Lots of recent press out there about Chromecast messing with peoples WiFi networks. Now that I have been playing with Airplay I would not want to use it long term either. As soon as RP is available on Sonos I am decommissioning the Airplay. Also, I don't see how anybody can tolerate using iTunes.
Lots of recent press out there about Chromecast messing with peoples WiFi networks. Now that I have been playing with Airplay I would not want to use it long term either. As soon as RP is available on Sonos I am decommissioning the Airplay. Also, I don't see how anybody can tolerate using iTunes.
Some NAS don't need to be physically connected to the router. Once configured they run as a node on your wireless network. If I were you I would look at a Bluesound Vault. Spendy but then you get access to music streaming, Full HD 24/196 capability, Reasonable quality DAC implementation and even MQA which is coming down the pipe.
Streams RP!
This product is not currently available for online purchase in your area. (USA)
Seem's that googlecast might be the best way to go with the need for working with files. I remember reading that it was the best overall for working with files, but it had some shortcomings in other areas. That was a year or so ago.
Some NAS don't need to be physically connected to the router. Once configured they run as a node on your wireless network. If I were you I would look at a Bluesound Vault. Spendy but then you get access to music streaming, Full HD 24/196 capability, Reasonable quality DAC implementation and even MQA which is coming down the pipe.
All this talk got me thinking. I have close to 350GB of music on my PC. If I want to access that with my smartphone or iPod Touch to stream it to my wireless speakers, do I just need a NAS drive, copy all the songs over and plug it in my router?
Some NAS don't need to be physically connected to the router. Once configured they run as a node on your wireless network. If I were you I would look at a Bluesound Vault. Spendy but then you get access to music streaming, Full HD 24/196 capability, Reasonable quality DAC implementation and even MQA which is coming down the pipe.
All this talk got me thinking. I have close to 350GB of music on my PC. If I want to access that with my smartphone or iPod Touch to stream it to my wireless speakers, do I just need a NAS drive, copy all the songs over and plug it in my router?
I've been using an iMac as a dedicated music server since 2005. In 2014 I inherited my Mother's 2009 iMac which replaced the 2005 iMac.
I have a couple of old receivers and spare bookshelf speakers, which made it easy to buy an extra Express or 3 to stream to multiple areas around the house. In addition to the main listening room I have an Express with music in my office, my garage, and my work shed. I can stream to all at once, synchronized. An Express with powered speakers like Audio Engine would work as well. Or if you have a spare set of bookshelf speakers but no amp you can combine an Express with a small/inexpensive Class T amp. There's also a new generation of Airplay speakers.
Recent upgrades to the IOS allow iPads and iPhones to stream to multiple Airplay devices at once as well.
For high resolution music from the iMac to the main system I've run a boosted usb cable into the crawl space and back up to my media center 20 feet away. I use Decibel, which is cheap, to send a high resolution digital steam to the DAC in my main system.
There are lots of ways to do this. I like having the computer interface as compared to an ios device or streamer/server audio device that sits on the shelf with the rest of the system. The iMac makes a great server/streamer.
And hi everyone.
Currently I use a my Retina Pro as the main workstation but my music is coming from my 27" 2009 iMac that I've gutted and replaced the CD drive and old HD with two SSDs I had, making a 750G Fusion drive. That's hooked to two external drives where I keep my music stash and its backup. And there's the ATV hooked up to the 7.1 system - but that's only in one room. I want it through the house, too, no matter what my wife says.
I had two Audyssey Lower East Side Audio Dock Airplay speakers in the house but they're starting to hiss and sputter like they've outlived their usefulness - hence my question about hooking up speakers through my extant Cat 6 Ethernet ports.
I have some now-ancient Airport Expresses, but they seem to screw with the stability of my wireless network. There's an Airport Extreme/external hard drive in the house that's my TimeMachine backup, and I have a couple of old laptops in the closet that I'm not sure what to do with. Once has a badly cracked screen, so I could use it as my music server but the iMac is much more convenient.
While we're at it: I have an ethernet cat 6 port in most of my rooms, and I've been seeing some mention that you can use ethernet as a way of putting in remote speakers. But Google-fu is weak on this except for in-wall speakers. I'm thinking of plug-play ones like the ones that are typically red/black wire.
Am I misinterpreting or do those exist? Right now I have a few rooms with single AirPlay speakers in them, which works nice, but they're starting to hiss and die. (Had em for years, but still...)
Anyway, the goal is to have my iMac running my music files and get synchronized multiple small speakers through the house, kinda like when you walk around Disneyland: no one giant loud speaker, but small satellites so it's quiet - but everywhere. Using AirPlay at the moment, and not wanting to go Sonos unless there's a really good reason.
I've been using an iMac as a dedicated music server since 2005. In 2014 I inherited my Mother's 2009 iMac which replaced the 2005 iMac.
I have a couple of old receivers and spare bookshelf speakers, which made it easy to buy an extra Express or 3 to stream to multiple areas around the house. In addition to the main listening room I have an Express with music in my office, my garage, and my work shed. I can stream to all at once, synchronized. An Express with powered speakers like Audio Engine would work as well. Or if you have a spare set of bookshelf speakers but no amp you can combine an Express with a small/inexpensive Class T amp. There's also a new generation of Airplay speakers.
Recent upgrades to the IOS allow iPads and iPhones to stream to multiple Airplay devices at once as well.
For high resolution music from the iMac to the main system I've run a boosted usb cable into the crawl space and back up to my media center 20 feet away. I use Decibel, which is cheap, to send a high resolution digital steam to the DAC in my main system.
There are lots of ways to do this. I like having the computer interface as compared to an ios device or streamer/server audio device that sits on the shelf with the rest of the system. The iMac makes a great server/streamer.
While we're at it: I have an ethernet cat 6 port in most of my rooms, and I've been seeing some mention that you can use ethernet as a way of putting in remote speakers. But Google-fu is weak on this except for in-wall speakers. I'm thinking of plug-play ones like the ones that are typically red/black wire.
Am I misinterpreting or do those exist? Right now I have a few rooms with single AirPlay speakers in them, which works nice, but they're starting to hiss and die. (Had em for years, but still...)
Anyway, the goal is to have my iMac running my music files and get synchronized multiple small speakers through the house, kinda like when you walk around Disneyland: no one giant loud speaker, but small satellites so it's quiet - but everywhere. Using AirPlay at the moment, and not wanting to go Sonos unless there's a really good reason.
Have you looked at Sonos?
I think my single Play1 sounds pretty ok, but I haven't gone all-in for the whole house.
While we're at it: I have an ethernet cat 6 port in most of my rooms, and I've been seeing some mention that you can use ethernet as a way of putting in remote speakers. But Google-fu is weak on this except for in-wall speakers. I'm thinking of plug-play ones like the ones that are typically red/black wire.
Am I misinterpreting or do those exist? Right now I have a few rooms with single AirPlay speakers in them, which works nice, but they're starting to hiss and die. (Had em for years, but still...)
Anyway, the goal is to have my iMac running my music files and get synchronized multiple small speakers through the house, kinda like when you walk around Disneyland: no one giant loud speaker, but small satellites so it's quiet - but everywhere. Using AirPlay at the moment, and not wanting to go Sonos unless there's a really good reason.
this is more or less where i'm going
the vast majority of my media is streaming from tunein, pandora, etc.
currently i have mesh (surround wifi) nodes littered through my place (no dead zones)
i've used both alexa and google assistant and for my overall use, google is better
so i have google homes around the house (quality is ok for news and podcasts but suffer for music)
google's app lets me group them to sync music, spoken word or whatever
for example i walk into my place and i can control the lights, the thermostat and ask google to play radioparadise and my assistant does it all
sonos has smart speakers with alexa built in and they're about to release the same with google assistant
i'm thinking either amazon or google will tweak their assistant to grab files from a "network attached storage" very soon (if they can' already)
While we're at it: I have an ethernet cat 6 port in most of my rooms, and I've been seeing some mention that you can use ethernet as a way of putting in remote speakers. But Google-fu is weak on this except for in-wall speakers. I'm thinking of plug-play ones like the ones that are typically red/black wire.
Am I misinterpreting or do those exist? Right now I have a few rooms with single AirPlay speakers in them, which works nice, but they're starting to hiss and die. (Had em for years, but still...)
Anyway, the goal is to have my iMac running my music files and get synchronized multiple small speakers through the house, kinda like when you walk around Disneyland: no one giant loud speaker, but small satellites so it's quiet - but everywhere. Using AirPlay at the moment, and not wanting to go Sonos unless there's a really good reason.
for ease and simplification i'm leaning towards using a sonos one type setup (with google assistant)
according to sonos it should be available very soon
they're powered, easily networked and easily grouped
i'll elaborate more in a bit
Carefully compare the SONOS vs Bluesound Node2. especially if you are going to use the onboard DAC as I think the Node 2 may have the edge here. But Sonos software interface is hard to beat. I think the Node 2 may support MQA as well and if ever want to give that a try it would be worth having.
Another thing to consider is how are you going to listen. Is your music just background/wallpaper or do you actually take time to sit down and critically listen to the music? If it's background then you can get by with much less investment if it's the later then ......
Best advice is take it slow at first until you understand the landscape. It's taken me over 10 years to build my system and I am just now moderately satisfied. Still got a few tweeks I need to make.
Audio and Video, ok. I would start here for a decent AV receiver. It has the self tuning microphone feature that really helps overcome peculiarities in your listening environment. I would still get the Bluesound node even with the AV receiver and hardwire it in via optical toslink for all the puter audio streaming. The biggest problem AV receivers have is stream buffering problems. That would avoid that problem altogether. Speakers, man that's tough, just be sure that you can return them if you don't like them. For Chromecast, just get the dongle and plug it into an HDMI input in the back of the receiver and you are rolling.
Tile floors, that's gonna be a bitch. Loves my wall to wall carpet. Hard surfaces do not mix with audio very well. Exposed beams are a plus actually because they help break up standing sound waves in a room which cause problems. Hopefully the common wall would not be where the rig is placed against. Better if the sound runs sideways to that wall, rather than perpendicular. One of the biggest benefits of hi fidelity files is that you don't have to play them as loud to sound good.
hth as a start at least.
yeah thanks
lot to consider
for ease and simplification i'm leaning towards using a sonos one type setup (with google assistant)
according to sonos it should be available very soon
they're powered, easily networked and easily grouped
I don't know much about the cromecast solution. But it looks like that is a good place to start and get going for cheap. This will give you time to survey the landscape.
But you are going to want to play around with putting down something on the tile floor and other modifications and treatments to keep it from sounding like a basketball gym. I have hardwood floor in my listening room and I put down a rug. Photos on the wall to mitigate the sound wave bounce.
As others have mentioned having a nice DAC is something to consider. All my digital music goes through my DAC (RP, CD, Sonos) I agree with other poster about Coax or Optical , its the way I connect. I am hooked on DACS as you can upgrade those and the technology moves ahead and leave the rest of your system in place. And they do make a difference.
Bluesound nodes are really nice especially if you have a music service. I run a Wired4Sound Modified Sonos connect for streaming DEEZER. They have a really nice interface and a stock SONOS connect can be found on Craigslist for a few hundred bucks.
This is why many people will choose to buy a DAC and use the USB output of their computer. It cost a lot to have a great setup, but not so much for a good DAC with Headphones. The same DAC will output to your sound system anyway, so you kindda need it.
USB is the short term future for computer audio interfaces no doubt. The goal is to keep the signal in its native digital form until the last possible moment in the foodchain. I'm still a fan of toslink / optical though. I got an audio card for my computer just to have toslink out. Its how the digital audio signal gets from my computer to my receiver. No need for an external DAC. I use the onboard DAC in the receiver. My NAS also has toslink out, though I have yet to use it. It also has 2 HDMI's out. I use an external USB ADC preamp to get from my turntable to my computer and to get the signal digital as soon as possible using a good ADC chip.
The Bluesound Node is a DAC and a whole lot more even though it only serves audio purposes. Built in innernet radio streaming is a big plus. Anything that takes the load off an AV receiver is good overall, especially if it does it better. It gives you many forward compatible options which is what I like most, besides what it does already.
This is why many people will choose to buy a DAC and use the USB output of their computer. It cost a lot to have a great setup, but not so much for a good DAC with Headphones. The same DAC will output to your sound system anyway, so you kindda need it.
Audio and Video, ok. I would start here for a decent AV receiver. It has the self tuning microphone feature that really helps overcome peculiarities in your listening environment. I would still get the Bluesound node even with the AV receiver and hardwire it in via optical toslink for all the puter audio streaming. The biggest problem AV receivers have is stream buffering problems. That would avoid that problem altogether. Speakers, man that's tough, just be sure that you can return them if you don't like them. For Chromecast, just get the dongle and plug it into an HDMI input in the back of the receiver and you are rolling.
Tile floors, that's gonna be a bitch. Loves my wall to wall carpet. Hard surfaces do not mix with audio very well. Exposed beams are a plus actually because they help break up standing sound waves in a room which cause problems. Hopefully the common wall would not be where the rig is placed against. Better if the sound runs sideways to that wall, rather than perpendicular. One of the biggest benefits of hi fidelity files is that you don't have to play them as loud to sound good.
y'all
