Re: streaming recommendations for newbie

@aheydorn Personally if I’m you I’d look to download the FLAC files from the computer to an external drive and connect that to the streamer (the Node can do this BTW) so you can have all your music along with your streamed music combined in the same place and no need for the computer anymore — all your music will now be accessible via the streamer’s app, which is a beautiful thing. All you’d need is to run a USB cable, which you obviously already have, from the streamer to your DAC. Also, you should avoid running your streamer with Wi-Fi for both better sound and signal reliability, and this can be done easily by getting a Wi-Fi extender from TP Link, etc. or a Mesh system (Orbi, etc.) and then running an Ethernet cable from that to your streamer — much better, relatively inexpensive, and easy peasy. Be excited as your music enjoyment is about to expand exponentially!

Just to clarify some terms because it can be confusing, a streamer just streams music in real time from a streaming service/source whereas a server stores music that can then be transferred to another device. There are combo streamer/servers that stream and also have onboard storage so you can load files directly into them (the Bluesound Vault does this as do units from Innuos, Aurender, etc.) so there’s no need for an external drive, which is really nice. This may not be 100% technically correct but it’s how I understand/define it in my very rudimentary way and hope it’s helpful.

I’m not aware of a less expensive high quality way to get into streaming than with the AudioQuest Cobalt DAC. It only costs a few hundred bucks. I also bought a quality AudioQuest cable for it. It plugs into your laptop. So for about 600 bucks you’ve in business! I use Qobuz and Audirvana for the software. I can control the streaming from my iphone.

This set up is crazy good and will most likely blow away all of your other sources!

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@tlh28, you’re getting a lot of good recommendations here. If I were starting to put a streaming setup together from scratch I’d use a laptop as a music source initially because of the variety of inputs available, and you can also use that platform to try the many different streaming services and hopefully find one that you enjoy. Then you can decide how you want to listen to your music. Speakers at home, headphones, or on the go. As far as a DAC I’d checkout something like an iFi Zen One Signature. 

@soix thanks a bunch- as it happens I back up all FLAC files on an external storage device so maybe I’m ahead of the game there. I would like to move away from the laptop so that’s great advice. Sorry but I still don’t understand how to use an Ethernet cable to get this done- I’m not very tech savvy so my learning curve is vertical! My router is on a separate floor from the system and I currently run eero mesh to strengthen the signal to the other floor (basement). So is using an Ethernet cable still possible? I’d prefer not to rely on WiFi… Because I already have a separate DAC I think I’m looking for just a server - if my understanding is correct… looking forward to getting this done so appreciate the help! 

My router is on a separate floor from the system and I currently run eero mesh to strengthen the signal to the other floor (basement). So is using an Ethernet cable still possible?

Absolutely.  You just need another Mesh node near your streamer and run an Ethernet cable from that node to the streamer and USB from the streamer to your DAC and you’re golden for streaming. Using the Node as an example, you can then just run a USB cable from your external drive into the Node and now all your music will be available from the Node.  You’re very close since you already have Mesh and music on an external drive.