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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
cal3713's avatar
cal3713
1,421 posts
 
@classdstreamer I really only stream Tidal, so I use it with a single source.  It works better than the Tidal app in every way except for the "related artists" that Tidal lists when you look up someone.  Bubble doesn't port that information in.  When I want to do more free exploring, I use the Tidal app and then select the "share" option, which allow me to select BubbleUPNP and it will then automatically enque to the bottom of my playlist.  
wyoboy
264 posts
 
Well, it's pretty clear that if Tidal is your sole source, they do not implement classical very well or logically--i also had a Cambridge DAC (my first DAC) but after a friend showed me the benefits of Roon with Tidal i purchased a new DAC that played well with Roon, and focused on implementing Roon--so far it has been a godsend for searching for classical and organizing classical playlists.  Not perfect but way better than Tidal.  I don't have experience using any of the other apps mentioned here but so far it appears they are all inferior to Roon...so my answer to you is "yes"--you may have to spend that 30 cents a day to get what you want. I would suggest you find a dealer who can show you how Roon Essentials works (i assume it's the same as Roon) and who will let you play around with it--my dealer did and it did require some tutorial from him--and see if it does what you want.
mahler123
3,362 posts
 
My Roon experience was limited.  I tried the free trial but on day 2 my vintage MacAiir froze and was dangerously overheating.  I have several thousand CDs in my collection and I think the computer was overtaxed.  At any rate the one day that I did fiddle with it for Classical it was similar to Audirvana Plus.  Definitely an improvement over Tidal, but that is a low bar.  It’s another program designed with non Classical in mind that tries to retro fit Classical in and imo doesn’t succeed, and not worth the money.  Ymmv
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usery
131 posts
 
To the OP’s original post:

"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?"
I don’t.

"Second question: what streamers can you recommend that at least are equal and preferably better than the Tidal app..."
If you mean "what streamers have equal or better apps than Tidal’s app?"...

... good luck. I have the Micromega M-100 integrated amp/DAC that streams through its RJ45 interface (ethernet). Their control app is barely 2-star material.

So +1 to BubbbleUPnP-as-control-point app as recommended up in the thread ^^^.

For this 90%-classical listener all the music service apps suck in various ways as catalog & metadata browsers - and I mean all of them. If you want an effective ux you have to invest: building your own catalog with metadata (eg ripping your cd’s and tagging the music files), paying $$$ for an addt’l 3rd-party app/service (Roon etc), and/or learning about and applying alternatives to the beaten path. Personally I’ve invested in 1 and 3.
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