Streamers with best apps?


I tried this question on an Australian forum with no luck, so I'm hoping a more audio savvy community might do better. I currently have a Cambridge Audio CXN which as I discovered has 2 hopeless apps when you want to find classical albums saved on Tidal My Collection. So thinking of ditching the CXN and getting another streamer/server , preferably without a DAC as I will be running it through a Pure Audio Lotus DAC 5. Most reviews of streamers seem to focus entirely on sound quality but as I have discovered the apps used are of almost equal importance. I have considered an Elac Discovery DS-S101-G which is controlled by a Roon Essentials app. So first question. Does anyone know how the Essentials app lists classical albums in Tidal My Collection and does it have a search function for the albums saved? Second question what streamers can you recommend that at least are equal and preferably better than the Tidal app which does have a search function but very little logic as to how it lists classical albums. I have thought about the Bryston BDP Pi, Innous Zen mini or an Auralic streamer but know nothing about the usability of their respective apps. So anyone out there who can help.
128x128mazian

Showing 3 responses by amg56

You could try a Cocktail Audio by Novatron. I have the X45Pro, but there are many other models depending on what you want and price. Oh, and I am from Aus too.

@Mazian

The Cocktail Audio streamer I suggested, the X45 only a small part of that available models, also can come with a CD player with a Ripper function and Database to keep your sorted and CD’s backed up on a local hard dick (typically 2Tb) on board and can use Roon, Tidal, Qobus, Deezer, Napster, Spotify Connect, Amazon music and others. Plus internet radio (which opens up to a world full of classical stations (BBC). It can play from a NAS or other storage device. It has a 7" TFT colour screen to display the album cover and track playing and so on.

I was looking for a streamer with good sound, could play HD music up to 32bit/384khz, DSD, DXD, MQA, is a DAC, could play my CD’s and stored music. It also comes with a downloadable app for remote control.

I looked all over the web and this was the only player under $5k that could do everything and was a reference level player and DAC.

I had not heard of them before but after 6 months of use, I will vouch for its performance. Worth looking at. (I am also retired and am not affiliated with any product. (I was a civil engineer...)

@mahler123Great pickup! One of those spell checker mishaps, but it reads well :)