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Recommendations for high quality Streaming Audio:

Greetings everyone; looking for recommendations on how to stream high quality audio, let me explain.

I currently use my Apple 8S phone, with a high quality aux cord, into my preamp. This method has better sound quality than when I use a blue-tooth adapter and stream from my phone, but I enjoy being able to stay seated and having control of what I want to listen to.

Anything out there that gives the user remote control / access to what they want to listen to?

If not, I'll settle fort he next best thing, being plugged into my preamp, and having high quality audio without wireless control

Budget: $1,000 for equipment, $25 per month for streaming service.

I don’t know much about DAC’s , streamers, etc.. or alternative music streaming sites, but I do know that there are better options out there from what I’ve read on these forums.

Thanks in advance for the forthcoming enlightenment.

Rene

barkeyzee1
hifihandyman's avatar
hifihandyman
78 posts
 
I have the Bluesound Vault, which is similar to the node.  For best performance, run CAT6 to the Node, but you wouldn’t need to run CAT6 to your laptop.  You control the Node with laptop, phone, or tablet wirelessly.  I’m extremely happy with mine and have used the digital out primarily because I’m running into a processor with a DAC but I have used the analog out and the Bluesound DAC seems great for the money.  Good luck.
markpop1227
12 posts
 
Check out the Sony HAP S1.  I own one. It is not a streaming device buy you can download all your music to its 500G hard drive. I love it because it can directly play 24 bit (high resolution) format. About $700 $800. It also includes for free tune in radio and internet radio. Last week I listened (for free) blues fron Greece and jazz from Brazil. No subscriptions required. Cant play it from your phone but you can organize and search by song, artist, genre, album...
noodlejohnson
2 posts
 
I also run a blusound node and am very happy with it. The app is simple and is compatible with all major streaming companies. What's nice too is that you can buy multiple blusound devices and sync them up to play music all over your house. With the node you can eventually bypass the internal DAC if you feel like you want an upgrade in sound and purchase a DAC that fits your taste while keeping your ability to stream. You said you have $25 a month to spend on steaming you can try Tidal and experience some MQA music which is also compatible with blusound products. 
larry5729's avatar
larry5729
1,002 posts
 
You can't beat a Bluesound Node 2i for the money.  Connect it analogue use RCA's and try listening to MQA streaming TIDAL.  I also like the way TIDL interfaces with the Bluesound Node 2i.  
barkeyzee1 OP
41 posts
 

Thanks for the feedback Larry, as well as the feedback provided by all the others.

Going to pull the trigger on a purchase on Black Friday, might be able to save myself a little $$.

Across the board, seems like Bluesound Node 2i is the way to go.

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