internet radio

I use a Roku Soundbridge (~$200) and an mhdt Paradisea tube DAC (~$450 used). The Internet radio sound quality near matches my other sources on the better stations and is wonderful. I'm listening to Audio Candy Red WHite and Blue now as I write and the sound is absolute top notch.

I also concurrently use a Toshiba Vista laptop with Windows Media Player as a music server with the Roku ad tube DAC (see my system description) and this configuration has been a homerun as well using mainly Windows lossless file format to rip disks.

The Soundbridge + Paradisea have become the main source on my system. I use it a good 80% of the time. The other 20% is a combo of vinyl and CDs sourced from a Denon player/recorder to the DAC as well.

Thanks, Mapman. Is 128-196 kbps the best resolution/bandwidth possible over the internet or is there something better? I am looking at how to maximize the sound. It is very nice to have such a great selection of musical styles. I am picky now that I have gotten such great sound from my CDs, so, of course, we all want something just a little more! Any and all information is appreciated.

Tgrisham,

I believe kbps is a measure of the rate that the bits are delivered over the internet. Stations with higher kbps deliver the bits needed faster over a high speed connection, but I have found this does not necessarily equate to the best sound. Sometime the bits delivered in a slower connection can sound better. The Roku buffers the bits in local memory before sending them on to the DAC to be converted to analog as needed as the music plays.

The fastest stations I pick up with the Soundbridge are 128kbps. I am not certain if there are others available that are higher bandwidth...there very well may be some.

Some stations are available at 12kbs and slower speeds. I usually go with the 128kbps versions, but there have been cases where these do not sound as good and the lower bandwidth versions sound better.

The best stations are indistinguishable from good quality CDs with my rig.

The variety of music available with really good sound quality is almost overwhelming at times. I can spend hours just searching out different stations to check them out. I save my favorites for fast access using the Roku favorite stations feature.

The Roku also provides a web page that you can access from a browser on your network and use to change stations, volume, etc. There is also a Rokuradio.com website that can be used to control your device remotely as well.

It is all very cool and sounds great. The functionality on the web page and site is a bit choppy and incomplete compared to controlling the Roku directly with the remote provided, but it is still very functional and should only get better over time.

Very good stations on Itunes and Pandora. Also check out Rhapsody; a subscription service but the sound quality is excellent.