[help] I'm too Boomer to stream. :-(

I have been trying to make streaming work for years. Tried macs and PCs, JRiver, Sonos, Blusound, Apps on HT Receivers and a few of the high end brand streamers.

Nothing was really worth sticking with. Either the sound quality sucked or besides Sonos, the interface was clunky

The INNUOS SERVERS TURNED MY LIFE AROUND!!

BIGGEST CHANGE IN MY SYSTEM IN THE LAST 10 YEARS.

If anyone has stressed and struggled with this issue, you owe to yourself to try one.

Streaming Qobuz or Tidal into a good DAC is now approaching a the sound quality of an expensive vinyl rig. It’s so enjoyable that I find myself rarely playing records now.

They also double as music server so you can ripped all of your CDs to the Innuos as well.


They are very affordable too, starting at $1,250.

Labguy I felt your pain , myself recently transitioning away from using a transport I easily got confused over all the options and opinions what next step I should move to ripping music and or streaming .
Thinking about it with “user conveniences set aside whatever direction I went it had to be an overall sound quality upgrade.

Initially my budget was six grand however with some in store and home trials including help from some local audio friends I ended up purchasing a Black Friday special in store demo Cocktail Audio x50 server with SSD drives to start with .
It will due for now , I view these things as computer parts in a nice looking box though some have proprietary designs here and there in them I question how much are you willing to spend on it .
As for streaming the industry would love to get everyone signed up to a monthly subscription .

I enjoy playback of ripped CDs as much and more then listening to them using a transport and the convenience of use managing my music with an iPad ,. Forget about it,.

And best of all you don’t need to rely on a “IT” guy for help though pretty much any 14 year old would qualify I’m satisfied for now .

@badger Check out the Innuos.  It has an integrated CD ripper and 1 TB hard drive.

My 2 cents:  I'm on the path to buying a Lumin U1 Mini streamer to replace a Windows laptop that's running JRiver, but I'm pausing at the added complexity and loss of functionality.  As far as I can tell, all these streamers lose Internet browsing for content and replace it with a sandbox like TuneIn.

To me, JRiver makes a great control point that can be run remote with JRemote on Android or iPad, but they're going to lose the game if they don't provide seamless integration to Tidal, Amazon high-res and Qobuz because that's where many audiophiles are headed.  Why?  When I got Qobuz it instantly obsoleted my ripped CD's or at least made them redundant.

The hardware issue is whether a laptop reduces sound quality compared to a dedicated streamer.  Yes, there's noise in the laptop, and usually a basic USB port, but there's many products that will cleanup that USB signal and provide pristine input to the DAC. E.G. SOtM and Sonore.

Yes, I hate the bloat of Windows, but it's simple to bring up JRiver as the only media interface you need.  Do I really want to enter the new world of brain-numbing acronyms and arcane network lingo.  The sofrware issue is whether JRiver can provide that total control point and I just don't know what the upcoming version has.

Bottom line: I just want to be an audiophile sitting in a comfortable chair with my Android tablet and effortlessly choose the amazing set of sound sources now available played with maximum quality. Still not convinced the streamers give me completeness.