I second the choice of a Node 2i..works well, but with any streamer, make sure you edit your music library for duplicates, odd titles etc. I only have about 8200 songs, but no hiccups. My oppo dvd also streams to my HT setup, but not as seamlessly as the Node to my better audio setup.
Where are the cheap home streamers?
When CD players were first introduced, they were $1000 and more new. And this was in early 80's dollars. New ones would eventually drop to under $200, and new players that also play most all formats can still be had around at that price or less. Sure, not the best quality, but they work well enough for most.
The new frontier is of course, streaming. Whether from a local host, online, and so on. Many options in the high end, but what seems odd is the lack of budget options. Probably the least expensive that's of decent quality is the Sonos Connect. Oh sure, you can pair a computer or tablet with a cheap DAC, and get by. Or roll your own with a Raspberry Pi solution. And yes, most disc players are "smart" and can stream audio and video just fine. Among other issues, is that the budget options are defaulting to HDMI out, and omitting Optical, Digital, and Analog out.
There were some early efforts by Sony and Dlink a few years ago. Both not only required a display, but were pretty terrible implementations overall. We recently tried one of the Dayton WBA 31s. For a mere $50, expectations were of course also modest. As you might imagine, analog audio out is not great. Below that of many phones we'd say. It does however had an optical output. A dealbreaker for most of our clients in terms of added complexity. If produced in sufficient number, there is no good reason such a unit with a decent DAC couldn't be built and sold for $200 or so. Or maybe someone is doing this, and it's just not well distributed?
The new frontier is of course, streaming. Whether from a local host, online, and so on. Many options in the high end, but what seems odd is the lack of budget options. Probably the least expensive that's of decent quality is the Sonos Connect. Oh sure, you can pair a computer or tablet with a cheap DAC, and get by. Or roll your own with a Raspberry Pi solution. And yes, most disc players are "smart" and can stream audio and video just fine. Among other issues, is that the budget options are defaulting to HDMI out, and omitting Optical, Digital, and Analog out.
There were some early efforts by Sony and Dlink a few years ago. Both not only required a display, but were pretty terrible implementations overall. We recently tried one of the Dayton WBA 31s. For a mere $50, expectations were of course also modest. As you might imagine, analog audio out is not great. Below that of many phones we'd say. It does however had an optical output. A dealbreaker for most of our clients in terms of added complexity. If produced in sufficient number, there is no good reason such a unit with a decent DAC couldn't be built and sold for $200 or so. Or maybe someone is doing this, and it's just not well distributed?
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Hi everyone Been reading thru this thread. When I look at tech. It all about the workflow ... it could be the best tech but if you can’t intergrade into a users workflow ... it’s not best tech. so going back to a cheap streamer ... like a pic based platform that is not plug and play etc ... it’s a great solution for some tech savvy diy , but would would in others users “workflows ...” as mapman pointed out any laptop w a usb to a dac would give you a good streamer , but it comes back to how you want to use it in your environment aka the “ workflow “ I have a used Logitech squeezeboxes , sad they dropped support and some services dropped supporting them .. like Spotify ... they are still very usable and you can tweek it and upgrade them and use them for local file server streaming . It’s a solution that is very user dependent ( tech savvy needed). I was asked to help a friend set up for an audio show years ago ..... and asked how they demo ... they sold speakers .. so to play music .... FYI. I used to be a regional sales manager ( I was a sys engineer previously aka tech guy ) in the area of hi tech pre press technology. Basically merging an all analog process with the on coming hi tech stuff in a tradition enviromoments... so making stuff new stuff be able to seemingly integrate into shops current workflow was paramount. ( it keeps going on in my head ). I “ looked at “ and not listen to different streamers FIRST.... It’s about how a user would use it ... if they could not use it .... so after the dust settled..... Node2 seems to be interesting to me . The Node2 has the ability to concatenate digital sources ( local servers, many streaming services , local USB port , Bluetooth ( if you want) ) into a single user interface ... approx retail price like 550 usd The software is included as part of the hardware . I went ahead a got one staged it with the system we were going to use at the show . I let the owners listen and make the call on the SQ . They were happy with what I assembled ... and we used that solution up nyc audio 2019 show .... last physical show we did. At home I my wife uses my main system w the node 2. For her the Node2 is bulletproof ( key feature want other then yourself to use the system ). We have file server with gigs of stuff but she prefers to use Amazon music HD . But the Node2 gave me crazy errors on wed . I was home early and check everything tried different wifi , hardwirenet ,local files , server files , other streaming services like Spotify and Tune-in .... everything else worked fine . I sent a email request to bluesound right from the ios ap . They replied a few hours later saying it was a Amazon web server authentication issue on Amazon side ... and Amazon took care of it . Guess I am trying to say the best cheap streamer depends on the workflow and the environment you want to use it in and the BIGGEST part of your environment is the USER who will be interacting with it . FYI mapman we met at the DC Audiofest via John S. At his booth . Happy holidays and be safe ! bill |
What about this? iFi Zen Blue HiFi Bluetooth Receiver https://ifi-audio.com/products/zen-blue/ |
@musicsearch I may have missed something, but the Zen Blue appears to be just a Bluetooth adapter. Sounds like a very good one though, with BT 5 and Aptx. We are specifically for devices that can stream natively. A phone or tablet is used to control them, but is not the source of the stream. Virtually all devices that do this also act as bluetooth receivers. An understandably confusing thing. |
Bits are bits, and the cheapest way I found to get them to my DAC is via USB from a RPI4 loaded with a Moode image. I use mconnect app on an iPad connected to Qobuz as my UI. I can stream 24 bit 192 kHz. The sound quality is as good as any streamer because bits are bits The streamer is about the size of a deck of cards. It is very easy to setup if you are comfortable with computers. The total cost is $50. If you don’t like it or can’t put it together, you are only out $50. Good luck in your quest. |
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