Short version
Hard wired streamer.
Lose AirPlay 2 use and app the runs a streamer.
Read @audioman58 & @audphile1 and others offering the same advice above. Loved the soup analogy!
Poke around these fora and there’s great info to be gleaned.
Do I Need a Dedicated Streamer?
Hello everyone,
As the title states, I am still unsure of if I need a dedicated streamer and if it would increase the fidelity of my music compared to how I am listening at the moment. Which is using AirPlay 2 from my iPhone to my Hegel H590 Integrated amp.
I know that the DAC in the Hegel H590 is considered quite good and it was one of the reasons that I bought the amplifier to begin with. However, would I get a better input using a dedicated streamer for around $1000 (such as the Cambridge CXNV2 for example) or would I be better off leaving things as is?
I am just not sure if airplaying music to the Hegel is degrading the signal in comparison to a streamer that would pull its own data and send it directly to the amplifier? Also, would improving my router placement and wifi signal make any difference to the sound since my Hegel is hardwired using a mesh wifi system?
I am open to switching streaming platforms if I can gain something out of it such as resolution but I’m not sure if apple music is the issue in any of this.
If the answer to the title is a no. I am curious what I would need to take the quality of my listening experience to the next level or where money would be better spent to achieve that. I do have acoustic panels in my room and have done my fair share of research on speaker placement already.
The only thing that I have been considering in the near-future would have to be the isoacoustics gaia 1 feet.
My equipment:
Hegel H590 Integrated
KEF Reference 5 Meta
Metra Velox Speaker Cables
Thanks for reading.
- ...
- 103 posts total
we are streaming experts and have sold and tested most of the major brands we started with Aurlic then Lumin the Aurender then Innous Our first hookups were both a laptop and desktop usb out to our dacs] the dedicated devices all sounded better and the servers especially the Innous produced the most musical results.. Long story short we discovered the 432EVO music servers from Belgium and started Importing them and they were even better and offered a modular upgradable platform our clients loved.
2023 Editors' Choice: Best Music Servers Under $10,000 - The Absolute Sound from the review: A ho-hum laptop with file-management software installed isn’t going to get you to the point to which digital playback has advanced in 2022. There are a host of decisions to be made to optimize the process of turning stored or streamed data into music and the 432 EVO servers present these choices in a way that helps assure the best possible results. In short order, even the most obsessive enthusiast will stop tweaking filter settings and buffer size and just…listen. Which is always the best choice an audiophile can make. Dave and Troy audio intellect NJ US Importers 432EVO music servers |
I found that moving from my laptop to an Aurender streamer was revelatory in the positive improvement in sound. It wasn’t close. Hardwire the server with Ethernet. getting good results with the Bluesound Node in my second system, again with a hardwired Ethernet connection. Finally, try hirez Quboz- I never listen to my records anymore as it is better (on my system). |
- 103 posts total