Streaming - Network player v DAC

[raygreen]

This is a whole new area for me so go easy!! I have just picked up a second hand Beresford TC-7520 for the intention of streaming music from Spotify from my computer through my amp for glorious sound through my Mission 751's. As well as getting the best from my older Arcam Alpha CD. I could also play radio from the computer this way too. At some point I will probably like to upgrade to the Caiman II based on the good things I have read about the latest Beresford offering.

Would a Network Player have any advantages here over the DAC here or offer anything different?

[Stratmangler]

There's no "versus" at play here Ray.
A Network Player performs a different function to a standalone DAC, and usually many devices can feed a standalone DAC, including a Network Player.

I have used a Network Player (several in fact) for quite some time, and no longer use a CD player.
Any CDs that get bought get ripped to the media server immediately, and can be played on any of Network Players on the home network. The players can even be synchronised together to play the same material and provide simultaneous playback over the house, which is nice if I'm up and down the stairs doing other stuff.

What do you expect from a Network Player?

[raygreen]

There's no "versus" at play here Ray.
A Network Player performs a different function to a standalone DAC, and usually many devices can feed a standalone DAC, including a Network Player.

I have used a Network Player (several in fact) for quite some time, and no longer use a CD player.
Any CDs that get bought get ripped to the media server immediately, and can be played on any of Network Players on the home network. The players can even be synchronised together to play the same material and provide simultaneous playback over the house, which is nice if I'm up and down the stairs doing other stuff.

What do you expect from a Network Player?

Sorry Chris it was not a very well worded title. I do understand that they have different functions and the DAC is primarily to decode the digital information to produce better quality audio. I didn't fully understand all of the functions of a Network Player.

I listen to music mainly in one room where I also have a computer. My question was really to establish which device would be best for connecting the computer just in this room in order to play music direct from sources such as Spotify and itunes (where I store my CD's on computer). I have just bought a DAC so maybe I have no real use for a network player if I can feed my CD and computer through there.

I'm still catching up on technology!!

[roob]

If you rip all your cd's to your computers hard drive you can play them back through the dac. You will need to connect the dac to your computer via usb or spdif, you can also playback Spotify etc this way.
How good it will sound depends on lots of things such your computers configuration, playback software, the quality of the dacs inputs etc.
Macs work well for audio without much messing, Windoze machines take a bit more.
Using this method the computer will have to be on all the time so noise may be an issue.
That old Arcam cdp is a good one and will take some beating.

[twotone]

Ray the thing with a network player is that you don't need to have your computer switched on to access your music or ,say, internet radio.

I have a Maplins Dac which is a bit shit I think (output to RCA is pretty quiet) but nevertheless I connect my TV to the Dac then the outputs of the DAC go to my pre-amp and then to the speakers.

I don't have a CDP but do have a Bluray player which I connect to the DAC and then switch between the TV & BRP at the DAC, the Dac also has a headphone socket but you can only listen to what comes out of the dac with headphones.

The Network player is connected to my home network via a LAN cable from my router and it's also connected to my pre-amp via the RCA outputs on the Network player, I can then access FM & AM radio, internet radio (which is a revelation BTW) and music from my laptop via either Amazon player then to i-tunes via airplay or with my iphone via airplay, or USB or even a hard drive connected to the player.

Think it can play last FM or maybe even spotify but I don't bother as I love radio and internet radio in particular.

Tony

[ReggieB]

Be aware that many network players do not themselves store music files. So if the music files are only stored on your laptop, then the laptop will need to be on for the network player to access them.

The solution is to add a NAS device (personally, I recommend having two - main plus a backup). This will store the files and allow access to them from your network. This gives you two benefits - you can play the files without having the computer switched on, and your music files will be stored in a way that is easy to back up - so for example, a failure of your laptop hard drive doesn't result in you losing all your music files.

IMO, if you are happy to have the laptop on when you play your music, have a decent backup strategy (usb hard drive for example), I'd stick to a decent DAC and ignore the network player until you need the extra facilities it provides.

On the other hand, if you want to be able to play the music anywhere on the network, don't want to have to rely on the laptop all the time, use your mobile phone to control your music etc, then get a network player.

Lastly, if you want a cheap introduction to network players, the Sansui WLD 201 can be picked up for a bargain price at the moment (https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8&client=ubuntu#q=sansui+wld+201&tbm=shop). It won't stream the highest quality FLAC files, but at around £150 its a good introduction.