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Hardware Options for Streaming Music From Internet via Pandora, Tidal, etc.

What are the best hardware options for streaming music from internet radio sources?

Right now, I’m using Apple iDevices (iPod, iPad, iPhone) and Echo Dot to access the internet wirelessly - connected to my several pre-amps, amps, via an audio cable (typically 3.5mm mini to RCA, or mini to mini port).

I also use a Pure Audio i-20 iDock, with my iPod, which can connect to a DAC via various digital interfaces - if I want to use a DAC external to the iDevices (e.g. W4S DSD II SE, etc.).

Are there any other, better, alternatives (to iDevices, or Android Devices) for streaming music directly from the various internet radio stations - for a reasonable cost (<$1000)?

And... I don’t mean... laptops, notebooks, PC’s. I mean some type of dedicated internet receiver, with a solid state buffer, which can receive the digital stream from any of the services, and transmit it to a DAC via optical, coaxial, USB, etc. (not analog).
bassdude
mattmiller's avatar
mattmiller
1,491 posts
 
You should check out a Aurender X100L Music server connected with a USB Audio cable to a Oppo 105........Stunning versatility and sound! Plus the Aurender Conductor app for tablet control is the BEST on the market period!


Matt M
bassdude OP
477 posts
 
It kinda looks like "the choice" is between something pretty convenient with average sound quality... and... something with superb sound quality, with average convenience.

So... for simple convenience and the "nominal" sound quality of internet radio (which is about all it is now, anyway - when compared to ripped FLAC / WAV files, DSD files, or vinyl) - I guess an Echo Dot connected to one of my systems, or simply streaming radio over Logitech Media Server running on a Music Server, may be all I really need.  The Echo Dot is just so convenient for background music, and other programming (news, weather, sports, traffic, etc., etc.)... it may trump sound quality.  

But... I may look into the Aurender X100L to replace my other music servers... for... it's shear sound quality.
goheelz's avatar
goheelz
294 posts
 
The Sony HAP-Z1ES player allows Internet radio streaming via Tunein.  Thanks to a recent firmware update, it also supports Spotify streaming.
bassdude OP
477 posts
 
Yeah... what I'm finding, which I didn't realize, is that many music servers can provide internet radio streaming, depending upon the control software they use.  So... both of mine (W4S and Bryston) can support internet radio streaming - it just depends on the software, which services they can stream (e.g. Pandora, Pandora One, Tidal, Spotify, Tunein, etc.).

I was hoping the services streaming HD files might have better sound quality and rival that of files streamed from my local servers - but, that doesn't seem to be the case just yet.
randy-11
1,913 posts
 
for anything in the digital domain, I’d forget about "average sound quality...vs. superb sound quality"

After you spend $6,000 on speakers (*) you can go back and see if a super quality digital component makes a difference.

Also, it is unlikely that you will hear much difference between super res files and a well-recorded CD (redbook std).  A poorly recorded CD is a truly bad sounding thing however.  So go thru your collection and see if you have any CDs from the 1980s, or if your favs have been released with acclaimed sound quality.
Many people (and maybe all) cannot tell the difference between mp3 lossy compression and high bit rates/depths.  Redbook, and later mp3, were designed so that sonic artifacts could not be heard by humans.

(*) e.g. Magneplanar 2.7i speakers; or spend $10k on something else 
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