Love my HC/72/140-Linn Keilidh. What are streaming options

Easy, just buy a streamer and connect it to your 72 instead of (or as well as) the CD player. Naim options might be ND5XS or NDX, depending on budget. Do you want to stream your CDs instead of playing them? Do you also want to use web based services like Tidal, Spotify, iRadio etc? This may have some bearing on your choice.

Just seen your last sentence, an easy way to do this would be a Core or Unitiserve plus an external DAC.

NDX would be a good place to start. Just slot it in place of your current CD player.

As others have said NDX or ND5X but also add a NAS drive (use a PC to rip CDs to the NAS drive). Offers the best VFM and flexibility IMO

The easiest option is to get an NDX (ideally) or an ND5xs. If you wanted to modernise further, and get a simpler setup with remote control volume, for the price of an NDX you could get a 272 and then you could lose the 72 and Hicap. Later you could swap the 140 for a 200 or 250DR. It all depends where you want to go. 

Running 72/140 here. Main usage is for the LP12, but I do have a Bluesound Node 2 that is decent for the money and is approximately the same width as the shoeboxes.

I've had an ND5XS in the past and though it was more of the Naim sound, it wasn't as stable (YMMV).

if you are still debating which course to go and are going to spend Naim-type money, I'd suggest you listen to the Linn options as well. For a cheap no-brainer, I can suggest the Node.

A mac mini + a Naim DAC-V1 perhaps?

Probably not the most efficient way, but one that works excellently for me is a UnitiQute 2 plugged into the back of my 32.5 / HC / Nap 135 combo.  I also have a Unitiserve upstairs plugged directly into the router and the UQ accesses this wirelssly over the netowrk.  Sounds fantastic, works amazingly well, and gives modern convenience to an 'old' system.

To add, the UnitiQute is one of my favourite bits of 'hifi' that I have bought in a long while.  So versatile, yet small and 'Qute'

Your olive boxes are an all-time classic.  If you're going to invest real money in your system it should ideally be in a full servicing of the olive gear if and when the time comes in order to get another 15-20 years out of them, rather than on some expensive streamer/server combo that will be nothing more than a door stop in 5 years - and probably make you want to pull your hair out along the way!

Do you want to do streaming, specifically?  Or do you more generally just want to move into computer audio?  In my view, streaming should be avoided at all costs unless it simply can't be avoided by virtue of your home's layout.  It's a huge pain.  Takes a lot of time to set up.  Constant gremlins, unless you are one of the lucky few for whom the products just happen to work straight out of the box.  Costs a bunch of money.  The products depreciate rapidly and don't hold their value well.  Oh, and have fun with the firmware updates!  

I love my 72/HC/140 too.  I'm running it through ProAc Tab 10s on my desktop with a Chord Mojo, which sounds just as good as the V-1 for less than 1/4 of the price.  It's fantastic.  A Rega DAC-R will do the the trick too.  Both of those DACs sound great in the 72/HC/140 configuration, don't cost a lot, and are plug and play with zero hassle.  And if they lose half their value?  So what?  They didn't cost much in the first place.  I don't care what anybody else says - ripping your music to iTunes and playing from a laptop sounds great as long as you rip in Apple Lossless format.  It couldn't be easier.  You can also take the sound quality a step further by using Audirvana software.  If you still want to do streaming after that you can without writing off a lot of sunk cost with the Mojo.  It also buys you some time to become an I.T. professional and get your Cisco and Microsoft certifications which you will inevitably need.    

ngarritson posted:

Your olive boxes are an all-time classic.  If you're going to invest real money in your system it should ideally be in a full servicing of the olive gear if and when the time comes in order to get another 15-20 years out of them, rather than on some expensive streamer/server combo that will be nothing more than a door stop in 5 years - and probably make you want to pull your hair out along the way!

Do you want to do streaming, specifically?  Or do you more generally just want to move into computer audio?  In my view, streaming should be avoided at all costs unless it simply can't be avoided by virtue of your home's layout.  It's a huge pain.  Takes a lot of time to set up.  Constant gremlins, unless you are one of the lucky few for whom the products just happen to work straight out of the box.  Costs a bunch of money.  The products depreciate rapidly and don't hold their value well.  Oh, and have fun with the firmware updates!  

I love my 72/HC/140 too.  I'm running it through ProAc Tab 10s on my desktop with a Chord Mojo, which sounds just as good as the V-1 for less than 1/4 of the price.  It's fantastic.  A Rega DAC-R will do the the trick too.  Both of those DACs sound great in the 72/HC/140 configuration, don't cost a lot, and are plug and play with zero hassle.  And if they lose half their value?  So what?  They didn't cost much in the first place.  I don't care what anybody else says - ripping your music to iTunes and playing from a laptop sounds great as long as you rip in Apple Lossless format.  It couldn't be easier.  You can also take the sound quality a step further by using Audirvana software.  If you still want to do streaming after that you can without writing off a lot of sunk cost with the Mojo.  It also buys you some time to become an I.T. professional and get your Cisco and Microsoft certifications which you will inevitably need.    

Streaming doesn't have to be hard work, you just need to buy a decently designed product with good upgradeable software that keeps on adding value and functionality to the product. I think there's some over-extrapolation going on in this post.  My brother manages to keep a NAS, streamer and network working and he doesn't have a clue, plus he has one of those special magnetic fields that makes most tech go wobbly on his approach to the UI...

A computer (at least a Windows computer) and other bits its actually harder work compared to a good streaming solution.

Your description of your brother sounds rather like me - totally clueless. But it’s really not hard to sort it out and get it right. Nearly all the problems we hear on the forum are where people have set things up sub-optimally. It’s a bit like an LP12, the better it’s set up, the better it works. 

I'd try a Linn KDS Renew as a single box low-ish cost alternative. Really easy to set up, completely robust in the way it works and will sound significantly better than what you use at the moment.