Finding a good streamer for Classical Music is well near impossible, imo. The best classification for classical that I have seen turns out to be itunes. I also use Bluesound OS, which looks terrible unless you compare with my latest streamer, Bryston BDP3, which has a barely useable app.
Streamers with best apps?
I tried this question on an Australian forum with no luck, so I'm hoping a more audio savvy community might do better. I currently have a Cambridge Audio CXN which as I discovered has 2 hopeless apps when you want to find classical albums saved on Tidal My Collection. So thinking of ditching the CXN and getting another streamer/server , preferably without a DAC as I will be running it through a Pure Audio Lotus DAC 5. Most reviews of streamers seem to focus entirely on sound quality but as I have discovered the apps used are of almost equal importance. I have considered an Elac Discovery DS-S101-G which is controlled by a Roon Essentials app. So first question. Does anyone know how the Essentials app lists classical albums in Tidal My Collection and does it have a search function for the albums saved? Second question what streamers can you recommend that at least are equal and preferably better than the Tidal app which does have a search function but very little logic as to how it lists classical albums. I have thought about the Bryston BDP Pi, Innous Zen mini or an Auralic streamer but know nothing about the usability of their respective apps. So anyone out there who can help.
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Hey Mazian, ditch Tidal for the Idagio streaming service. It has the best indexing for classical music and is available in Australia. Idagio also supports Chromecast as does your CXN. You won't have to worry about any streamer software as you'll be casting directly from the Idagio app. At least try this route before buying new hardware. https://www.lifehacker.com.au/2019/07/the-best-classical-music-streaming-service-is-idagio/ |
At least mahler123 seems to understand the problem even if there is no solution as yet. I have never heard of Idagio but will investigate. Does anyone know at what bps rate it streams at or the size of its library? As for using Chromecast I would have thought it was a bit downmarket. I have a Chromecast attached to my TV and the sound is very average. Also re Lumin I have read elsewhere on Audiogon that it only lists albums saved by date added just like streammagic. How useful is that!?? |
@Mazian The Cocktail Audio streamer I suggested, the X45 only a small part of that available models, also can come with a CD player with a Ripper function and Database to keep your sorted and CD’s backed up on a local hard dick (typically 2Tb) on board and can use Roon, Tidal, Qobus, Deezer, Napster, Spotify Connect, Amazon music and others. Plus internet radio (which opens up to a world full of classical stations (BBC). It can play from a NAS or other storage device. It has a 7" TFT colour screen to display the album cover and track playing and so on. I was looking for a streamer with good sound, could play HD music up to 32bit/384khz, DSD, DXD, MQA, is a DAC, could play my CD’s and stored music. It also comes with a downloadable app for remote control. I looked all over the web and this was the only player under $5k that could do everything and was a reference level player and DAC. I had not heard of them before but after 6 months of use, I will vouch for its performance. Worth looking at. (I am also retired and am not affiliated with any product. (I was a civil engineer...) |
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