Please help my ignorant a$$, I just want a good streamer...I think.
For starters let me get this out of the way up front. I DO NOT UNDERSTAND COMPUTERS OR THE LANGUAGE.
My current set up consists of A custom built Aric Audio 6SN7 line stage, Peachtree 300 amp, Marantz CD6007, Denafrips Pontus II and a Node 2i. All cables DIY Helix design per My Audio Alchemy. Speakers are Monitor audio silver 500's.
In my head I should be able to improve upon the Node. I have been reading threads here and some other forums. I think I want something like a Lumin U1 Mini. Maybe one of the Innuos units with the ripping capability. Just not so sure about the Ripping CD's as that is going to involve hard drives and stuff. Which I would probably have to hire someone I can't afford to make it work.
Then there are the folks who chime in on most threads at some point. These guys seem to challenge themselves to see how many pieces of stuff they can hook up to stream. How can a chain of 4,5,6 components with all their connections and power supplies not have negative effects not to mention where do they put all this stuff?
I have a cable that comes into my house that plugs into the thing my desktop computer plugs into. I plug an Ethernet CAT8 cable into that (the box not my computer) then into my Node.
What is the benefit of all individuals pieces? It sure doesn't seem like it saves any money at all. By the time you buy a few pieces of pie some hats, switches, clocks, sonores, rendues and whatever else I am forgetting. Then power supplies and cables to hook it all up.
Then there is the Roon camp. My best bud has Roon. Took Him a few grand including gear and a computer guy from the place he bought it ( he was nice enough help on his own time) and a week to make it work. So that kind of soured me on the Roon idea.
Don't get me wrong I am a hands on person, pretty mechanical. But when my computer has problems if unplugging it for a day doesn't fix it I go buy a new one and start from scratch (usually have to send the wife to a friends place for a weekend it gets ugly real ugly). Complete idiot!
In the end I would like the best streamer option I can get under say $2500. I need it to be as "plug and play" as possible or come with amazing instructions/guidance or even better someone that could actually teach me. Someone that can explain on my level.
I am going to stop here as it seems I am rambling! I am probably leaving stuff out I am sure so please ask and I will fill in.
I have a great sense of humor so feel free to have some fun with me, I will return it! I just want to make a good decision. Show me what I am missing or not!
Cheers.
J.F.
@danager Ive been streaming with the node 2i for two years now. I bought it to see how I liked that platform. Ive decided that having access to a library like that is pretty cool. So now I have decided to up my game a bit. So its not like I can't open an app and play music. Cheers J.F. |
I'm sure your more that capable but one of the best streamers out there is the Raspberry PI 4 with the PI2AES Pro Audio Shield It requires following some computer directions to get it set up but lb per lb ... $ per $ it's a killer product. but if takes effort. To me well worth it but if you really are computer allergic as you stated above it's not the right product.
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@danager Thanks for the link. So you have to down load 5 or 6 different apps just to make it work? When I decided to buy the node. It took 10 minutes to have music playing. 1 app down load it fill out the info, plug in the power, ethernet cable and coax to DAC. Turn it on play music. Also I am guessing that is just the entry level as it seems to be missing 4 or 5 components that everyone says they have their pie chain. Cheers J.F. |
No it just takes two apps. One app to convert the the Volumio download and put it on a micro SD card and then the Volumio download. What it provides is an extremely clean signal to your DAC. I can’t find the review but it out performed some really expensive streamers. Volumio free version allows you to play all the music from your hard drives, all the web radio programs and Spotify. If you want to use Tidal or Qobuz they charge you a yearly fee. I can’t use it because my music comes from Amazon HD and Amazon doesn’t support Linux so I have to use a PC and attach my DAC using a USB cable. Volumio is cool in that when it’s installed it has it’s own WiFi network that you log into and then set up your own WiFi and choose the correct DAC hat. You then reconnect back to your network and use your browser to access your music. You can use USB hard drives or if you have a NAS (networked attached storage) it indexes everything and then presents it like an internal web page. Volumio has a great user interface As long as you’re on the same network you can control your music from your phone, tablet or PC. With Volumio you now have a NAS. The Volumio software will share your hard drives anywhere on your network so by just adding another PI you can access your music in another room. There are also DAC cards that plug into the PI and you don’t even need another DAC. The DAC hats are pretty good but won’t compete with a $1000 DAC. It’s really pretty strait forward and the instructions on how to set everything up are really good. I felt like such a Guru when I got it working but actually it was more like virtual Ikea furniture. It was already built I just had to screw it together.
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