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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.
mazian
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
175 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
433 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.
mahler123
3,650 posts
 
Mazian

Perhaps I wasn’t sufficiently clear, Tidal app SUCKS with Classical which I had thought was a major interest of yours.  Every other streaming app is better 
mazian's avatar
mazian OP
433 posts
 
No Mahler they are not. Cambridge Connect and Streammagic are way worse than Tidal. As I indicated Tidal is bad but at least you can search your saved albums. Incidentally I signed up for the Idagio free trial and while it seems quite good but it only has classical albums. I also play jazz and some rock.  Also there were some issues I encountered which I would hope are only prevalent for the free trial. For example I could only get standard SQ, there was no way to save albums as the heart icon just didn't appear and after each piece of music I get a sponsors message. Also communication is inadequate because when I sent a message to Idagio I got a standard message saying my queries would be addressed in 5 days
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