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simonpj
03-11-2017, 08:52
The range of potential options for streaming has defeated me. Here's what I want to do.

I've been using Qobuz via from my iMac via a USB to SPDIF convertor into my DAC. But the iMac is no longer sitting near the hifi, so I need a streamer that will:

- Connect to the router via cable
- Feed SPDIF to my DAC at user definable resolution (my DAC only goes to 24/96)
- Be controlled remotely via iPhone / iPad / iMac for selection and playing of music from Qobuz with a good interface

Is this what all streamers do?

How does Qobuz support vary between different streamers? Is there a best option?

Is there a sweetspot for price / performance? Streamers you would recommend?

Many thanks,

Simon

Tim
03-11-2017, 10:08
In essence you are correct in that in the hi-fi world, many people will use a streamer connected direct to a DAC or amplifier and control it remotely from a phone, tablet or PC. Ideally it will be hard wired to your router or wireless can work well too. A lot just connect a laptop to a DAC, connect it to the internet, stick it in/on a Hi-fi rack, forget it and control it remotely.

As to what to use, well that's the 64 million dollar question, a Raspberry Pi with a digital output, good power supply and connected to a DAC is arguably going to produce the best result for minimal cost, but as it's headless (again normally best practice) it does need a controller as outlined above. There's lots of info here about the Pi being used as both a server or streamer.

My only advice is to do some research, ask questions and hopefully those here that have off the shelf solutions will make suggestions. I can't really recommend anything you can buy as I built my own server and have no experience of Quboz. I use Spotify or play my own CD rips or downloads.

Good luck though and it's the best thing I ever did, especially as I have quite a lot of CDs, which were becoming unmanageable. I enjoy my music so much more and play so much more [emoji3]

What's your budget is always a good place to start, as streamers can be anything from a few pounds to thousands. Also, does it have to be a bought ready to go streamer?

Sent from my XT1580 using Tapatalk

disarmamant
03-11-2017, 11:10
http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/auralic-aries-wireless-streaming-bridge/

Stratmangler
03-11-2017, 12:10
As Tim has already said, a Raspberry Pi, fitted with something like the HiFiBerry Digi+ board would be a good place to start.
Load the RasPi with piCorePlayer, and you have a device running LMS, and Squeezelite, and as such acts as server and player.
LMS has a Qobuz app.

Stick a decent linear PSU into the equation, and the job's a goodun.

It will take you a little bit of time to get to grips with running things headlessly, but there are plenty of folk here can give you advice when you need it.

Stratmangler
03-11-2017, 13:21
I forgot to add - there's an app called iPeng that can control the Squeezelite player.
It works quite well, by all accounts. I have no personal experience of using it, but I do know it works on iPads too.

simonpj
03-11-2017, 14:35
Thanks. Plenty to be getting on with. Setting up a turnable still seems a doddle by comparison!

Tim
03-11-2017, 16:19
Thanks. Plenty to be getting on with. Setting up a turnable still seems a doddle by comparison!Depends on your skill set, I would find it harder setting up a turntable. However, once you set up your streamer (and there is a knowledge curve if it's all new to you) then it's plain sailing. No cleaning, cartridge/stylus expense etc and simplicity to operate.

BUT and this is a biggy, which some either don't do, forget to do or just put off for a rainy day and then pay the price of either losing data or having to re-rip large collections, which is very time consuming. You must build a backup routine into your system, be that a NAS (which isn't necessarily a backup persay, unless you ensure you have something else), USB drives, cloud storage or whatever - lots of options here too.

Hard drives are cheap these days, so don't forget it's an essential part of the setup, unless all you do is stream from a streaming service, then it's a breeze as you don't need much at all.

Trust me, don't neglect this part of the equation, you can never have too many backups [emoji6]

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SLS
03-11-2017, 16:58
If Stratmangler's posts set your head spinning, and to me it could be written in Chinese, I would suggest either the Auralic Aries (already recommended), which is a streamer only.

The Aries Mini also has an internal DAC that may be perfectly up to your standards and you can sell your existing DAC. I believe the Auralic external PSU (cost £230) also fits the Aries Mini, so the whole thing would cost £680 with a good PSU. For £40 a hard drive will make it a network server as well. (The drive slots in under the baseplate.)

I have both units and they are both superb.

Best thing is you will be listening to music within 3 minutes of opening the box.

The Auralic Lightning App is absolutely brilliant. There is no knowledge curve at all with Auralic software, they have completely nailed setup and control. A 3-year-old could do it. The hardest thing is likely remembering your Qobuz password. It only works on iOS.

If Stratmangler's posts do make sense, then you are far more techy than me. I don't even know what 'headless' means, but it sounds edible.

disarmamant
03-11-2017, 18:49
I don't even know what 'headless' means, but it sounds edible.

It’s not edible, and doesn’t refer to how Ann Boleyn finished her days. In computing terms it refers to a networked PC, usually a server, running remotely without a keyboard, mouse or monitor.

I use a headless server running Vortexbox, Logitech Media Server (LMS) and Roon.

I use ipeng on my iPad to control LMS to stream Qobuz to a Logitech Transporter, and Roon to stream from my music collection on the Vortexbox via Ethernet to a Devialet 220 using the Devialet Air protocol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

SLS
03-11-2017, 19:01
It’s not edible, and doesn’t refer to how Ann Boleyn finished her days. In computing terms it refers to a networked PC, usually a server, running remotely without a keyboard, mouse or monitor.

I use a headless server running Vortexbox, Logitech Media Server (LMS) and Roon.

I use ipeng on my iPad to control LMS to stream Qobuz to a Logitech Transporter, and Roon to stream from my music collection on the Vortexbox via Ethernet to a Devialet 220 using the Devialet Air protocol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have two systems, den and office. I just open the Lightning app on my phone, select from a dropdown list which system I want to listen to, choose some music and press play. Simple. Works every time.
If I search for music, it will find it whether on my QNAP server or online, because Lightning will index networked or attached/installed drives. No thinking involved. One app, finds and does everything. Even my wife can work it out, and she’s clueless with stuff like this.



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SLS
03-11-2017, 19:10
It’s not edible, and doesn’t refer to how Ann Boleyn finished her days. In computing terms it refers to a networked PC, usually a server, running remotely without a keyboard, mouse or monitor.

I use a headless server running Vortexbox, Logitech Media Server (LMS) and Roon.

I use ipeng on my iPad to control LMS to stream Qobuz to a Logitech Transporter, and Roon to stream from my music collection on the Vortexbox via Ethernet to a Devialet 220 using the Devialet Air protocol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

On the third reading I realise that your problem is you want to use Qobuz for streaming but Roon for your music library. I don’t want Roon and anyway Qobuz includes booklets for most albums and lots of metadata besides. Those can be accessed from the Lightning app. Can you get the Qobuz booklets and metadata on ipeng?


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disarmamant
03-11-2017, 20:17
Sadly No Qobuz booklets on iPeng. Also, sadly, no Qobuz tie up with Roon either. I use Roon to stream from my ripped music catalogue mainly because of the Roon interface and the superb sound quality via Devialet Air.

I’m waiting for Devialet to fit the new streamer board to my 220 Pro, which will (eventually) enable Qobuz direct streaming to the Devialet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]




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SLS
03-11-2017, 23:08
Sadly No Qobuz booklets on iPeng. Also, sadly, no Qobuz tie up with Roon either. I use Roon to stream from my ripped music catalogue mainly because of the Roon interface and the superb sound quality via Devialet Air.

I’m waiting for Devialet to fit the new streamer board to my 220 Pro, which will (eventually) enable Qobuz direct streaming to the Devialet.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The reason why I have no interest in Roon is not only because Qobuz did not want to partner with them, but because there has to be a computer involved to store the Roon index, which is something the Aries streamers do.

I occasionally use Dev Air from my MacBook if I don’t have my phone or iPad handy and can be bothered to get either of them. It can’t cope with much HD, drops out. Ok at 16/44. If the new OS card does host Qobuz properly, then I will get rid of the Aries.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk[/QUOTE]




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disarmamant
04-11-2017, 10:40
The reason why I have no interest in Roon is not only because Qobuz did not want to partner with them, but because there has to be a computer involved to store the Roon index, which is something the Aries streamers do.

I occasionally use Dev Air from my MacBook if I don’t have my phone or iPad handy and can be bothered to get either of them. It can’t cope with much HD, drops out. Ok at 16/44. If the new OS card does host Qobuz properly, then I will get rid of the

I started using Roon because they effectively fixed Devialet Air for them! Roon streams anything up to and including 24/192 using Air over Ethernet faultlessly.

I actually prefer the fact that the Roon server is running on a vortexbox headless PC, it means I can backup everything, including the Roon database, to an external USB disk using the vortexbox backup and restore utility which is excellent.

I’m waiting to see exactly what the Devialet Core I board will bring to the party before I decide if I’m going go for a lifetime Roon subscription. When I first got my 220 Pro I was on the brink of buying an Aries, but then the Roon / Devialet tie up was announced.


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struth
04-11-2017, 10:41
I was with you all the way up to effectively :D

SLS
04-11-2017, 11:23
I started using Roon because they effectively fixed Dev Air for them! Roon streams anything up to and including 24/192 using Air over Ethernet faultlessly.

I actually prefer the fact that the Roon server is running on a vortexbox headless PC, it means I can backup everything, including the Roon database, to an external USB disk using the vortexbox backup and restore utility which is excellent.

I’m waiting to see exactly what the Devialet Core I board will bring to the party before I decide if I’m going go for a lifetime Roon subscription. When I first got my 220 Pro I was on the brink of buying an Aries, but then the Roon / Devialet tie up was announced.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think the Roon/Air thing was a software update that they could offer before the hardware update that improved Air for people using a computer source. Of no interest to usb source people like me. The Devialet website has on OS update on 20 October indicating the new streamer board is going to be extremely powerful.

The good thing about the Aries is I could sell it and get most of my money back (I was offered it ex-demo but would have bought it new), or give it to my son.


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disarmamant
04-11-2017, 11:36
I was with you all the way up to effectively :D

Sorry Grant, and to the op. What would you like me to elaborate on?


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montesquieu
04-11-2017, 19:16
I recently set up a spare Macbook to stream directly into my DAC (or rather, into a SPDIF interface and then into my Mac). I haven't actually set it up yet but there is a JRiver control app that will allow selection and control to be done remotely from iPad or iPhone.

I believe the is a mechanism to use something called Splashtop to control Qbuz in the same way from an iPad or iPhone, but I haven't investigated that yet. This feature is also available I believe in Spotify.