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Pandora One on Home Audio System

Sorry if this has been covered before. I tried doing a search but couldn't find relevant threads.

My home system is relatively modest: An NAD C 725BEE receiver driving vintage JSE Infinite Slope Model 1.2's.

We are playing Pandora through an iPod and the NAD IPD 2 dock.

We've upgraded to Pandora One, but can't get the higher bitrate audio through the iPod (or even the 128k). We don't really want to hook up a laptop or PC to the system.

What device can receive the Pandora One and other streaming music services at maximum bitrate through our home network? It would be easy to run an Ethernet cable to the receiver if wireless won't do.

My budget isn't unlimited but I want the best sound possible through the rest of my system.

Thanks in advance.
nicholas_fivepennies

Showing 6 responses by onemug

onemug
784 posts
 
iD100 = good call. Which type of cable are you going to use?
onemug
784 posts
 
Have you gone into "settings" in the Pandora menu and selected the higher rate for streaming?

I have an iPod Touch that receives Pandora thru our wifi network. Upgrading to Pandora One was an improvement but lately I've been listening to MOG which is even better yet.

In the quest for the most enjoyment, the iTouch sits on a dock that routes the pure digital stream to my dact. Very enjoyable.
onemug
784 posts
 
I got Pandora to sound a lot better with a good DAC but agree with Loomisjohnsom, you should give MOG a try, noticeably better with the 320. I believe they still have a 2 week free trial.
onemug
784 posts
 
Me too. It's why I keep paying for it.

MOG has something similar called MOG Radio. You can select an artist, hit the radio button and a slider pops up. All the way to the left is "that artist only", all the way to the right and it's "similar artists". You can put the slider anywhere in between to weigh it either way.
onemug
784 posts
 
You're on your way to greater sound.

The Pure i20 is a good rec. It has a digital out if you want to use an external DAC and it has analog outs where it uses its own internal DAC which should certainly be better than the one in the iPod. All that for around 100. Never used that specific one but have heard good things about it.

I have 2 docks that I use. One is a Cambridge iD100, which is a Dock only and therefore have to use an external DAC (300). The other is an Arcam drDock which does what the i20 does but costs more. I don't know if its internal DAC is any better than the i20 and it's around 300 also.
onemug
784 posts
 
Never used an i20 so can't say first handed anything about it.

Speculation...."maybe" the drDock has a better on board DAC. It has a sturdy base that I sometimes use my iPad on.

On the Cambridge, remember you "have" to buy a DAC. It does not have one onboard like the i20 and Arcam does.
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