[Closed] Anyone use a network music streamer in their hifi?

not sure what sort of quality youre after, but just had a quick look at your suggestions which seem to be many hundreds of pounds.

i bought a yamaha CRX-N470D which streams spotify/deezer etc if thats what you mean. just a couple of hundred quid.

EDIT: can be used with the music cast app on my phone that works well.

I've had a yamaha cd-nt670d since just before Xmas, been trialling different providers - deezer & tidal so far, seems good enough quality but the musiccast app on the phone is a bit shonky.

You can still get Chromecast Audios on eBay for under £40.

A bit more DIY, but I use Raspberry Pi running OSMC and control via an app on my phone and tablet. Lots of other software available also.

Chromecast Audio.

I have a Bluesound Node 2 (not the 2i).

It was a decent step up from the Sonos that I previously had.

I find the BluOS software easy to use on my Android phone.

I stream music from Tidal and from my NAS.

I was extravagant and bought a Naim ND5 XS2 which also acts as a DAC for my CD player.

It’s just so bloody lovely. Yes it’s very expensive but I’ve listened to so much new (to me)music through it which even taking into account the subs for the streaming itself has more than paid for itself. And it sounds just brilliant.

The Naim app is pretty good but I’ve since moved to Roon as it ties my local music library together with my streaming favourites etc.

I've got a Cambridge Audio StreamMagic6. It's OK, I bought it because it matched the CD player. I've got all my CDs as FLAC on a NAS but I generally use Spotify so the network player is pretty irrelevant when it comes to the quality.

@reggiegasket - in terms of the Bluesound. Send Moorgate Acoustics in Sheffield a message via their Facebook page.

They’ll sort you out a home demo even at the moment. Brilliant hifi shop - I can vouch for them 100%, been using them years.

You’ll have to essentially pay for it but then they’ll refund you in full on return of the streamer.

I use a echo input as its better integrated into the amazon infra we use elsewhere in the house than any other options

Also on Yamaha kit here, 2 WXAD10s for the kitchen and bedroom, hooked into local stereo/ruark mr1s. AV amp has it built in, and recently bought a combined streamer/speaker for the bedroom. It's not 100% bug free and needs a kick at times, but for the most part streaming Spotify and BBC radio works very well and it synchronises across all rooms excellently. I used Chromecast audios before and a Chromecast for the TV in the lounge, but if you tried to synch them across rooms the TV one had a lag, drove me nuts!

I've used Naim kit for the last 10 years, mostly via the Spotify app. Had Tidal for a while, supposed to sound better but I can't get used to the app so I don't bother. Potentially getting a Qubuz account soon, which has more hi-rez music available but is another interface to learn. Think all the major streaming services allow you to run their apps where you want. IIRC there are some pretty good sign up offers on streaming platforms currently.

Depends on what you're plugging it into as to best choices really. If you have a DAC in the system already or decent quality digital inputs in your amp, I'd say Chromecast Audio is a decent option to get into streaming. For cost/quality if you don't have dig inputs, I'd be looking into a used DAC from eBay.

cheers all, some good points there.

My main system is an old-skool wired CD player/pre-power amp/speakers etc. - decent kit (Densen, Sonneteer, Dynaudio) so no digi inputs and more importantly it just doesn't get used at the moment, which is a key point! It sounds really good but there's no external DAC to build into an updated system.

I have been playing around with a musiccast Yammy amp in the garage, streaming Spotify etc. to get a feel for what I want to listen to and how to move forwards. I also have all my CDs ripped as Flac files on a HDD, and I've just set the HDD as a NAS drive on my network, so all the albums are available to stream too.

My main points are:

- it needs to sound good. This may be obvious but Spotify at 320kbs sounds pretty poopy to me, even in the garage (more of a dad-zone workshop...) so that's been slightly disappointing and I doubt I'd go that route with the main system. I'd need to go Tidal/Roon/lossless or something if I got into streaming.

- the interface is critical. I don't want to run this through a phone. Not my thing, Bungle. Maybe a dedicated tablet but I'm not a big fan of tablets either. A laptop/chromebook would be better but the app/software has to be right too. None of the current apps (musicast, BluOS, et al) are compatible with my current Toshiba chromebook, which is shame. I could get another chromebook which does play ball with them but I'd have to factor that into the overall cost.

Budget is £500 for the player I'd say. Maybe more (CXN is £700) but I'd need more confidence in the tech to pull the trigger on this much. Naim would be ace though!

If its something I like i tend to buy the record so steaming for me is just for finding new stuff before i buy it. So spotify on Ipad just connected to the amp via a headphone Out to AV Stereo In (lead only a couple of quid on Amazon) works fine.

Just to add...

this is for the main, decent system, in its own room, so I'm not fussed about other rooms, multi-rooms, kitchen rooms, or anything compressed/bluetoothy. I might call it 'audiophile' but that may sound a bit ****.

Like I said, I'm tempted with the Bluesound. With maybe a DAC upgrade in the future?

#blackflag but do you buy the (physical) record because the streamed version sounds lower quality than the real thing (CD or vinyl), or because you like the 'process' of playing a real thing/album, or that's just how you've always done it?

Or put another way, if the streamed version sounded just as good, why would you need to buy the physical thing?

I still buy vinyl (or I was, big system is in storage currently), despite my streamer sounding better. Its 2 main reasons really: Vinyl is tactile and I like browsing physically, both in shops and through my collection. Artist also get more money from album sales than streaming.