Wifi audio solution (smartphonehifi)?

[ReverendCounter]

• thread title is supposed to read 'smartphone>hifi' **

Can anyone recommend a wifi device which hooks up to my hifi RCAs and receives audio sent from my smartphone? Chromecast Audio was looking good until I realised its been discontinued for the best part of a year and as the Pure Jongo doesn't look like the solution as its dependent on an app.

Basically my DAB is hooked up to my hifi but it looks like its dying after 16 years of daily service, so I just want to stream from my smartphone to a receiving device which is plugged in to my amp.

Any recommendations please?

[Ambleton]

I use Yamaha music cast. I have a 50 in the kitchen and a separate little box in the living room that hooks up the the amp. Works really well with internet radio, spotify, servers et al.

Not the cheapest, but they have decent DACs in, I've read somewhere that the google and fire alternatives have crappy DACs and decoders in, which rather make it a bit pointless to hook up to even a basic hifi individual set up.

[Mark-C]

Cheap solution for occasional use ... a 3.5mm jack to RCA cable should cost about £5 for OK quality and plug into an AUX input. You'll need a lightning or USB-C adapter for a new smartphone but there is almost always one that comes with the phone.

No good if you must have a wireless connection but does the job.

[aquarianone]

I went with one of these...nabbed it for <£50 from ebay.

Has a bit more oomph vs the generic £10 dongles...no interference, great audio, and connects consistently, basically a cheaper version of the AudioEngine!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BluDento-Bluetooth-Receiv...


https://gadgetviper.com/best-bluetooth-audio-recei...

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Ambleton said:

I use Yamaha music cast. I have a 50 in the kitchen and a separate little box in the living room that hooks up the the amp. Works really well with internet radio, spotify, servers et al.

Not the cheapest, but they have decent DACs in, I've read somewhere that the google and fire alternatives have crappy DACs and decoders in, which rather make it a bit pointless to hook up to even a basic hifi individual set up.

Looks good but I got badly burned by Yamaha after buying into their driver dependent mLan system a few years back, only for them to stop support far too quickly. The decision was made not to buy driver-dependent Yamaha products again so although they make really good products, I'm sticking to my decision.

[Andy_mr2sc]

I use a Yamaha WXAD10 and for a cheap small box it does a very good job. Obviously not high end audiophile but a considerable step up from just plugging your phone in. As mentioned above Yamaha seem to use decent DACS.

[ReverendCounter]

Mark-C said:

Cheap solution for occasional use ... a 3.5mm jack to RCA cable should cost about £5 for OK quality and plug into an AUX input. You'll need a lightning or USB-C adapter for a new smartphone but there is almost always one that comes with the phone.

No good if you must have a wireless connection but does the job.

I've had the old DAB hooked up like this for years, its worked perfectly but instead of buying a new radio straight away, I've had my smartphone connected like this to the hifi (long live the headphone output). But too much of a temp solution esp. when texts and emails come in - bzzzt! bong! - hence the need to stream wirelessly.

[Ambleton]

ReverendCounter said:

I've had my smartphone connected like this to the hifi (long live the headphone output).

One of the main considerations for me buying my phone (galaxy S10e) was the inclusion of a headphone jack. Virtually every other brand has or are phasing them out. Huawei, Google, Apple and One+ (amongst others) have already removed them completely from their higher spec devices and I don't really want to spend £250+ on a pair of new wireless headphones to replace my B+W P7s...

[ReverendCounter]

aquarianone said:

I went with one of these...nabbed it for <£50 from ebay.

Has a bit more oomph vs the generic £10 dongles...no interference, great audio, and connects consistently, basically a cheaper version of the AudioEngine!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BluDento-Bluetooth-Receiv...

Seems exactly what I'm looking for, especially at £50 if they're still available (I was looking at a replacement DAB instead of paying £75 but at £50 it looks like a really good solution). Thanks for the suggestion.

[ReverendCounter]

Andy_mr2sc said:

I use a Yamaha WXAD10 and for a cheap small box it does a very good job. Obviously not high end audiophile but a considerable step up from just plugging your phone in. As mentioned above Yamaha seem to use decent DACS.

Unfortunately, as previously mentioned Yamaha driver dependent devices are off the list - good gear though, but not taking the risk of driver/app/OS upgrade issues.

[ReverendCounter]

Ambleton said:

One of the main considerations for me buying my phone (galaxy S10e) was the inclusion of a headphone jack. Virtually every other brand has or are phasing them out. Huawei, Google, Apple and One+ (amongst others) have already removed them completely from their higher spec devices and I don't really want to spend £250+ on a pair of new wireless headphones to replace my B+W P7s...

Exactly, I hate the thought of good equipment getting phased out way before its life cycle due to other manufacturers' decisions.

[ReverendCounter]

Incidentally if anyone wants to listen to something else there's always Nobsound

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nobsound-CSR8675-Blueto...

[GravelBen]

I have 3 different solutions on different systems due to setting up at different times...

1) Yamaha MusicCast active speakers, the most seamless implementation I've used (but you've already ruled out Yamaha)

2) Chromecast audio (but out of production as you say, so might be hard to find)

3) Panasonic ALL1C network audio adaptor https://www.panasonic.com/nz/consumer/home-enterta...
It it the least often used of them due to which room its in, but works reliably enough. More versatile than chromecast when it comes to recognising a
local media server on my home network, chromecast needed some workarounds for that.

[megaphone]

Arcam blink is very good, bit more expensive but works well.

https://www.richersounds.com/arcam-bluetooth-recei...

[lllnorrislll]

Amazon echo input?? If alternative to chrome cast or dot has 3.5 output.

[JimbobVFR]

TBH even though it's discontinued I still think a Chromecast Audio is a damned good choice. You can still get them here.

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/google-chromecast-audio...

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GravelBen said:

..Panasonic ALL1C network audio adaptor ... More versatile than chromecast when it comes to recognising a
local media server on my home network...

Thanks for the suggestion but I think it might be overkill for my current needs - plus it seems there's a need for app/s to integrate with it, which may mean its driver/firmware dependent, rather than purely relying on an established protocol like bluetooth.

megaphone said:

Arcam blink is very good, bit more expensive but works well.

That's reassuring to hear - it seems very close to AudioEngine and therefore BluDento, going by the specs and features.

lllnorrislll said:

Amazon echo input?? If alternative to chrome cast or dot has 3.5 output.

There's a blanket ban on such devices round here!

JimbobVFR said:

I still think a Chromecast Audio is a damned good choice. You can still get them...

Looking at some users experiences, I'm not sure in hindsight if its the best solution given some issues with playing mp3/CDs from say a laptop. Seems to stream OK but I've got piles of unripped CDs that I want to hear outside of youtube's quality limitations.

OK, a decision has been made - the BluDento seems like a decent component package at a low price and has enough positive feedback from users - however thanks for all other recommendations put forward.

[Ambleton]

ReverendCounter said:

OK, a decision has been made - the BluDento seems like a decent component package at a low price and has enough positive feedback from users - however thanks for all other recommendations put forward.

Don't forget to follow up with thoughts/review/experiences in a few weeks time to close this thread out as I'd be interested to hear how you get on!

[JaFool1]

I have an Arylic Cobblestone connected to a pair of KRKs in my office and it pretty much covers everything you need. You can use their App to stream your music or use Airplay or DLNA if you do not want to be tied into an App. It can also pull audio from NAS drives/homeshares etc

A lot of the popular streaming services are integrated (Spotify, TuneIn) so you can select the Cobblestone from inside their App (Spotify Connect)

It does everything the more expensive systems (Yamaha, Sonos) can do and the sound is vastly superior to a Bluetooth receiver. At £45 it is a steal.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B012825VCE

[aquarianone]

Ambleton said:

Don't forget to follow up with thoughts/review/experiences in a few weeks time to close this thread out as I'd be interested to hear how you get on!

Good choice

I've been using mine for around a year, having packed up the trusty CD player and Radio receiver as I realised i've got Deezer and the Iplayer and that covers most of what I switch the Amp on for, hardly bother with firing up a CD or even network streaming mp3's...

I've just got the Marantz Ki 2channel Amp, some AG micro's and a little Rel sub, and the Bludento thingy, so a bit of downsizing and simplification