Very cheap wireless USB DAC

What you need is a streamer, not a DAC. A DAC will be part of the streamer though.

Go on the lookout for a Logitech Touch. It is just now discontinued, but there should be some left on the shelves. This is the best value for money you can get with your requirements. Be quick and grab one!

PinkHamster,

Many thanks for your reply. The Logitech option is something I considered but it is just too expensive. Also as you mention it is now discontinued which means that when Logitech no longer support it with software updates etc. it will in effect be useless!

The Lindy device, along with the Arcam one, are streamers but they don't require a home network to function. They jsut stream direct from a PC via a USB dongle to a receiver/DAC plugged into an AUX socket on the amp. I know they are not as good as "proper" network streamers, but the Lindy device is cheap, which is vitally important to me.

Peter

Peter,

to be honest I am not familiar with the Lindy device. What is 'too expensive' for you currently? I have spotted a Touch on ebay for £151.

I am actally not too worried about the functioning of the Logitech devices in the future. I simply keep a copy of the current server software, which I can reinstall at any time also in years ahead. The only thing which might not be working then is radio over the internet.

Peter, unfortunately I do not have any personal experience concerning this product but there is quite favorable review to be seen in YouTube. You might have looked at it already but if you have not you can find it by using keywords Lindy wireless (I shall not post a link since that might be against the rules). However, please keep it in mind that it all depends how high your expectations are. I have a bluetooth product (Belkin) which I occasionally use for similar purpose and to be honest the sound quality is not that great.

Hi,

If your planning to use iTunes why not just use apple airport express? Fairly cheap new and can be found very cheap second hand. Just use the audio out into denon, simple and doesn't sound too bad Either. You can just AirPlay from net book and if you have an iphone,ipad or iPod touch use the remote app to control. I used one for sometime straight into nac122x for background music etc and still use it now with arcam dac into nac282 for spotify. 

Regards Nick 

PinkHamster,

Money is extremely tight at present and although £50 might seem like a tiny amount it is the absolute max that I can afford. Such is life!

osprey,

Many thanks for pointing out the Youtube review. I also tried a Belkin Bluetooth device some time ago and as you say the sound quality was disappointing. I was not expecting the earth but it was really so far below using a USB stick that I eventually abandoned it. This is what concerns me about the Lindy device, but it doesn't use Bluetooth technology and I have seen mentions that it is much better than the Belkin. The question is - how much better?  Again for the very low asking price it would be unrealistic to expect an audiophile product. All I ask is something that is comparable to the sound I get from using the USB drive. Enjoyable without any glaringly obvious and distracting shortcomings - but certainly not great quality in audiophile terms.

Nick,

Again an excellent solution - if I had the money! That is really the crux of the whole thing. It has got to cost next to nothing! Perhaps I'm asking the impossible, but if the Lindy sounded OK then I'd be laughing......

Peter

Peter

If the Lindy doesn't sound OK then you will have wasted your money. The Airport Express option is far more certain and also more resellable if you were dissapointed so I would wait until you can get a good deal or gather some more funds, there are plenty on eBay and Apple often sell these at a discount on their refurb site that will come closer to your budget.

Richard

Richard,

Very sound advice. I think that deep down I really knew this to be the sensible way forward and I was looking for someone to tell me so to confirm it - so many thanks for that.

When one is so short of funds it can be surprisingly easy to pursue half-baked inexpensive solutions in an effort to move closer to one's goals. Inevitably in the long run this turns out to be a waste of time and money. Much better to tread water and wait until worthwhile solutions/improvements are within financial grasp!

Peter

Order the Lindy from Amazon and try it out.  If you are not happy then send it back and get a full refund.  I've never had any problems returning stuff to Amazon.  Just check out the web site and make sure you return it within the allotted time.  Simples.

IT

IT,

Like you I've never had a problem returning anything to Amazon. In fact I would say they are the best on-line retailer, or simply the best retailer(!), by a very large margin - their customer service is second to none IMO.

However on balance I think the Lindy is unlikely to satisfy me in the long run, even if it seems OK to start with. I think I'll just resign myself to using CD's and USB sticks until I can afford a good streaming solution, whatever form that may take. No great hardship really!

Peter

Peter,

If you had to use a cable to a DAC from your computer how long would it have to be?

A fail safe option that sounds great for £39.

It also does head phones.

There is a cheaper other option.

Look on the vortex box UK site.

They are in Tunbridge Wells

Other than that? just install iTunes onto your lapbook and buy a apple TV box.

Stu.

I will also chime in on the airport express. You can get one on eBay in your price range.  As I'm sure you know it also has a digital out. So in time you can always upgrade with a generic mini toslink to toslink cable and an inexpensive second hand dac like the HRT musicstreamer 2 which I think is like $150 new

No wait.   The HRT is a USB dac. But you get the point

Stu/Greg,

Many thanks for the suggestions both.

The problem is that I can't really have the netbook/DAC hard wired to the system. I appreciate that this would probably give the best results but it would be a mess logistically. I would need to have the netbook next to me while listening in order to select tracks etc. This would mean running a cable all around the perimeter of the room to the listening position. Ironically I do have some suitable Chord Company cable from when I had my home cinema set-up. It would be do-able in theory but just doesn't seem like a very elegant solution. Also the netbook is the only computer we own and it gets used for many other things (eg. my wife does the weekly shop from Tesco on it) which would mean constantly connecting/disconnecting from the hi-fi.

Had a look at the Vortex Box site but can't see what you are getting at re a cheaper option. Everything seems like it costs hundreds of pounds!

The Airport Express is a possibility in the medium term. Am I right in thinking that it will stream only from iTunes? At present I only have Windows Media Player. I did try installing iTunes once but it seemed to run very slowly with a "lag" between commands and responding. I read somewhere that it just doesn't run very well on netbooks. Do you know if this is true? Also does the Airport Express have an analogue line out as my Denon system doesn't have a digital in?

Peter

pjl2, the airport express has an analogue/optical audio jack out. You would need to get a 3.5mm mini jack to phonos lead to your Denon.

You wouldn't necessarily need to buy a vortex box but you could install vortexbox media server onto your netbook (freeware). Not sure if this works with an apple express tho?

Thanks Andrew. Excuse my ignorance, but if I installed the Vortex Media Server software what exactly would this do? How would I get the music into my Denon system?

Peter

It won't do anything you do not have already. Vortexbox is an operating system that turns an idle PC into a server running squeezbox and UPnP server software. As your netbook is your only and do-it-all PC this is not for you. Plus you don't have a streamer that Vortexbox could render to.

Thanks. It's all getting bloody confusing! I think I'll stick to CD/USB sticks until I can afford a UQ or similar!

Peter

I do not know if it is possible to find a used one within budget but Nad dac1 has a wireless function. Could that be something?

Airport express will not work with WMP. That said you may want to give iTunes another try. Software was updated recently. Maybe will work better. This seems your best bet.  You would just plug the AE into an electrical outlet by your denon.  It will pull your iTunes library wirelessly from your laptop. You just run a cable. A mini plug to 2 RCA cable from the output on AE to a line level input on denon (aux, tuner, tape etc.   But not phono)

just FYI that very same analog mini plug on the airport express can ALSO function as a digital out if instead of the above cable, you use a mini toslink to toslink cable. So in the future if you found a cheap dac with optical input you just would run the mini toslink cable from the AE to the dac which would sit right by your denon and you just run standard RCA cables from dac to denon if you want

I have the streamer but blew the budget so badly that it will be several months until I can afford the Vortexbox.  For now, I too am going the USB route with rips and downloads for me as well.

Joppe/Greg/Russ,

Thanks for your replies/suggestions. I agree that Airport Express does seem like the most viable option in my present circumstances, but it will have to wait until funds improve. The more I look into the whole computer audio business the more confusing it seems to become, with so many different hardware/software configurations possible.

I may just decide to hold fire until I can afford what I really want, which is either a UQ or UnitiLite. The less I spend now the sooner I will reach that goal - no real point in half-measures which will only deplete funds and delay things. I would really like to be able to abandon CD's ASAP.  However at the end of the day if it entails a compromise in performance, as many low-cost wireless streaming solutions appear to, then it is really a backwards step for the sake of convenience, so hardly sensible. Much better to have patience and wait for the real deal.

Peter

As to the choice between the Unitilite and the Unitiqute, when that blessed time arrives,  I will relate my own experience and where I am now.  You may recall from my various threads my reluctance to follow the advice of so many and go to the SU and leave the CD (and therefore, the Uniti 2) behind.  Well, now that the deal is done, even though I have only four days under my belt, I cannot say how pleased I am that I went that route.  I did spend $39.00 on a very cheap CD player so I could play CD s NOW for my wife--who could give a hang less for audio quality, but eventually that will go to a charity store or the junk pile, whichever comes first. 

My confidence in my choice to enter the 21'st Century is enhanced by four other factors: (1) my shock when I went to a local store that used to have thousands of CD s and now has only a few hundred albums), (2) the problems I have seen reported for various brands of high end CDPs--spindles breaking, transports failing--that sort of thing; (3) the testimony of so many on these forums that downloads in CD format sounded better streamed than the actual CD did, and (4), the decision of such a big-name company as Linn to abandon the manufacture of CD players altogether (although I suppose this could be part of their marketing strategy to sell hidef downloads.)  Still, it would seem that the handwriting is on the wall...

As an aside, I have struggled with all the audiophile methods of describing sound quality, but with the cheap CDP, I am beginning to think I understand what people mean when they say that "Source First!"  The CD s I have played--especially orchestral music, sound less clear and sharp than that I hear on Linn Classical Radio at 320 BPS.  There are huge exceptions, such as the Freddie Mercury "Barcelona" album.

Good luck with your decision, and again my thanks for your weighing in on my own choices.  I feel somewhat sheepish, having moaned and groaned about not being able to afford a Superuniti, when your own situation is even more restricted.  I have been in your shoes--but it will get better!

Russ

Good move. All others suggested would be a compromise and something I don't think you'd settle for long term Peter.

James

Russ and James,

Many thanks. Yes I'm going forwards now with renewed confidence and determination not to let myself be distracted by lesser solutions which will, in the long term, turn out to be false trails. I shall hold out for a UQ/UnitiLite, or whatever is the equivalent Naim product when the time comes. That time may indeed be some way off, but good things are always worth a bit of waiting and patience.