Best cheap way to stream from the internet

[jayne lee wilson]

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.

Don't know your current system (what's the Chromecast connected to etc), but digitally a converter (DAC) upgrade is usually the obvious option (especially with your Quads & I guess your amps are of similar quality...)......although any codecs below 320 may reveal their limitations if more exposed by a better DAC....

But I've never used devices like Chromecast...have always hardwired Mac to Dac, so others may have better advice to offer...

[Dave2002]

Don't know your current system, but digitally a converter (DAC) upgrade is usually the obvious option (especially with your Quads & I guess your amps are of similar quality...)....but it will need to pick up your wireless signal of course....although any codecs below 320 may reveal their limitations if more exposed by a better DAC....

Wouldn't some form of computer be needed to feed the DAC?

I suppose one could stick with the Android phone and Bluetooth, but that might be a weak link. Some people have tried rolling their own using the Raspberry Pi computer, and then installed appropriate software. I was going to run my system off a Mac Mini which I bought years ago more or less for that purpose. It's hardly had any use at all, though it's a high spec model. Using the Macs does offer the possibility of using the so-called "hi-res" services - typically 24 bit/192 kbps or even 384 kbps, though in some cases those services must surely be let down by the recordings which were in some cases done at lower technical standards. I'm not going to get seriously involved in this thread as to whether one can hear the difference or not. There may be differences due to remastering and rebalancing of earlier material.

What constitutes the hi-fi stratosphere? A computer like a Mac Mini, plus a decent DAC could probably be bought for less than £4k - but the current solution with the Chromecast will have been much cheaper than that. Although £4k is quite a lot of money, some people spend a lot more than that putting together their audio systems.

I think some of the digital streamers in the £1k-£2k range might give an improvement over the existing system, but I have no experience of such kit.

[gradus]

Don't know your current system (what's the Chromecast connected to etc), but digitally a converter (DAC) upgrade is usually the obvious option (especially with your Quads & I guess your amps are of similar quality...)......although any codecs below 320 may reveal their limitations if more exposed by a better DAC....

But I've never used devices like Chromecast...have always hardwired Mac to Dac, so others may have better advice to offer...

Chromecast into a 44/405/2 but that's being repaired so its an old Sony amp and it sounds just as good as the Quads to be honest but I'll revert to Quad once repaired.

Dave, I think the android phone connects via wifi not Bluetooth.
Is Audirvana likely to be a worthwhile improvement if I acguire an android tablet - presumably this just connects to the amp like the android phone?

[jayne lee wilson]

Chromecast into a 44/405/2 but that's being repaired so its an old Sony amp and it sounds just as good as the Quads to be honest but I'll revert to Quad once repaired.

Dave, I think the android phone connects via wifi not Bluetooth.
Is Audirvana likely to be a worthwhile improvement if I acguire an android tablet - presumably this just connects to the amp like the android phone?

If your connection is chromecast to amp via analogue out (?), that is probably the weak link if you wish to upgrade... much better to push the usb/coax/toslink etc digital out from the pickup into an outboard DAC (too much choice at all price levels...)

Qobuz/Audirvana+ is audibly better sounding here (than Qobuz Website Player) and in my experience perfectly stable...(Designer Damien Plisson has put huge efforts into the stability aspect)....within the Qobuz site itself I noticed a few glitches...

If you can access integer mode, Audirvana offers two settings, No.2 warmer, No.1 more analytical - very useful indeed... (I tend to stick with....2

[gradus]

Many thanks jayne.

[Dave2002]

Chromecast into a 44/405/2 but that's being repaired so its an old Sony amp and it sounds just as good as the Quads to be honest but I'll revert to Quad once repaired.

Dave, I think the android phone connects via wifi not Bluetooth.
Is Audirvana likely to be a worthwhile improvement if I acguire an android tablet - presumably this just connects to the amp like the android phone?

Indeed - I'd forgotten which form of wireless link you are using. The Chromecast Audio does use wifi and has a digital output possibility.

I agree with Jayne about the output from the Chromecast. I have used mine with the digital out. The somewhat annoying thing is that Google doesn't support the set up software from MacOS any more - but only from mobile devices, but hopefully once set up the gadgets will work for software on my laptop or iMacs using casting from browsers etc.

Here is some more - possibly useful - information about Chromecast devices - https://www.the-ambient.com/guides/g...ial-guide-1189

I had to remind myself of the digital output - it is only optical Toslink - so you'd need a DAC with an optical input, or a converter box from optical to coax (electronic) output - depending on what DAC you chose to use. If you have an Apple Mac machine, you can most probably [*I think there is one that doesn't do that ...] feed the digital output from the Chromecast into that using an optical cable via the headphone socket or dedicated input socket, and then drive a DAC (possibly via USB) from that.

You may decide that Chromecast is only a stepping stone to other things later, but if you wanted to keep using it with a DAC you'd probably be best to get a DAC with an optical input - as well as the coax ones. Some may only have coax inputs.

[richardfinegold]

Reading through this thread reminds me what a relative bargain some of the lesser expensive streamers are. The Bluesound Node 2i goes for around 500 pounds and offers a decent included DAC, good WiFi or Ethernet connectives, lots of digital ins and outs, plays high resolution, and a pretty good App. Every streaming service imaginable, and now it integrates my favorite Qobuz files into the rest of my collection (Roon does this and people rave about it, but if Bluesound can emulate it it must not be that difficult for II mavens to emulate). My Apple TV for about half the price can provide all the Internet Radio and if the HDMI output is used into a AVR that does a decent job of jitter reduction can sound really good with iTunes files at CD resolution.
I helped my son set up his Chrome cast into an Onkyo AVR that became obsolete when my plasma TV died and was replaced with a 4K model. The Onkyo dates from 2007 and fortunately the digital inputs worked with Chromecast.
We have different tastes in music so I couldn’t give an adequate assessment of how sounded but heand his girlfriend were thrilled-their mp3 files from their phone had never sounded so good to them