Top 5 streamer devices by ASR community

[abdo123]

Don't they cost kind of the same once you have bought roon?

No, the Cambridge has a DAC with balanced outputs and some other services that RoopieXL does not support.

 

[Soniclife]

No, the Cambridge has a DAC with balanced outputs and some other services that RoopieXL does not support.

As it does not have EQ built in I forgot about the analogue out, as without roon you need to feed it into something else that does offer EQ. EQ is not an optional requirement, it needs to be somewhere in the chain.

 

[Alexanderc]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers? (This is a sincere question-I’ve been assuming this is the case, but I don’t know). How about if I can’t program and don’t own a soldering iron?

 

[nimar]

Sorry, but no.

Both the analog and digital outputs of the Chromecast Audio have been performance analyzed here and were found to able to surpass the thresholds for audio transparency. Of course, its digital output is much cleaner from an engineering perspective, but its analog output is able to surpass the lenient threshold with ease.

Once a device surpasses this threshold, the rest just becomes an engineering exercise that we couldn't possibly hear.

View attachment 119825

Getting into the weeds over a simple objective statement.

I didn't say it would sound better, I said it would have better performance (which is still true), and you can avoid google in your life. The CC also limits you to 24/96. You can argue that no one needs more than 24/96 but that doesn't stop it from being true, with a Pi you can use whatever the DAC can handle.

 

[DannoFP1]

Bluesound Node 2i - because the BluOS app is easy for everyone in the family to use and it comes with a bunch of internet radio stations preloaded. Plus it looks good.

 

[abdo123]

As it does not have EQ built in I forgot about the analogue out, as without roon you need to feed it into something else that does offer EQ. EQ is not an optional requirement, it needs to be somewhere in the chain.

This is not a critique at the Cambridge, but rather at the 300 DACs measured on this forum without any EQ capabilities.

Personally, I think EQ should be separate from the streamer because if you have a TV, a CD player, LP player .etc you want them to have the EQ as well.

 

[abdo123]

Sorry, but no.

Both the analog and digital outputs of the Chromecast Audio have been performance analyzed here and were found to able to surpass the thresholds for audio transparency. Of course, its digital output is much cleaner from an engineering perspective, but its analog output is able to surpass the lenient threshold with ease.

Once a device surpasses this threshold, the rest just becomes an engineering exercise that we couldn't possibly hear.

View attachment 119825

too bad that your discussion is moot since the CCA has been discontinued for years now.

 

[abdo123]

Actually I'm going to retract my previous statement.

You have money? The miniDSP SHD.

you don't have money? RPi 4 with RoopieXL installed (or Moode if you want EQ).

 

[Soniclife]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface

Are you OK with a PC running a music server somewhere in your house, but playback is controlled by a phone to a remote device, like a Pi?

 

[abdo123]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers? (This is a sincere question-I’ve been assuming this is the case, but I don’t know). How about if I can’t program and don’t own a soldering iron?

AmazonHD is very seclusive, so you can't really integrate it without a dedicated streamer.

As for all the other services, the raspberry pi would just fine, no programming or soldering required.

 

[Iglo]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers? (This is a sincere question-I’ve been assuming this is the case, but I don’t know). How about if I can’t program and don’t own a soldering iron?

There is also Chromecast audio, Audio Pro speakers and some others that integrate streaming in to speakers (and sometimes a bridge module to use other amp/speakers). But depending on the software of choice the Raspberry Pi can also be used to stream AmazonHD / Qobuz directly (via a direct integration like Spotify Connect or AirPlay / UPNP). No need to program or solder anything with an Raspberry Pi.

Edit: @abdo123 was a bit quicker ;-)

 

[Soniclife]

Personally, I think EQ should be separate from the streamer because if you have a TV, a CD player, LP player .etc you want them to have the EQ as well.

I agree, that was my point about the analogue outputs . EQ in your (pre)amp or speakers is the nicest place for it, mine is in my amp, and I love it.

 

[somebodyelse]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers? (This is a sincere question-I’ve been assuming this is the case, but I don’t know). How about if I can’t program and don’t own a soldering iron?

You don't need to be able to program to use most of the Pi software - there's a fairly simple stage to get the software onto the uSD card, then all the normal stuff is configured through a point-and-click web browser interface. It's only the unusual stuff or the stuff that's still in development where it starts getting more complicated.

For streaming services, it depends. Support varies between the different software, and may not exist at all. I don't know of any directly supporting Amazon HD, while Qobuz and Spotify support is quite common. In most of them the web interface can behave pretty close to an app, and some or all of the controls are available in actual apps. See iPeng, Squeezer and Material Skin for LMS/piCorePlayer as examples.

 

[Soniclife]

You have money? The miniDSP SHD.

A very tempting box of tricks.

 

[somebodyelse]

If you don't want to DIY, here is a new and very economical solution:
https://polyvection.com/en/product/dac32/
https://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?113633-DAC32-low-cost-high-performance-music-streamer

Because it is running Squeezelite, I believe it can be either a Logitech Media Server or Roon endpoint.

That's good to see - I hadn't realised Polyvection had started making stuff end users could buy again. They used to have some interesting stuff before they went OEM-only. I didn't know anyone was making production hardware for Squeezelite-ESP32 either.

 

[Apesbrain]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers?

You might like the Amazon Echo Link.

 

[Apesbrain]

sorry from where which thread did you read the reviews about the DAC32, please?

https://forums.slimdevices.com/show...sic-streamer&p=1015695&viewfull=1#post1015695

 

[sanbol]

The Cambridge CXN V2 is nice but only if it had room correction, Bluetooth built in and sub connection.

Since it is released since 2018 I think and updated version should come out sometime soon with a few more features.

The NAD C658 is nice on paper, but that is it.

 

[Alexanderc]

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry for the tangent, but I truly appreciate all the knowledge on offer here.

The rest of my family would be displeased with switching from Amazon, although I wouldn’t mind. Adding Qobuz might be a solution, although in the end paying for another service would cost more than more expensive hardware that has Amazon.

 

[Colonel7]

If I was only interested in streaming from the subscription services and didn’t want to use a computer to interface, that leaves Bluesound, HEOS, and Sonos products to choose from, right? Or is there a way to control, say, AmazonHD or Qobuz with a phone app using one of the pi streamers? (This is a sincere question-I’ve been assuming this is the case, but I don’t know). How about if I can’t program and don’t own a soldering iron?

Yamaha MusicCast as well. I think the newer devices are compatible with Amazon streaming