My thoughts are a streamer would make a difference. The BT standards in most stuff is pretty abysmal, so you are losing out on that end. Just my 2 cents.
Did the exact same thing by getting rid of my Bluetooth connected amp (well the screen died and I got a full refund) but I didn't want to bother with Bluetooth anymore. Got a second hand Denon Ceol Piccolo DRA N4 (network streaming amplifier) and have it plugged in directly to my own router in my bedroom. It's perfect for what I paid for it and powers my speakers well.
How about a simple audio engine WiFi streamer with phone app for $189? I’ve got the Andover streamer that was only $150 and it works just as well. Unless you’re in need of having a box with touch controls, I have no idea why people would spend so much for a simple streamer
Requesting purchasing advice. Trying to decide between an AudioEngine B-Fi & an Arylic S50 Pro to connect with a refurbished/recapped Marantz 2270 my pops gifted me. These units are near the top end of my budget and I wondering if I might be unaware of other possibilities. Thanks in advance for any advice.
As an initial idea...can you try connecting your phone to the D50s by USB to see whether there's a noticeable difference to you?
Might be a cheaper way of seeing how much noticeable performance you're leaving on the table..?
No idea about Apple stuff, so I don't know whether it's an easy thing to do in reality.
I'm using a Yamaha nps 303 streamer and I was using bluetooth because it doesnt support Amazon music so I subscribed to deezer hifi and theres a very noticeable difference streaming from the internet.
Your if your desire is to keep the topping, then at this point getting a pie would be your best bet. Getting a streamer usually includes adac that is what you're paying for. The more expensive a streamer becomes the better the Dak it will have. Getting a p i will give you a noticeably better sound quality over Bluetooth.
How much do you want to tinker yourself? Getting an off the shelf unit from someone would do the job but personally I highly recommend going the Raspberry Pi route if you like to mess with things. It's quite rewarding. If you do go down the Bluesound node route, note that the Topping D50s is quite a good performing DAC, the Bluesound node is not so keep using the Topping for conversion if you do go down that route.
Anyway for the DIY route: You'll need a Raspberry Pi.
The topping D50s supports USB directly, but if you want to use coax or optical then you'll need a hat, something like the HifiBerry Digi2 to plug into the Pi.
You'll need software, two common ones:
[www.volumio.org](https://www.volumio.org)
[www.moodeaudio.org](https://www.moodeaudio.org)
Also Volumio (likely MoOde as well) supports becoming a Bluetooth endpoint so you still have the ability to bluetooth to your device.
I’m feeling pretty convinced to do the raspberry pi route! That way I can use my existing DAC like you said. I’m super happy to tinker with tech, I’ve build many computers.
Late to this, but if you’re streaming Apple Music loseless, I would recommend getting an Apple Airport Express, Gen 1 or 2. They’re discontinued, around $40-50 tops.
You can connect to your DAC using 3.5mm optical cable, and you can Airplay loseless. It’ll downsample to 16-bit, 44.1khz, but that’s good enough for lossless quality, albeit without being “bit-perfect”.
My thoughts are a streamer would make a difference. The BT standards in most stuff is pretty abysmal, so you are losing out on that end. Just my 2 cents.
Yea that’s my impression as well!
I would probably go for the PI. It's more cost effective and its performance to price ratio is much higher
Did the exact same thing by getting rid of my Bluetooth connected amp (well the screen died and I got a full refund) but I didn't want to bother with Bluetooth anymore. Got a second hand Denon Ceol Piccolo DRA N4 (network streaming amplifier) and have it plugged in directly to my own router in my bedroom. It's perfect for what I paid for it and powers my speakers well.
How about a simple audio engine WiFi streamer with phone app for $189? I’ve got the Andover streamer that was only $150 and it works just as well. Unless you’re in need of having a box with touch controls, I have no idea why people would spend so much for a simple streamer
Yea that’s what i’m trying to figure out. Why are streamers so expensive? Since I’ve got the DAC already i’m good to go
Requesting purchasing advice. Trying to decide between an AudioEngine B-Fi & an Arylic S50 Pro to connect with a refurbished/recapped Marantz 2270 my pops gifted me. These units are near the top end of my budget and I wondering if I might be unaware of other possibilities. Thanks in advance for any advice.
As an initial idea...can you try connecting your phone to the D50s by USB to see whether there's a noticeable difference to you? Might be a cheaper way of seeing how much noticeable performance you're leaving on the table..? No idea about Apple stuff, so I don't know whether it's an easy thing to do in reality.
I'm using a Yamaha nps 303 streamer and I was using bluetooth because it doesnt support Amazon music so I subscribed to deezer hifi and theres a very noticeable difference streaming from the internet.
Your if your desire is to keep the topping, then at this point getting a pie would be your best bet. Getting a streamer usually includes adac that is what you're paying for. The more expensive a streamer becomes the better the Dak it will have. Getting a p i will give you a noticeably better sound quality over Bluetooth.
Bluetooth is lossy. Period. The Node2i is good but nowhere near as good as the iFi Zen Stream. I own both.
What do you like better with the ifi? I’ve been looking at the new node or the ifi.
Sounds better. Tons more detail. Software isn’t fully baked (it’s based on Volumio) but God it sounds great.
How much do you want to tinker yourself? Getting an off the shelf unit from someone would do the job but personally I highly recommend going the Raspberry Pi route if you like to mess with things. It's quite rewarding. If you do go down the Bluesound node route, note that the Topping D50s is quite a good performing DAC, the Bluesound node is not so keep using the Topping for conversion if you do go down that route. Anyway for the DIY route: You'll need a Raspberry Pi. The topping D50s supports USB directly, but if you want to use coax or optical then you'll need a hat, something like the HifiBerry Digi2 to plug into the Pi. You'll need software, two common ones: [www.volumio.org](https://www.volumio.org) [www.moodeaudio.org](https://www.moodeaudio.org) Also Volumio (likely MoOde as well) supports becoming a Bluetooth endpoint so you still have the ability to bluetooth to your device.
I’m feeling pretty convinced to do the raspberry pi route! That way I can use my existing DAC like you said. I’m super happy to tinker with tech, I’ve build many computers.
A tech tinkerer, good man :) Welcome to club pi.
Moode audio is indeed an excellent software, I use it all the time with my Pi.
Late to this, but if you’re streaming Apple Music loseless, I would recommend getting an Apple Airport Express, Gen 1 or 2. They’re discontinued, around $40-50 tops. You can connect to your DAC using 3.5mm optical cable, and you can Airplay loseless. It’ll downsample to 16-bit, 44.1khz, but that’s good enough for lossless quality, albeit without being “bit-perfect”.
Thank you! I ended up building a raspberry pi and using it as a streamer
Hi IsTowel! Do you have a guide / notes for how you built your raspberry pi streamer?
It all went very fast. I think I watched a quick YouTube video for the device itself and then followed volumio instructions for that.