio]

No difference in SQ, just purely depends which is more convenient for you.
I used my old macbook pro as my reference for years into the same dac it sounded identical to everything else even the two ‘audio’ computers I commissioned.
Keith

 

[mags65]

Your response is right on the use case if one depend on the streaming services alone for listening to music but I have a large collection of songs in WAV and flac format stored in internal hdd of a laptop and external hdd

Listening from the Streaming services is an additional preference for me

Hence, I wished to have a clarification from the experienced members to know their feedback on the usage of laptop instead of a streamer

Most decent modern streamers cater for this, too. You can either hook up a HDD or SSD with your files via USB (e.g. Wiim Ultra, Eversolo DMPs) or they have the ability to install an SSD themselves (e.g. Eversolo DMPs). For instance, my cabin system (see signature) has a 2TB SSD in the Eversolo with around 1000 of my CDs ripped to FLAC.

 

[MaxwellsEq]

Your response is right on the use case if one depend on the streaming services alone for listening to music but I have a large collection of songs in WAV and flac format stored in internal hdd of a laptop and external hdd

Listening from the Streaming services is an additional preference for me

Hence, I wished to have a clarification from the experienced members to know their feedback on the usage of laptop instead of a streamer

1) Lots of people these days have a "desktop playback" solution but more legacy setups are in family rooms with speakers and HiFi in line of sight. In my "legacy" room setup, I would NOT get away with a laptop open and permanently on show! A single box streamer just "disappears" as another box in the stack!
2) I have a NAS with all of my FLAC and ripped CDs on. My single box streamer reads those over the LAN. I would NOT solely rely on the files in a laptop or PC hard drive because of a lack of hardware redundancy (I also backup the NAS of course).