I’m trying to decide on the purchase of a cheap (by Naim standards) streamer. So why ask on a Naim forum? I think you’re more likely to understand what I’m looking for!!!
System is 72/Hicap/140 (yes, old but all serviced!) playing through Rega Mk 1.5 Elas. For serious listening I have a modest LP12, Akito, DV20XH, Linn Lingo 1 (serviced) all rebuilt by Cymbiosis. But for day to day use (eg around family and grandkids!) I use a Squeezebox Classic (SB3) to stream FLAC from a Synology NAS (wired Ethernet), or to play internet radio (mostly BBC HLS streams!).
What’s wrong with the SB3? Well it functions fine, but can’t play HiRes files (I’ve quite a few now, initially bought for my Pono portable player. I occasionally make the effort to play them through the main HiFi using computer and small USB Meridian Dac.) Computer audio has little interest for me, and I have no Apple products! I guess an Android control app is about as far as I wish to go! Additionally the SB3 sound quality is no more than acceptable!
So, options: well an external DAC would obviously improve the sq but not allow streaming of HiRes files. The Chord MoJo is the obvious choice, though I’m not convinced by battery power in a home setup (it might lie dormant for several days on occasion, and needs to be available when opportunity for use occurs!) and it just looks so toy-like!!
So what of streamers? ND5XS is the Holy Grail, and even second hand is unaffordable! No I won’t go to hear one, even if I briefly had the funds they would go on family/grandkids/holidays before I’d get a lookin! The Cambridge Audio CXN looked perfect, until I looked deeper: No HLS streams for BBC radio rules it out, and no TIDAL option is disappointing if not a complete impasse. But it is probably the best sq I could afford? Pioneer N50A has a great price and TIDAL support, but no BBC HLS and nothing to shout about in terms of sq (but might be an improvement on SB3??). Then I stumbled on the Bluesound Node 2: all the connectivity I could wish for, BBC HLS streams and TIDAL included, but ?? sq. All the reviews seem to be in the context of computer audio comparisons – what does it really sound like? And a meaningful audition seems impossible!
I’d just about convinced myself to go for the Bluesound Node 2 when, after an afternoon of radio and a solitary FLAC cd (followed by some rubbish TV) I got the opportunity to play some vinyl. A cold deck and the first few bars of Deacon Blue (nothing exceptional musically) and the sq difference was glaring!! Back to the idea of a better DAC, but how to solve the HiRes files problem? Can RaspberryPi stream 24/192 cheaply enough and well enough (with my very limited programming skills) to be a valid second streaming source alongside the SB3?? Is Chord MoJo the only option??!
Maybe I’m just dreaming and should abandon the whole idea?
(I guess my absolute maximum budget is ~£650)
Thoughts anyone?
Posted on: 18 December 2016 by Sloop John B
Out of interest, can you browse by file location (folder/directory) if you choose instead of by the metadata tags? I.e. If you have all music by a particular artist in a folder can you navigate to thatbto then see all the album contents regardless of whether the music files have been correctly tagged, or even have no tags?
Currently in Roon 1.2, No.
However it is something that has been asked for so could well show up in 1.3 which is going to appear any day now.
Roon is all about tags though but is much more than a library viewer. It sucks in metadata from 3 or 4 sources and creates a magical insight into your library (and the world's library through Tidal).
There are many who have moved from Audirvana to Roon so I would not necessarily agree with there being a universal opinion on sound quality.
It will be very interesting when Naim Uniti series "turns on" Roon and people get a choice of UPnP vs Roon.
SJB
Posted on: 18 December 2016 by Innocent Bystander
Out of interest, can you browse by file location (folder/directory) if you choose instead of by the metadata tags? I.e. If you have all music by a particular artist in a folder can you navigate to thatbto then see all the album contents regardless of whether the music files have been correctly tagged, or even have no tags?
Currently in Roon 1.2, No.
However it is something that has been asked for so could well show up in 1.3 which is going to appear any day now.
Roon is all about tags though but is much more than a library viewer. It sucks in metadata from 3 or 4 sources and creates a magical insight into your library (and the world's library through Tidal).
There are many who have moved from Audirvana to Roon so I would not necessarily agree with there being a universal opinion on sound quality.
It will be very interesting when Naim Uniti series "turns on" Roon and people get a choice of UPnP vs Roon.
SJB
From what I read on the Roon forum, people who said Rune was fine for SQ compared to Audirvana were generally those with overall less refined systems, or who used Audiv less than optimally (e.g using Audiv in iTunes mode), whereas those with high level systems seemed to reject Roon as a replacement for Audirvana. Mine was certainly not an exhaustive study, but that's what Came across to me.
Posted on: 18 December 2016 by jon h
"System is 72/Hicap/140 (yes, old but all serviced!)"
Classic kit -- i still have my chrome bumper set, and its still a delight.
Mojo is a cracking little DAC, and highly recommended by me -- I use mine all the time on long haul flights.
Posted on: 18 December 2016 by Sloop John B
There are many who have moved from Audirvana to Roon so I would not necessarily agree with there being a universal opinion on sound quality.
It will be very interesting when Naim Uniti series "turns on" Roon and people get a choice of UPnP vs Roon.
SJB
From what I read on the Roon forum, people who said Rune was fine for SQ compared to Audirvana were generally those with overall less refined systems, or who used Audiv less than optimally (e.g using Audiv in iTunes mode), whereas those with high level systems seemed to reject Roon as a replacement for Audirvana. Mine was certainly not an exhaustive study, but that's what Came across to me.
Perhaps I oversimplified.
There seems to be at least 4 scenarios
- roon sounds excellent as a bit perfect source.
- Audirvana sounds better than Roon
- HQPlayer with Roon tips the scales towards this on SQ grounds
- Audirvana still has the best SQ even above HQPLAYER/Roon.
There are people using HQPLAYER with the Chord DAVE ( which personally I think is sticky chocolate pudding daft) so I wouldn't necessarily categorise 3 and 4 above as using less refined systems.
I just don't think it's correct to categorise a consensus on this issue in the same way that you could say ther is a consensus that the NDS sounds better than the NDX.
SJB
Posted on: 22 December 2016 by Iconoclast
Ahem, ahem...
It appears my initial enthusiasm for the sMS-200 has turned into a bittersweet experience. When I first tried it out the first thing I noticed was the amazing amount of detail retrieval and room filling soundstage. I later found that sound to be somewhat distracting from the music itself. My girlfriend does not suffer from expectation bias, as she has no idea what changes I make to my system, came to the same conclusion after a few days. Did burn in have anything to do with the perceived changes or was it simply that my expectation bias had worn off and I was beginning to better understand what I was hearing. In any case the sMS-200 is no longer with me. I thought maybe a better PSU could have changed things but did not want to blindly go down the financial rabbit hole any further. So, for now, it's back to the simplicity of the SB Touch ---> Curious Cable Hugo Link---> Chord Mojo.
