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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.
128x128mazian
cycles2
205 posts
 
I've tried remote control apps from Lumin, Aurender, BluOs and DCS.  I agree with lots of folks that voted for Lumin - although the sound quality of the streamer is more important to me.  I'm thankful that DCS recently upgraded it's remote control app to Mosaic as it narrows the gap of the other mentioned apps and I find it's all that I need. It makes available a wide variety of high SQ source options such as UPnP, USB, Deezer, Qobuz, TIDAL, Radio and some low SQ options such as Spotify and Podcasts.
why0why
70 posts
 
For years I have used a PC as my source.  I just moved to a larger office/listening room and it is not as practical.  I bought a Node 2i last week and the app is OK, not great.  Tidal integration is decent, but I find it frustrating that I can't click on an artist or album to go to that item.  You basically have to use search for everything.  I have some experience with the app on the Naim streamer and it appears better than BluOS.  I have been told by many people that Roon is the best right now.  That's my very limited 1 cent opinion.
1extreme's avatar
1extreme
161 posts
 
@headspace The one work around with the lack of integration between BluOS and Amazon Music is to make all your favorite music selections in the Amazon Music app and then they will (eventually) show up in BluOS app. Seems to work better when the AM app is installed on the same device as the BlueOS app. But you can’t make favorite selections in BlueOS and have them appear in AM as you can do with BlueOS x Tidal.

From what I have read on forums, Blue Sound is not the one to blame for the lack of integration with AM as it was/is Amazon that did not share the integration specifications with the streaming device manufacturers with enough lead time to have it integrated. I have yet to hear one person say they are dropping BlueOS and Tidal because of the lack of integration with AM, it is always the opposite, they are staying with Tidal. So Amazon definitely hurt their rollout being so secretive.

I have both Tidal and Amazon Music HD hoping BlueOS comes out with a new sw update soon. In the mean time I can also stream to my DAC directly from the Amazon Music app on my Android tablet using Bluetooth.


classdstreamer's avatar
classdstreamer
169 posts
 
@Mazian, Yes Chromecast will work with Tidal on both Android and iPhones. If you have at least one castable device (like the TV you mentioned), you should see the cast icon in the top right corner for most of you streaming apps. In fact, if you see that you can cast to the TV but not to the Cambridge, that probably means that you need to update the Cambridge software on their website. And like for all casting, your casting devices need to be on the same network. 
mazian's avatar
mazian OP
396 posts
 
Well what can you make of all this? Basically all apps except possibly Roon are deficient in some way it seems. Bad as it is it seems the Tidal app is as good as it gets unless you want to pay for Roon.
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