Streamer advice requested
dromunds
Posts: 10,100
A friend of mine recently purchased my Musical Fidelity A-308 integrated, and he wishes to get into streaming. I have no knowledge in this regard, so I thought I’d ask the gurus here. He likes Apple Music and so a streamer that is compatible with Apple Music is a must. He also likes to give commands to his Alexa but I don’t know if Alexa is compatible with streamers. If not I’m sure he’d be ok using his phone to command the streamer. I see that Eversole has HDMI Arc which allows you to connect your tv to the streamer but I’m unclear why that is desirable in conjunction with a 2-channel music set-up. His budget is $500 to maybe $750-ish, maybe a tad more. Any best-bang-for-buck advice would be appreciated. Any other advice will be welcomed as well, other than to marry a veterinarian from Wisconsin type-advice.
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Had the pleasure of purchasing a Node Streamer from Tom (treitz) a while back and love it.
Right now my wife's using it to play her library from her iPhone.
Haven't gotten into all the things this Node does. However, my wife keeps bugging me to read the manual and start streaming music from the internet.
Just about getting a round-tuit 😏
I highly recommend this gem and, it should be right around your price point.
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I’m also happy with my Node, bought from @heiney9 .
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I've tried most all of the sub 1k streamers in recent years.
Personally like the sound of Cambridge, and the software of Wiim.
They are all pretty awesome for convenient music listening!
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I see that Eversole has HDMI Arc which allows you to connect your tv to the streamer but I’m unclear why that is desirable in conjunction with a 2-channel music set-up. His budget is $500 to maybe $750-ish, maybe a tad more.
I use the HDMI ARC on my Eversolo all the time as my "man-cave" that has my 2ch system also has a TV in there.
When I'm watching TV, or simply not in a critical listening mood, I just use my Eversolo DMP A8 as a preamp/hub of my system.
When I want to really listen, I fire up the Prima Luna preamp and use the Eversolo as just a streamer/dac.
Since the Eversolo has dual outputs (unbalanced and balanced) it makes it easy. I run unbalanced from the Eversolo right to the amp. I then run balanced from the Eversolo to the Prima Luna and then once again balanced from the Prima Luna to the balanced inputs on the amp. I just flip the selector switch on the amp to determine what inputs I want it to use.
Personally, I can't say enough good things about my experience with Eversolo. Excellent sound quality, good build quality, great functionality, stable performance.
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Conradicles wrote: »I've tried most all of the sub 1k streamers in recent years.
Personally like the sound of Cambridge, and the software of Wiim.
They are all pretty awesome for convenient music listening!
Could he use Apple Music with a Wiim? -
From my Node I’m running RCA’s out to my Preamp. Right now it’s going to my Phase Linear 4000 II Preamp from 1979.
Getting ready to swap out the PL pre and installing the Krell AVS.
Will be using an Audioqest Glass cable to that Krell, using it as a preamp.
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Could he use Apple Music with a Wiim?
The Wiim Pro & Pro plus will do Airplay The others do not & you'll need to use bluetooth for them.
Apple's iteration of that is lossy too -
I like the Eversolo gear but if this is just primarily for a casual Apple Music user who would also be connecting a streamer to a TV set the Apple TV 4K would work for a relatively low cost. I understand an updated version may be coming out later this month. It's not the most "high resolution" device for audio compared to high end streamers but it does the job and its user interface is simple and reliable.
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I’m not familiar with the Apple TV 4K. He has a new 65” TV, not sure the make/model, but it has a boatload of built-in apps and he has a Sonos soundbar connected to it. I’ll have to ask him specifically, but he subscribes to a few of the popular streaming services for his TV broadcast, YouTube TV, Hulu, I’m not sure. Would Apple TV 4K be superfluous or can you just subscribe to Apple’s music streaming service without subscribing to their TV streaming service? Sorry for the simplistic questions, I need to get my learn on in this area. Thanks
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I have a pair of the latest AppleTV 4K boxes for my living room and theater setups. The Apple TV 4K would be a much, much better streaming experience compared to any built in SmartTV interface, but I can't really comment on how it would work for streaming Apple Music. One limitation it has is only one HDMI output and no analog audio, or digital coax/opticals outputs.
If he is setup only using an HT receiver, that might work, but for a dedicated 2-channel setup, its probably not ideal. Apple Music is a tough one, and probably not the best choice for streaming to a 2-ch setup. Because of their closed ecosystem, almost nothing other than an Apple Device will work natively with the service. I don't know how the quality is affected using AirPlay or Bluetooth.
