View Full Version : My streaming setup - what am I missing?
jandl100
12-07-2015, 06:52
I'm a streaming newbie and I am confused!
What I've done is connect a USB output from my laptop to a USB input on my DAC.
Subscription to TIDAL and I just play music streamed live from the cloud from the truly vast TIDAL catalogue..
Switch DAC or pre-amp input to change to silver disc (for DVD or for what isn't on TIDAL) or turntable etc.
Why do other folk have no end of boxes and software/firmware/hardware/malware, and endlessly fiddle around, to achieve what seems to me to be the same thing? :scratch:
Am I missing something?
brian2957
12-07-2015, 07:39
I keep mine very simple too Jerry . I use a stripped down computer as a music server and a DAC connected to it via USB . Music is stored on a 2TB external HDD and it's very good indeed. I also use JRiver media player which I find is excellent . Keep it simple IMO.
Stratmangler
12-07-2015, 08:21
I have a NAS, and my music files reside on that.
The NAS runs a program called Logitech Media Server.
The server program controls local file access and also runs apps for various streaming services. Spotify and Qobuz work fine, and I believe that Tidal can also be accomodated.
My Squeezebox Touch connects to the server program on the NAS.
My Squeezebox Touch outputs the files via my DAC and into my amplifier.
I can control the Squeezebox Touch from an IR remote, an app on my smartphone, the web browser on my computer, and as a last resort I can control the player from its touch screen.
The NAS spins down after about 15 minutes if it's not being accessed, so uses very little mains juice when it's asleep.
The only downside is that you need to be able to get your head around computer networking, or at least have a friend who can help if you get into a mess with it.
What's so difficult to get your head around? :scratch:
I have an old PC in the workroom wirelessly connected to the others in the network. it has an M-Audio 'Audiophile 2496' soundcard in it, exiting analogue at the moment into the workroom system. Downstairs laptop has a pretty fair headphone output and picks up music from the PC upstairs wirelessly. Sorted :)
Why do other folk have no end of boxes and software/firmware/hardware/malware, and endlessly fiddle around, to achieve what seems to me to be the same thing? :scratch:
The same reason many audiophiles faff about with multiple different amps/speakers/cables/plugs/supports/fuses/psus/bearings/mains units and so forth. Because 'endlessly fiddle around' is what they do. If there isn't a need to fiddle around, they'll invent one, then go on about how that last fiddle dramatically changed the sound of their system, made their jaw drop, and how even their wives, who do not normally comment on that sort of thing, noticed the difference.
cyclopse
12-07-2015, 08:54
I'm a streaming newbie and I am confused!
What I've done is connect a USB output from my laptop to a USB input on my DAC.
Subscription to TIDAL and I just play music streamed live from the cloud from the truly vast TIDAL catalogue..
Switch DAC or pre-amp input to change to silver disc (for DVD or for what isn't on TIDAL) or turntable etc.
Why do other folk have no end of boxes and software/firmware/hardware/malware, and endlessly fiddle around, to achieve what seems to me to be the same thing? :scratch:
Am I missing something?
The bit your missing is the NAS where all our computer music is stored. Bit like Tidal but our own personal collections. This is where the fun starts getting it configured. But when your there its set up for life.
The bit you are missing, if you lived in my house, is that the computer(pc) is upstairs and the music downstairs. I use a Squeezebox Touch to connect the two. I also have a Duet in another downstairs room. I am using Tidal at the moment via ickStream and very good it is too. It sounds better than spotify but spotify has the similar artist, biography and so on which I like.
cyclopse
12-07-2015, 13:06
The bit you are missing, if you lived in my house, is that the computer(pc) is upstairs and the music downstairs. I use a Squeezebox Touch to connect the two. I also have a Duet in another downstairs room. I am using Tidal at the moment via ickStream and very good it is too. It sounds better than spotify but spotify has the similar artist, biography and so on which I like.
Same here, computer with all the files is upstairs. I have a wireless bridge to connect Nas to Rasberry Pi with Ethernet going into the Pi streamer.
zygote23
12-07-2015, 14:13
NAS in the Hallway with circa 35K tracks on it and counting.
Touch in the lounge to DAC and amp.
Squeezebox Boom in bedroom.
Squeezebox 3 in Kitchen.
Wouldn't touch Tidal in a fit, nor Spotify, nor itunes etcetc...add as you see fit.
Are you enjoying your own setup? If yes then worry not about others. If No...then keep trying.
awkwardbydesign
12-07-2015, 14:24
I have a NAS, and my music files reside on that.
The NAS runs a program called Logitech Media Server.
The server program controls local file access and also runs apps for various streaming services. Spotify and Qobuz work fine, and I believe that Tidal can also be accomodated.
My Squeezebox Touch connects to the server program on the NAS.
My Squeezebox Touch outputs the files via my DAC and into my amplifier.
I can control the Squeezebox Touch from an IR remote, an app on my smartphone, the web browser on my computer, and as a last resort I can control the player from its touch screen.
The NAS spins down after about 15 minutes if it's not being accessed, so uses very little mains juice when it's asleep.
The only downside is that you need to be able to get your head around computer networking, or at least have a friend who can help if you get into a mess with it.
What's so difficult to get your head around? :scratch:
Computer stuff. Like using a lathe, or surfing or anything*. Easy when you grow up with it, or learn it early, but otherwise can be very difficult.
*I CAN use a lathe, but neither of the other things.
jandl100
12-07-2015, 20:10
Are you enjoying your own setup? If yes then worry not about others. If No...then keep trying.
Oh yes, it sounds fabulous.
My CD spinner sounds great, TIDAL is a step up from that.
I'm just genuinely curious why other people's setups seem so complex and/or expensive and/or obsessed over when mine is just a cable between my laptop PC and my hifi.
I guess I'm not missing anything after all. :)
zygote23
12-07-2015, 20:43
I love the way you cannot tell whats available on Tidal until you've signed up! Or at least I couldn't find an artist search facility.
Strike that I just did...though I had to fiddle about to find it.
awkwardbydesign
13-07-2015, 08:29
I love the way you cannot tell whats available on Tidal until you've signed up! Or at least I couldn't find an artist search facility.
Strike that I just did...though I had to fiddle about to find it.
I looked at what was there before visiting Justin (User211), as he uses it, and discovered big holes in their inventory. I listen to a lot of obscure music and found that in some cases Tidal had only a handful of the albums available from particular artists. We had quite a discussion about it. We agreed to disagree about the importance of that! :lol:
jandl100
13-07-2015, 09:34
Yes, Tidal has quite a lot of gaps, including entire labels missed out as well as individual albums from otherwise well represented artists - typically small indie companies that want to sell stuff themselves, I guess! -- e.g. ECM, Hyperion, Quinlan Road are some labels of interest to me that aren't there.
Still, as Justin said to me before he finally managed to nag me into trying it, 'enjoy it for what it has got'. Quite right, it has an astonishing amount of music! I have discovered many wonderful new things since I signed up, and I would guess that it has 90% or more of my CD collection. And the sound quality is excellent. :thumbsup:
It's my main music source now, by a long way!
I'm just genuinely curious why other people's setups seem so complex and/or expensive and/or obsessed over when mine is just a cable between my laptop PC and my hifi.
I guess I'm not missing anything after all. :)
C'mon. Jerry, you're just not trying hard enough. What about the USB cable connecting the PC and hifi? Is it just a cheap one from Maplins, or is it a gold-plated Nordost one? How about the PC sound card; lots of scope for tweaking and upgrading there!
Am I missing something?
Only OTR
Oh yes, it sounds fabulous.
My CD spinner sounds great, TIDAL is a step up from that.
I'm just genuinely curious why other people's setups seem so complex and/or expensive and/or obsessed over when mine is just a cable between my laptop PC and my hifi.
I guess I'm not missing anything after all. :)
What you're missing is all of the years of faff before lossless streaming. ;)
To say that I'm impressed by TIDAL sound quality is an understatement. Before this, I used JRiver & CDs for 'critical listening' and Spotify (poor-sounding even on max quality) for music discovery. Now I get the 'critical listening' sound quality AND the massive range of music. Easily worth £20 a month.
I'm a streaming newbie and I am confused!
What I've done is connect a USB output from my laptop to a USB input on my DAC.
Subscription to TIDAL and I just play music streamed live from the cloud from the truly vast TIDAL catalogue..
Switch DAC or pre-amp input to change to silver disc (for DVD or for what isn't on TIDAL) or turntable etc.
Why do other folk have no end of boxes and software/firmware/hardware/malware, and endlessly fiddle around, to achieve what seems to me to be the same thing? :scratch:
Am I missing something?
Actually you are not missing anything on the boxes front, you just have more boxes than you need. 1 box is enough.
What you are missing is all the stuff that Tidal haven't got but apparently Qobuz have, so I'm told
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