Streaming newbie...advice needed please!

James,

Others with more experience of streaming will come on this post to offer good advice.

But - as a relative newcomer myself - I'll give you my ten pence worth.

Firstly, yes: You can get CD5i-2 quality and above via streaming.

However, I doubt you'll get it spending £500. And even if you sell the CD5i-2 I'm not sure the extra funds would get you close to that sound via streaming.

Also remember - you've ripped your CDs to the computer. You'll also need a hard drive back-up of the rips as the Mac will fail one day. It just will. When it happens you'll need that back-up unless you keep the CDs.

Also: are you looking at streaming wirelessly or wired? If wirelessly then there are things to consider as per your hub, router etc.

But if you just want to dip your toe in the water for the £500 and maybe spend more later I'd say try the Pioneer N-50 (can be bought for around £400) or the Cambridge Audio Stream Magic (dearer but a little better, I'm told).

Then just hook either up to your present system. 

I'd recommend keeping your CD5i-2 for the time being. Try the streaming route and then decide which way you want to go in the future.

Hopefully you may get more sage advice from others. But that's my take on it.

Best

Jon

Thanks Si & Jon for your advice!

I have looked at the Rega DAC and it does look good..So i might arrange a demo for that soon..Si what did you use to feed the DAC?

Jon yes ive backed up all my music already...I'm not going through that ripping process again..I was up till 3 last night doing that! I will have a look at those streamers..I havent even thought about whether it will be wired or wireless yet...Thats how little i know about all this!

There are just so many options...Squeezebox/ipad/airport/DAC's etc...Im guessing wired would sound better and keep things simple?

James

James

Wired doesn't necessarily sound better...but it's more stable so it's the best solution.

I'd recommend feeding the Rega DAC from your laptop (if that's where you've ripped to) and seeing what you think.

But it seems you're going down the right route.

Be fascinated to see how you get on. Keep us all posted.

Jon

James, Sony Vio laptop through a USB prodac.  For the money I was impressed. I have only dipped my toe into streaming and not taken the plunge. I also demo'd a ND5xs at home and although good I could not get the sound quality I was used to (possibly user lack of knowledge but all the tracks were rippsed to lossless through DBPoweramp) and so felt the cost wasnt worth it, so for the moment have not progressed this any further.    Sonos is a great little package so you could consider this and then when funds allow purchase a 2nd hand Naim Dac.  Sonos doesnt do hi-res though.

Find your dealer and speak to them, a good one will allow you to home demo.

Yes the Ndac would be where id like to be ultimately but i just cant afford it at the moment. Thanks for your advice again..There is a lot to think about, and im not going to rush into losing CD yet as the sound im getting at the moment is fab...I just cant help thinking that sooner rather than later there will be no need for CD's any more and ill be able to get the same sound for the same price out of a tiny little box plugged into the amps...Wishful thinking at the moment i think!!

Cheers

James

Sell you cdp and buy a 2nd hand Logitech Trasporter. It connects wireless to your mac, and will sound way better than your cdp, IMO.

Seriously?  You're backing-up your CDs?

How about selling the CD5i and the NAC122x and using the extra funds for a new NAC N172XS Pre-amp/streamer.  I can't believe you would be too far off the cost, especially if you part ex?

No-one has yet heard it but it's not going to sound shoddy is it?

Well maybe back up is the wrong word, but more like a copy so that if anything happens to the original I can make a duplicate....I guess that is a back-up! I'm very careful not to damage CDs in any way but accidents happen.....

Just a thought...has anyone used the new Arcam drDac? Thought maybe that with the iPad3 then maybe get an external dac such as the Rega, or even something higher up the ladder...would this give me what I want in terms of sound quality? 

Sorry I meant drDock!

James, what computer do you have? 

If it were a Mac Mini or iMac then you could plug it straight in to a Rega DAC using an glass optical cable, the SQ should be excellent. If you have a different computer then you could try a hiFace USB to S/PDIF adapter. With the Mac you can control everything from your iPad 3 ... you might be able to do the same with a different computer, but not sure.  

I believe you'll find this far easier to set up and make work than UPnP streamer. 

I have a Pioneer N-50 in a pretty good Naim system (Naim DAC, NAC 202, NAP 200) and it sounds awesome. Much better with the Naim DAC than its own as you would expect given the price difference. It also sounds a lot better than the other digital sources I tried, namely my PC with a fancy sound card and a Squeezebox. I conclude that the N-50 has good quality digital out. I haven't tried my system with a very high end streamer yet though, like an NDX.