My streaming adventure has succeeded.

Posted by: Mike1951 on 23 September 2016

I decided to take the plunge and wave goodbye to my CDX/XPS combo. Went out and bought a ND5XS and XP5XS.

Had a wonderful time investigating available radio stations and avoiding drowning in the available amount of choices. Noticed pretty quickly that anything under 320kbps wasn't worth listening to.

Unfortunately, I didn't use Spotify or Tidal. Tried Tidal on the AKG's via my mobile device and didn't like the sound quality. Very detailed but completely unmusical. Settled on Deezer "Best available quality" sound which was better than Spotify's own 320kbps offering.

Still couldn't stream through the ND5XS though. Thought I might have to splash another 200 knicker on a Sonos and started to feel a bit miffed that my streaming device needed another streaming device so I could, er, stream...

 

In the meantime, discovered Qobuz. Recently bought out and massive website improvement. Downloaded the app for CD-quality playback. Expensive, but hey-ho. The price of what you want is the price you have to pay, I guess.

And then... HALLELLUIJAH! Chromecast Audio dongle. Plug into the back with an optic cable and helloooooo.... Quality returns to Mike's lounge.

Given that Qobuz is revived and (as far as I can tell) getting more popular, I expect that NAIM's radar will be keeping an eye on it for inclusion on the service?

 

Go on NAIM, you know you want to. I mean, you know we want you to. Eh?

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Adam Zielinski
Mike1951 posted:

So I just downloaded my "non-internet available" CD's on to a usb stick, pushed it into the ND5XS port and played "John McLaughlin Trio Live at the Royal Festival Hall".

Oh good grief. My eardrums just came.

Welcome to the real world of streaming Mike.

Now... this gets even better with high resolution files 

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Mike1951

I'm using .wav

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Adam Zielinski

Good - WAV is an uncompressed file format (the other ones are AIFF and FLAC). 
What I was referring to by writing 'high resolution' is not a file format, but a sampling rate and a bit depth.

A red-book CD uses 44.1 kHZ / 16 bit.

High resolution audio starts from 48 kHZ / 24 bit.
Most often you will find downloads at the following sample rates: 98 kHZ / 24 bit, 176 kHZ / 24 bit and 196 kHZ / 24 bit.

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Ardbeg10y
Still couldn't stream through the ND5XS though. Thought I might have to splash another 200 knicker on a Sonos and started to feel a bit miffed that my streaming device needed another streaming device so I could, er, stream...

 ...

And then... HALLELLUIJAH! Chromecast Audio dongle. Plug into the back with an optic cable and helloooooo.... Quality returns to Mike's lounge.

Same experience here. Plugged a ChromeCast Audio dongle via optical cable into one of the optical ports of my Supernait 1, and since that moment I reside in the permanent state of mind / soul that I want to invest more in Audio stuff but just don't know what to do since I'm actually happy. Surpressing upgraditis here.

Even Spotify is quite nice. For some reason my setup feels balanced. Must be the similar for Mike.

Have installed recently a Synology 216Play nas, which is in virgin state currently - had no time yet to rip music.

Will start doing so soon.

Minor change will be the ethernet cable for the ChromeCast Audio to improve stability of the network.

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Mike-B
Mike1951 posted:

So I just downloaded my "non-internet available" CD's on to a usb stick, pushed it into the ND5XS port and played "John McLaughlin Trio Live at the Royal Festival Hall".

Oh good grief. My eardrums just came.

    Hi Mike,  when I posted the line "..... enjoy what you have,  but remember it's only the first stop on the line"  I had a little mental bet with myself that despite your reluctance to get into downloads that you would be doing so before next week,  looks like I should have put money on it.    The next step is try something familiar in 24bit, then your eardrums will be having multiple orgasms,    then you will be all set to get a pukka NAS.     No point in fighting it,  you know it makes sense  

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Mike1951

Get the behind me nasta

Posted on: 25 September 2016 by Kacper

Try also DSD, your streamer can handle that format 

 

cheers