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Where are the cheap home streamers?

When CD players were first introduced, they were $1000 and more new.  And this was in early 80's dollars.  New ones would eventually drop to under $200, and new players that also play most all formats can still be had around at that price or less.  Sure, not the best quality, but they work well enough for most.  

The new frontier is of course, streaming.  Whether from a local host, online, and so on.  Many options in the high end, but what seems odd is the lack of budget options.  Probably the least expensive that's of decent quality is the Sonos Connect.  Oh sure, you can pair a computer or tablet with a cheap DAC, and get by.  Or roll your own with a Raspberry Pi solution.  And yes, most disc players are "smart" and can stream audio and video just fine.  Among other issues, is that the budget options are defaulting to HDMI out, and omitting Optical, Digital, and Analog out.  

There were some early efforts by Sony and Dlink a few years ago.  Both not only required a display, but were pretty terrible implementations overall.  We recently tried one of the Dayton WBA 31s.  For a mere $50, expectations were of course also modest.  As you might imagine, analog audio out is not great.  Below that of many phones we'd say.  It does however had an optical output.  A dealbreaker for most of our clients in terms of added complexity.  If produced in sufficient number, there is no good reason such a unit with a decent DAC couldn't be built and sold for $200 or so.  Or maybe someone is doing this, and it's just not well distributed?  



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mahler123
3,312 posts
 
To get back to the original question, why are there not a plethora of cheap streaming devices such as the Google Chromecast, my first query would be why did Google stop supporting Chromecast?  I Googled this recently—no pun intended—and didn’t find an answer.
  I wonder if most people just use a computer in place of a dedicated audio device?  Everybody owns at least one, they can do everything that a streamer does, and most people aren’t audiophiles and find them sonically acceptable.  Audiophiles that wish to have a higher quality product are generally willing to pay a premium for the privilege, and thus the sub $500 market would be stressed out.  Another factor is that many lower end products, such as inexpensive AVRs, attempt to add streaming, Bluetooth, and whatever else is desired, sacrificing quality in the process but most people simply won’t care
audioguy85's avatar
audioguy85
2,018 posts
 
I'm still not understanding the obsession with streamers...again, your basic laptop, ipad, android device, ipod....etc etc can all be used as a streaming device. You are not going to be using any of their internal dacs, but connecting them all to a high quality dac. So other than aesthetics, I still don't see any point in spending significant cash on a streamer. Again, I mostly play vinyl records for serious listening....streaming just occasionally for the fun of it and to search for new music...that's it. 
soix
9,456 posts
 
I'm still not understanding the obsession with streamers
If you don’t want to be hard wired to your DAC and/or want reduced noise/distortion for more serious listening a dedicated audio streamer is your best bet. 

austinstereo's avatar
austinstereo OP
61 posts
 
@pinwa While this looks like a good Bluetooth receiver, it's not the same as a dedicated streaming receiver.  You can of course use it to playback a stream on your system, but a phone, computer, tablet, or other device is needed as a source.  And while Bluetooth continues to improve, it is still a compromise over a directly connected Wifi/Ethernet receiver.  And yes, while streaming receivers are often controlled by phones and tablets, the streaming takes place locally on the device.  Many of the higher end streamers can be operation without a phone at all.  
austinstereo's avatar
austinstereo OP
61 posts
 
@slackjef The Arylic is also a new one to us. It actually looks like an excellent candidate. Being able to use it as a dedicate preamp with two line inputs is a nice plus. You mentioned about being limited to CD quality, but the specs claim it supports 24/192. Perhaps only to be transcoded to 16 bit? Even if this is so, it still looks like a strong contender, and the price is right. Will definitely give this one a try.  Thanks!
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