Spotify - help needed please!

quote:

Originally posted by Ponty:
So, the question is, how do I get this to work? Am I right in thinking that the notebook should connect to a DAC (hopefully Naim). Would this be a USB cable between the notebook and the DAC, then audio link straight into the pre-amp? Is it as simple as this, or am I missing some key steps?

As an initial step, you could just connect the headphone/line out mini-jack to a spare input on your amp.

The next step would be an external DAC. A Naim DAC would probably be a step too far is you are just wanting to us Spotify, though if you had one then a USB to SPDIF converter would be required - priced from £20 (or so) upward depending on quality.

If you are just using Spotify, the. I would point you in the direction of the recent thread on low priced (£60 or so) DACs from eBay as being a good place to look.

Eloise

Thanks Eloise

I have tried the headphone output from my existing laptop, but quality is dire. I am thinking Naim Dac as I can use to upgrade my existing Meridian 206 (to use as a CD transport) and also link my Humax Freesat box into the DAC also.

Any views as to likely sound quality of running Spotify (premium) in this way?

Best, Ponty

Personally I would buy a cheap dac such as firestone audio USB one and use that until you are sure about the setup.

I use spotify premium from my pc (esi juli@ soundcard) and an optical cable to my supernait. The sound quality really is very good, so close to cd it is shocking.

I quite agree with Occean...

The Firestone Audio Fireye II USB DAC would be a good solution for you. For now gives you a mid quality DAC to connect to your pre-amp, and will also provide you with a TOSLink output to connect to a Naim DAC later.

Eloise

See also http://forums.naim-audio.com/e...232917627#6232917627

I've got the Firestone 2 at work for Spotify. Fantastic little thing, very listenable and much better than the computer soundcard.

James

You could get a Chordette Gem, the best DAC I've heard until you get to the Naim DAC. It'll do either USB or BlueTooth. There have been DACs mentioned on this forum that cost nearly £1k; the Chordette is an order of magnitude better. Made in the UK, this is absolutely stunning device for the price.

I connected up a Macbook Pro over the weekend and run my Spotify premium account off that. I use an optical cable from Richer Sounds, a convertor for the end that fits in the Mac and feed it to my SuperNait DAC.

It sounds very good indeed considering. You can really tell the difference between a good recording and a bad one - it streams (or in my case I download) at 320.

Best £10 per month I've spent in a while.

Regards,
Huw

I cannot get info on Spotify as it is not available in the US. Do they offer full red book res files?

No, their files are 160 bit-rate on the free service and 320 on the £10/month service. For the money though, I'm very happy with what they offer even if just as an opportunity to test-drive stuff before buying.

Thanks all for your input so far. Will check out the Chodette, Firestone and maybe a DacMagic also before diving in head first. It's actually going to be for the lounge system, hence the appeal of not having any physical CD's etc cluttering up the place and I'll use Spotify essentially as a jukebox. I'm thinking the quality should be fine for non-serious background listening (through Quad 99/909, Mission 754 F5).

Regards, Ponty

How is Spotify different from Last FM or Pandora, other than that you can pay for premium service.

Is it like Rhapsody? Which I also know nothing about.

-Patrick

Spotify is a streaming service. There is a free service where you get adverts every 5-6 songs, or you can pay £10 a month for the premium service. The free service offers you 160kbps streaming with 320kbps available from the premium service. Within the service you can choose to play whatever song or album you like (if it's available).

I'm not totally offey with Last.fm or Rhapsody or Pandora but I think they are very similar. Edit: Though if I remember correctly Last.fm and Pandora don't allow you to choose exactly what you want to here. You can think of Spotify as having a massive iTunes collection - you are totally in control!

Eloise

Thanks Eloise.

Yes Last FM and Pandora do not let you chose anything other than "next", and "love".

They are good for finding out about new artist in the vein of who you have selected.

Spotify does sound cool though.

-patrick

If - purely hypothetically of course - the internet contained some kind of tool where you could make your IP address appear to be from the UK or other Spotify country, then it would perhaps be able to try out the service.

What makes Spotify Premium better than most streamers is that you can actually download the music too. So, for instance, I have downloaded all my music to my Macbook Pro, my PC and my iPod. I can hook up my ipod in the car and listen to it there. In my living room I have the Mac hooked up and I don't need my router switched on to play music.

Regards,
Huw

thanks steve

i will look into such a hypothetical product.

Patrick,

Spotify accounts are by invite only these days - from a premium member. Drop me a pm if you need one.

Regards,
Huw

quote:

Originally posted by HuwJ:
Spotify accounts are by invite only these days - from a premium member. Drop me a pm if you need one.

Huw ... they are restricted to UK (well at least Europe, not sure exactly) - I guess could probably fool it with a VNC though. To quote the website ... Spotify is currently available in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands. We hope to launch in more countries in the future. You can use Spotify Premium in all countries, however you can only buy premium and sign up in our launch countries. So it looks like if you manage to sign up for the £10 a month service, you can use that world wide.

I was just looking and there is now also Spotify Open which is Free and needs no invite but is limited to 20hours listening a month. Then Spotify Unlimited which is standard (160kbps) quality, desktop use only for £4.99 and the full Spotify Premium which is higher quality (320k) streaming and also allows Mobile use.

Eloise

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:
thanks steve

i will look into such a hypothetical product.

this is no place to discuss onion rings.

OK, quick update. Got myself an HP mini notebook and a Musical Fidelity V-Dac (under £400 for both), running Spotify Premium through the 202/200 / Pro-Ac 125's (connected via USB from notebook into DAC) at the moment. Have to say, the sound is great, far better than the relatively low price tag should allow. Above all, it's about the music and the ability to listen to so much new material - fantastic!

This HAS to be the way forward for music playback. Why would anyone want / need i-tunes etc?

Best, Ponty

Another question about how to enjoy Spotify material : what about plugging the netbook to the soon available naim unitiqute with an ethernet cable?

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:
thanks steve

i will look into such a hypothetical product.

Peter

Speaking Hypothetically of course.... I er...believe there are people who run routers with suitable IP addresses who will 'sell' you a connection to their routers. All currently perfectly legal as far as I am aware.

Google for it

Note: a technique that can help expat Brits like myself watch the BBC and ITV programs on their web players from outside the UK.

regards
geoff

thanks HuwJ!!!