After 6 months BT/Openreach have completed the astonishingly difficult technical challenge that has been connecting an extension landline from the house to a building 50 yards away. I should shortly be able to stream R3 and Spotify, possibly even exotica such as Quobuz but could anyone suggest a cheap device that I can leave in the building rather than having to take my phone with me every time?
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Maybe a Kindle Fire 7 at £50? It only has a tinny mono speaker, so you'd need headphones; Kindle Fire 8 has a better reputation for audio with it's stereo speaker. But I don't know if the DAC is good enough on either device, and I haven't tried it, ... but might be worth checking out! You could of course carry it to and from the building...
Another route starting at about the same price range might be Raspberry Pi, ... there were a lots of enthusiasts trying to get hifi audio out of it last time I looked!
My cheapest "decent" budget streaming of R3 and spotify is through an ASUS chrome box... I plug my quite demanding audiophile headphones (Senn HD 650) directly into and get good sound on R3, slightly less good on free Spotify, and (*be careful*) Chrome OS didn't support Spotify Premium last time I looked... Amazon Music Unlimited doesn't have the Spotify Premium problem here and sounds great on the chrome box, at least R3 standard. -
Amazon Music is still limited to 256kbps aac, compared to the 320 kbps aac of R3 (320 is audibly better, as low as my fussy little ears can enjoyably go in the era of lossless/HD streaming via Qobuz etc).
I have heard that Amazon are considering higher CD quality etc rates though to compete with Tidal etc.... another potential game-changer...Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 19-06-19, 15:35.Comment
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Not only is the data rate of the iPlayer higher (320kbps on all BBC Radio channels, these days, I think) but the superior AAC-LC CODEC is used, rather than mp3.Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View PostComment
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What is your budget? What about a cheap android phone (or an old one if you have one) and some decent earphones or a speaker? I've reused my old mobile for a similar purpose (basically as a remote controller streamer to my amp)
Just a thought.Comment
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I will be using a Chromecast Audio as I do at present in the house allied to an android phone, so another android phone would work but I would prefer something with a larger screen as I'm not very dextrous.
Cost-wise - as little as possible!
My hif fi cred is suspect these days. The old Quad amp (44/405) has stopped working on one channel and I've drafted in one of the kids old stacking systems (Sony Scala) to drive the ELS63's and to my complete surprise the amp actually seems to work very well with the electrostatics. I read somewhere that they suit mosfet amplifiers.
Many thanks for the suggestions.Comment
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Amazon Unlimited Music sounds "about the same" as R3, to me, listening through my chrome box, using Senn HD 650 headphones. (Though I haven't performed double blind testing,... this is just my subjective feel after general listening form both sources...)Originally posted by jayne lee wilson View Post
Neither AUM nor R3 are as good as CDs on my CD player, of course! But the quality is "pleasant", unlike free spotify. That said, I haven't subscribed to Amazon Unlimited, as I want to spend most of my precious time listening to CDs, but I enjoyed what I heard through the free trial. What device are you using to distinguish between Amazon Prime and R3? Or is it just good ears?Comment
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The Amazon Kindles seem like an amazing bargain for a tablet.
Refurbished Kindle 7s at £30 on amazon! John Lewis, and many others, sell Kindles so you should be able to trial the screen before purchase. Whatever you choose, let us know what the sound quality is like! How does radio 3 320kbps sound on your android phone using decent headphones? John Lewis is selling new Kindle's at the same price as Amazon, plus I guess you would get their two year guarantee... ( had a computer fail on me after 19 mnths, John Lewis couldn't fix it, and they gave me an instant, no question, refund... so this is VERY useful...)Comment
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I forget to mention the gadget at the top of my "maybe buy" list... an amazon echo device. No dexterity needed!
The Amazon Echo Input is only £34.99, maybe less... Richer Sounds had a deal at £19.99 (Note to self... when you see a bargan buy it!...)
Streaming Amazon Music Unlimited through one Alexa device is only £3.99/month.
P.S. Amazon have just discounted the Echo Dot to £39.99... I'm really tempted!
P.P.S. Make sure you run the Alexa app on your computer, and check compatibility with chromecast etc.Comment
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The Amazon Echo isn't great quality, and if you use it in certain ways then you arguably are letting outsiders in to your private space. Those gadgets listen to everything you say, and it's a matter of trust that they only relay the phrases preceded by "Alexa" (or whatever substitute word you have selected) to a remote server. There is no guarantee that they won't really relay everything you say to a remote storage location, though of course you may trust the companies not to do that, or the law to enforce privacy rights in the event that data is exported and potentially useful to outsiders. At the moment the technology is probably not up to capturing everything that anyone says, or being misused or targetted in ways which I suggest, but I wouldn't bank on that forever.Originally posted by Mal View Post
If you're not bothered about the privacy issues either for yourself, or anyone who is inside your environment, then go ahead - though as I have indicated, the quality isn't really too high. We have one Echo and three Echo Dots, but I am uneasy that we have compromised our privacy. OK for Radio 4, but not really up to it for Radio 3. These are quite useful for setting timers, though.
Re your note to self - I wondered about buying a bass recorder from Amazon which was under £100. The same/similar model has now reverted to just under £200. Ah well - I wasn't too keen on that anyway!Comment
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Thanks Dave, I hadn't considered the privacy aspect! I wouldn't trust amazon, or their employees, not to eavesdrop, and couldn't hackers gain access? Even if they couldn't, the scammers might pretend to have been recording everything you say and demand money not to use the recording nefariously. Then again, isn't ther ethe same porblem with mobile phones? This would be a variation on the monitor video camera scam... and doesn't the Kindle 7 have a camera... I think I'll just stick to my blind and deaf chrome box... Then again, isn't there the same problem with mobile phones?Originally posted by Dave2002 View Post
"Hackers only need your phone number to eavesdrop on calls, read texts, track you"
On quality, guarmanez is happy with android mobile quality. Surely anything mentioned so far would be at least up that quality?Comment
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Always on the full-sized hifi rig in the listening room. But although I use Prime, I don't listen to the Amazon Music services at all now, because of that limited 256 aac bitrate. AS Bryn said, different codecs at similar bitrates can sound very different. (IIRC, Spotify is ogg-vorbis variable...? 160 for free, 320 for premium? Think so).Originally posted by Mal View Post
When I first began downloading around 2011, I made many comparisons between various codecs and bitrates and 256 was never good enough, even on the Berlin DCH. Inoffensive I guess, but it always sounds too synthetic to my ears, where 320 aac (On R3 or in Berlin, where it is still available in the archive) can be surprisingly natural and consistently pleasing - and crucially revealing of musical individuality. It seems to "breathe" more freely.....
Those extra 64kbs made a bigger difference than I'd expected, back in the day when I began with all this. (Having filter choices on the DAC can also help get the best out of it, get it closer in feel to CD).
I was so disappointed when the Berlin DCH stopped offering 320 on the live feed (you could switch & choose the rate manually at one time). I was listening to that almost every week across autumn 2012 - live relays from the Philharmoniker!.... what a treat that was...
It was always fun to watch the audience assembling before the start.... there was Mr Rattle, smiling genially at his patrons as he took his seat among them on a night off....
Chancellor Merkel was often in there too...Last edited by jayne lee wilson; 20-06-19, 23:26.Comment
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What HiFi says:
"Listen to the two [Spotify Premium & Amazon Music Unlimited] side-by-side through a budget pair of headphones connected to a smartphone or laptop, and differences are barely audible
It takes an accomplished DAC/headphone combo, such as the Chord Hugo/Grado SR325e, to discern Amazon has a slight edge.
It’s a touch better in terms of dynamic subtlety, and there’s pleasantness to its rounder-sounding presentation. The oozing harmonica opening Conor Oberst’s Mamah Borthwick (a Sketch) sounds slightly warmer and more delicately delivered.
Ultimately, Apple Music offers the best sound quality of the £10 per month services, even if the differences probably aren’t substantial enough to sway a decision by themselves."
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Apple use the aac codec, 'wrapped' as m4a to offer metadata. Amazon uses mp3 at a similar data rate to that offered by Apple (both below that from the iPlayer).Originally posted by Mal View PostComment
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I'm now up and runningwith my long-awaited internet connection.
I listen using my android phone via Google Home set to the highest quality sound and a Chromecast Audio.
R3, Spotify at highest quality and Qobuz cd quality all sound very good indeed over the ELS63's but from the collective experience here could a better result ie higher resolution, be obtained without entering the costly hi-fi stratosphere.Comment
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