Streaming, help required!

Posted by: Hutton1969 on 06 December 2010

I am new to Naim having just purchased a CD5i, XS and Spendor A5's to replace a previous CD based system of Meridian, Audiolab and Kef 103/4 acquired some 20 years ago. I have found this forum extremely interesting in particular the discussions relating to streaming which is a bit of a mystery ro me. I have used Ipods and have an Iphone 3GS for which I have been ripping CD's but the sound quality when the Ipod is used as a source on the old and new systems, is poor by comparison to CD, which I assume is because of compression. I have though read with some interest that many members of the forum use streamed music as their main source with excellent results. This I now realise is borne out by the fact that Naim and other companies produce hight quality equipment to store and replay streamed music.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to an "idiot's guide" to streaming? I assume that I may have to rip my CD's again to obtain a good quality source for my current system. Also, is there favoured audiofile memory stick? I must say that it has strick me as odd that a simple cheap memory stick can be used as a source in systems costing many thousands of pounds.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Posted on: 11 April 2011 by Hutton1969

Since starting this thread I have found streaming to be very useful.  However, my Apple Express has started to become unreliable and will not connect to my pc and music library.  I would therefore be most grateful for any alternative suggestions to the AE which are reasonably priced bearing in mind I use streaming as a secondary source.

Posted on: 12 April 2011 by Alco
quote:
When playing CD, one tend to listen to a complete album, then change the CD and listen to another complete album, etc.

I've rarely listen to a complete album, either on CD, LP or HD.
(unless when it's on for background music)

Simply because of the fact that there are very few albums of which I like all tracks.

Posted on: 13 April 2011 by matpip
Originally Posted by Musicmad:
...The Logitech receiver is connected via the Optical digital input to the SN (downstairs). I need more volume (about quarter-turn) on the SN.... 

Musicmad, I had the Duet connected to the SN, and I never needed more volume than with a cd player.

Check the volume control of your duet in the settings, that should be set at 100%!

Also, try a good coax cable, generally speaking it offers better performance than the optical lead (unless maybe you are using a super good one...).

Best 

Posted on: 13 April 2011 by mNait
I have a modest setup but have travelled the road you are looking down at the moment.  The internal Dac in the airport express really wasn't very good, I ended up burning CDs from iTunes to run through a cd player... But I love the flexibility of iTunes with an iPad iPhone remote - in fact I'm typing this in now on my iPad whilst listening to Debussy.  I went for the Rega Dac to my Nait 2 and have been very very pleased.  I'm not ashamed either to admit that I love some of the music that 'genius recommends'.  I do recommend that you have a Dac demo shootout though - I did and there's a lot of difference at the more modest end of the market - Dacmagic, Arcam, Music Fidelity & Rega - see what your ears like.
Posted on: 13 April 2011 by mNait
Oops just seen the dates in action on this thread.  Unreliable AE - before you chop it in just check as there has been a firmware upgrade.  Use the airport utility to check for updates.  Had similar issues and poor startup times until I upgraded the firmware.  Good luck