2. digital
  3. 152787-139138

Streaming + DAC questions. Please help this noob!

Hi Guys,

After a couple of decades avoiding the desire to become an audiophile . . . here I am. I've jumped head first and purchased the following:

Bryston BP 20 preamp
Bryston 4B SST amp
B&W 801 Matrix II

I'm actively avoiding becoming a vinyl collector (too many hobbies, not enough physical space, etc etc), so most of my music will be from Spotify. I know they aren't the greatest quality . . . but for the sake of ease and variety and modernity, that's what I'm using. My 'hub' would be an imac sitting 10 feet away from the hifi system. I'd like to control from that computer since that's where I'm sitting most of the day. 

At first, I had hoped to be able to connect via bluetooth adapter directly into preamp and that sounded horrible. (Lesson #1). I then tried with an Audioquest Beetle and that sounded pretty good. I also tried an ipad direct into the preamp and that's OK, too (not as good as with Beetle). But it's clear to me I probably need a dedicated DAC (Lesson #2). So my questions:

1. Whats the best way to use Spotify connect via my Imac? Should I dedicate the ipad to sit on top of the hifi? I also have an old macbook pro that could sit on the hifi and be the connected hardware. The beetle worked fine, but I don't want my computer sounds to come out of my hifi system, only Spotify. 

2. My head is spinning with DAC info. It seems like I can't go wrong with a $99 Schiit, but I'd rather just buy right the first time. Happy to spend up to 1k (used is definitely ok with me) on a DAC that I can just forget about. Did I mess up by not getting an integrated preamp/dac? 

I come to you guys with humility and ready for Lessons 3 thru infinity.
128x128quesofrito
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
You can start streaming right away with the Bluesound Node2i. Use the internal DAC to start with and see how it sounds playing back Tidal, Qobuz (or Deezer).  Qobuz has lowered it's monthly service charge.

You can then take your time and audition different DACs. Schiit has a trial period.

quesofrito's avatar
quesofrito OP
7 posts
 
Thank you all for the responses! Some good options here. @mazian I hadn't heard of that Auris. That could be a breakthrough for me, thank you. 

@gdnrbob, that codex is actually around $800-900. That might be the ticket!

To everyone recommending Tidal. How does the music offering compare to Spotify?

dquarless10
1 posts
 
I’ve been debating this decision for the past month and decided to pass on Node 2i based on the recommendation of the audio science review website. I bought a Cambridge Audio CXN V2 on a black Friday deal. The kicker was the Node 2i toslink input has literally the worst grade on the entire audio review site, and the Node 2i wasn’t recommended. I was interested in the toslink input, but you may not be.

I can’t comment on a sound quality comparison, but the reason I went with the CXN is the sound quality is supposedly much better (as per the recommendation of two reps at Music Direct in Chicago), and also because Cambridge Audio just released a new app which seems much better than the original Cambridge Connect that a lot of people don’t like. My plan is to start with the CXN DAC, which as far as I can tell is the same as the DAC magic plus, and then upgrade it if I want a better/different sound. 

Hope this helps.
f917025
81 posts
 
after investing so much for a proper system it will be foolish not to invest in the source. no reason to listen to anything below cd quality we are in 2019! most people had better sound in 1992 with cd players than now with spotify and youtube. 
try tidal with mqa first month free.whatever dac you get make sure:
1.it plays mqa
2.it has firmware updates (like ps audio or ifi dacs)
iv'e recently bought the ifi idac2 used for 250$ i'm very happy with it.  i would avoid schiit 100$ dacs,instead ide get a 100$ usb cable and 500$ dac with your system. bryston makes nice dacs as well. what about a headphone system?(pc dac headphone amp)

jrwaudio
345 posts
 
Oh the slippery slope  You have a pretty nice setup to be sure. I'm in a similar situation, and my last step is deciding on a streamer.
I have a Tube pre amp and a Tube amp from the mid nineties. Question was, how the heck can I stream hi rez music's to it. The simple and easy way was getting a Audioengine BI high quality Bluetooth music receiver for casual listening. I connected it to my pre amp via RCA and I can send any music from my phone to the B1 like Tital, Amazon HD, Spotify and YouTube etc. For more serious listening and out do the DAC in my Oppo BD 105  (which I use alot) and take my sound quality up a notch, I bought the Exogal Comet plus Dac and that has balanced outs and I run those into my pre amp ( ARC LS15) and it sounds very good indeed! The Audioengine BI also has toslink out, so I could  run a toslink cable from the B1 to my Comet DAC for even better sound quality.  For streaming I'm strongly leaning towards the Innous Zen Mini as it also will rip CDs and I like that option, as I have some rare CD's The Innous also has a high quality internal DAC, so maybe no need for an external DAC in your case.
As you've already figured out, there are so many options, and very good recommendations. The difficult part, what will work best for you and your system. Happy hunting!
More to discover