Re: streaming recommendations for newbie

@tlh28 if you already stream on your computer, why not start with a USB DAC, and just use the computer as your streamer via USB? If the computer is a far distance from the HiFi setup, there are active USB cables.

Can’t hurt to try if you’re okay having streamer x DAC be separate. I advocate that because streamers are limited-feature low-power computers and a given model’s software might not be kept up indefinitely; even if upgrading is not necessary for sonic reasons, obsolescence of a dedicated streamer may become unavoidable depending on company x hardware x software. So a dedicated streamer (whether separate from or integrated with a DAC) should, by design, be more susceptible to shortcomings over time than would be a decent DAC on its own. 😉  A streamer x DAC combo assumes the streamer side will receive software + firmware updates for the lifetime of the whole device. Maybe yes, maybe no.

Using your computer also leaves you greater choice of which platform / OS to stream with. Conversely, a dedicated streamer will have a proprietary in-house OS with software you may like, or may not like. It will probably be run from a small touch screen on the front panel (perhaps with remote), or from a smart device app. Computers have some downsides, mostly in terms of greater learning curves for relevant software and options, but they also can offer more power in this area.

Seems to me the most obvious, and potentially least costly, starting point for OP unless a streamer-DAC combo unit is preferred.

If you specifically want a dedicated streamer, then consider posting a virtual system for folks to weigh in with their specific preferences / opinions?

andym23456

11 posts

04-18-2024 at 07:22am

I know, why save them when I can stream them? Well, just to have them in case the internet goes down for a long time.

@andym23456 it seems streaming services can and do sometimes pull albums / artists off their catalogues without warning. Kind of like Netflix dropping movies or series with little or no notice.

That’s an even better reason to save your disc collection files.

To OP and anyone else on the learning curve, some of the claims made of streamers in this thread have no evidence, just subjective conjecture, nor basis in current (pun!) electrical knowledge, so self-educate before getting carried away is a fair plan.

Chasing “better” streamers relies on factors that don’t make much sense if you will be streaming via Bluetooth. That should perhaps be first thing out of the chain if one hopes for improvement, lest you constrain your streamed files from the get-go.