streaming?

[cindychops]

A bit of help needed please,right then at the moment i have a Denon PMA-720AE going into 2 nad power amps (bridged) and using a marantz ki cd player and an audiolab 8000t tuner.
What i would like to do is listen to TIDAL through an ethernet cable going to the line inputs on the Denon?i don't want to spend silly money and don't really want to get rid of the denon for a bluetooth amp either,i have seen the offerings from cambridge audio but a bit too pricey just to listen to a streaming service.any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Itsallicanafford]

cindychops said:

A bit of help needed please,right then at the moment i have a Denon PMA-720AE going into 2 nad power amps (bridged) and using a marantz ki cd player and an audiolab 8000t tuner.
What i would like to do is listen to TIDAL through an ethernet cable going to the line inputs on the Denon?i don't want to spend silly money and don't really want to get rid of the denon for a bluetooth amp either,i have seen the offerings from cambridge audio but a bit too pricey just to listen to a streaming service.any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Have you thought about a raspberry pi based option.





this is a raspberry Pi 3, with a hifi berry hat (clip on additional board ontop).

You need to set-it up on your wifi network but it costs £50 all in.

now the tricky part, i am using roon so the PI acts an end point,which i can select in roon and i can stream to any device with an Aux in. Roon uses my tidal service for streaming but i am not sure without roon (yearly subscription) how you could get tidal to play. Maybe someone can chip in?

[markiii]

Volumio I beleive would do it as would running picoreplayer and Squeezebox server

[cindychops]

Thanks for the replies.Have found this device "iFi Audio ZEN Blue Wireless Bluetooth DAC" and was wondering is there a way of streaming music from a mobile device to it and use the 2 rca outputs on the back straight into my amp,They cost about £129.00 so not too expensive.

[tomsugden]

This does the job for me and works well. It's a bluetooth receiver and occupies one of the channels on the amp.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01N2VKCO0/ref...

[XOcette]

Best price/quality option is a Raspberry Pi with a "DAC Hat" and something like Volumio or Moode (both free / open source). You can buy pre-assembled kits if you're not technically inclined (it's actually not that hard, and there are plenty of online guides), including a pre-built MicroSD card. For example, take a look at the HiFiBerry kits, or JustBoom. Both Volumio and Moode will allow you to stream over the network, Moode also has the option of Bluetooth if you wish. HiFiBerry even have their own software which makes things even easier.

Another good value for money option is a Chromecast Audio. These are not made any more, but you should be able to get one off your favourite auction site.

If you want something still supported, perhaps an Audio Pro Link 1.

All of the above will connect straight into a free line-in on your amp. Streaming will generally be better quality than Bluetooth, and the streamer pulls the music directly from the streaming service - your phone is just a glorified remote control. A big advantage is that your phone notifications don't interrupt the music.

Edited by XOcette on Thursday 4th June 09:53

[paultownsend]

Apologies for interrupting, but this is looking like a great alternative to paying Sonos to upgrade my Connect to a Port. I’d be wanting optical out. The S1 app has just been downloaded and I can’t imagine it will support Spotify for long.

How does the Volumio App work? Can I plug a USB flash with my music into the Pi, and Volumio will map and play?

Can you also control direct from the Spotify app using connect?

[XOcette]

paultownsend said:

Apologies for interrupting, but this is looking like a great alternative to paying Sonos to upgrade my Connect to a Port. I’d be wanting optical out. The S1 app has just been downloaded and I can’t imagine it will support Spotify for long.

How does the Volumio App work? Can I plug a USB flash with my music into the Pi, and Volumio will map and play?

Can you also control direct from the Spotify app using connect?

Both Volumio and Moode support Spotify Connect. Volumio also has a Spotify "client".

Both support streaming music from either a NAS or locally attached USB drive.

It worth while getting a couple of MicroSD cards, installing Moode on one and Volumio on the other, and giving them both a play.

[Tony1963]

I recently bought a used Yamaha WXC-50 for £150 incl del. it was feedinging into my Naim system quite nicely. Then I tried it as a streaming pre amp, directly into my power amp, and that’s how it has stayed for a couple of weeks until I make my mind up. It really is very good indeed, and stopped me going down the Pi route.
New price £269.

[gizlaroc]

The Pi really does give amazing bang for buck.

I have stuck with Volumio, just seems to do everything I need for peanuts.

Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify, internet radio, locally store music and all browsed from my Macbook or phone.



I ran Roon for a year, it is great, but didn't offer 'me' anything extra and was considerably more money.



I use a Khadas Tone Board with my Pi, sound wise it is pretty amazing. Seen off a few high end streamers at 15x the price.

[paultownsend]

So could I use a Pi with Volumio, optical into my Audiolab 6000a with inbuilt DAC, and just use my Iphone through the Spotify App/Spotify connect?

Could I also do the same using the above posted Yamaha?

[gizlaroc]

paultownsend said:

So could I use a Pi with Volumio, optical into my Audiolab 6000a with inbuilt DAC, and just use my Iphone through the Spotify App/Spotify connect?

Could I also do the same using the above posted Yamaha?

Yeah.

You can download DietPi and run Spotify from that, you don't need Volumio for Spotify. £30 job done.

I used an Allo DigiOne digital out into a Quad 405-2 and some Quad electostatics and that sounded absolutely divine. So clean, so open and not a hint of harshness, sounded almost analogue. Not saying you need that with Spotify, but if the upgrade bug bites you have options.


Yeah, Yamaha will do the same. Which Yamaha? One of them has analogue out only, meant to be pretty good though.

[paultownsend]

I was looking at the yamaha wxad-10 And at £120 I’d have bought it just to use for Spotify Connect. But then I realised it has no optical out. I’m not paying twice as much just for the digital output of the yamaha wxc-50.

I then stumbled on the Project Streambox 2. It actually looks like it’s a Pi with rebranded Volumio software?

[tomsugden]

paultownsend said:

But then I realised it has no optical out. I’m not paying twice as much just for the digital output of the yamaha wxc-50.

I then stumbled on the Project Streambox 2. It actually looks like it’s a Pi with rebranded Volumio software?

The Bluetooth receiver I linked to above has both optical in and out.

[gizlaroc]

paultownsend said:

I was looking at the yamaha wxad-10 And at £120 I’d have bought it just to use for Spotify Connect. But then I realised it has no optical out. I’m not paying twice as much just for the digital output of the yamaha wxc-50.

I then stumbled on the Project Streambox 2. It actually looks like it’s a Pi with rebranded Volumio software?

Yeah probably, loads of companies use their software on their streaming boxes.

[XOcette]

paultownsend said:

....
I then stumbled on the Project Streambox 2. It actually looks like it’s a Pi with rebranded Volumio software?

That's essentially what it is - I believe some proprietary stuff with a Pi Compute module. There are a few other boutique brands that use the Pi or other single board computer with Volumio (e.g. Stack Audio) Volumio themselves have the Primo.

I run Moode on a Pi3B hooked up via USB to a Quad Vena integrated amp. I've found Moode to be more stable that Volumio, and it doesn't require a subscription for Bluetooth, Qobuz or Tidal support.

[paultownsend]

tomsugden said:

The Bluetooth receiver I linked to above has both optical in and out.

Hi Tom. I’m looking for more of a streamer that pulls direct from the Spotify server. Essentially just using your phone as a remote.