Parasound Halo Integrated.


Hi all, I need some help. I just bought a used one for use in a second system. One of the reasons I decided upon it was the fact that I thought it supported Airplay. I was looking to stream to it wirelessly from my Macbook Pro. I was thinking I could hook it into my home network and that would be all I needed to do. Obviously that's not the case so I hoping someone is in a similar situation and could lend me a hand in finding a way to stream to it wirelessly. Thanks in advance!!
michaela

I do not know of any audiophile level "integrated amp" that supports streaming.  If you really want an all-in-one unit, you'll have to look at some of the home theater receivers, such as Marantz, Anthem, etc.  However, you will not get the sound quality of the Parasound because they will use lower grade power supply that needs to provide for 8+ channels (instead of the 2 channels of the Parasound).

The only alternative is to get an external DAC or streamer.  The Oppo Sonica (as an example) is a fine external DAC and will support Airplay streaming as well as a variety of other streaming.  This will give you a very nice analog DAC source for anything (streaming, CD, Airplay, spotify).

Or you can look at just a streamer and use the DAC in the Parasound (using a digital cable from the streamer).  There are a lot of options at different price points.  There's actually a "Streamers" thread in the digital forum here that you should read through.

You could hook-up a third generation or earlier AppleTV using an optical cable or you could use an AirPort Express and hook it up either with USB or optical and stream to these devices.
I have heard only good things about both the Auralic mini and the Bluesound two for entry level streaming devices. Either of these with your Parasound and you'll be cooking.