What are You Streaming and Tell Us About Your Streaming Rig

My main streaming franken-rig:

Spotify Premium on vintage ThinkPad T43 W7 laptop over wi-fi to my router > JRiver WDM driver > JRiver DSP (for occasional oversampling) out to WASAPI > generic USB cable > Metrum Musette NOS DAC > Adcom GFP-565 (DarkVoice 336SE in tube buffer duty in the processor loop, mood depending) > Yamaha MX-600u > JBL L100 Centurys

Sounds good to my ears, hoping Spotify will come to their senses and offer lossless streaming at some point in the future.
 
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I stream Spotify Premium mostly from Sony HAPZ1 USB out ->Auralic Vega DAC->PS Audio PCA-2+HCPS preamp->Auralic Merak Mono block amps->Wilson Audio Sophia 2 speakers.

Spotify Premium is OK, not Tidal quality though
 
:blah::blah::blah::blah:

I stream Spotify Premium mostly from Sony HAPZ1 USB out ->Auralic Vega DAC->PS Audio PCA-2+HCPS preamp->Auralic Merak Mono block amps->Wilson Audio Sophia 2 speakers.

Spotify Premium is OK, not Tidal quality though

I agree that SQ from Spotify Premium is "ok" but its good enough and their catalog makes it worth while imho.

Eric
 
Google Music -> Lexicon Alpha -> ( Sennheiser HD280 Pro | Grado SR60 )

Will probably add an old receiver into the chain.
 
Wow! What a great thread. I really enjoy seeing what you guys are using in your systems. I am currently streaming two ways. My original method was Tidal HIFI or Spotify Premium via laptop usb---Lampucera DAC--Fisher 400CX-2--Pioneer A88x -- Nola Brio Trio Clones with dual 15" OB subs.

Then I purchased a Chromecast Audio puck and that replaced my laptop. I love the ease of this but I think I like the sound of my original setup better. I will have to A/B them this week.
 
Apparently I can use my Asus Zenwatch to control Spotify as well. Like a remote for the phone haha.

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Eric
 
HP laptop - Dragonfly black - NAD C325bee. Listen to TIDAL and CDs wloaded into in the laptop. Just attached the DFB and what a difference it makes.
 
I skimmed through this thread real quickly, and didn't see any mention of Plex. I set mine up on my NAS, and it's great, like using your flac collection as your own personal Tidal. If you've got the data you can stream to your smartphone. PS3 has a Plex app that works fairly well also. Plex through a CCA worked well also.
 
In my case, totally internal: All CD`s ripped WAV. Lossless to a older Dell lap top with a SS 960 Gig. hard drive via. Win 10 media player and then transferred to (2) Corsair 500 Gig. flash drives + a HP lap top and external 960 Gig. SS hard drive for backup.

Flash drive inserted in music only configured OPPO BDP-103 which outputs via the S/PDIF coax to a CalRad active1X5 500 Mhz. bandwidth splitter/distribution amp. and from there to my Grace Audio DAC for feeding my Mac C 37 preamp that feeds the 6 rooms via a HQ hard wired Cat 6 + balun audio distribution system.

Two other S/PDIF coax sends go, one to my living room system`s Integra A/V preamp, and the other to an inexpensive DAC for my Ramsey FM transmitter for any outside chores portable radio needs.

I just set the OPPO for shuffle/random repeat all and let her do her thing 24/7 and my HQ sounding music is waiting/playing for me when I turn on my various rooms stereos in the morning, and with currently 6,500 + songs, I like having Jeff Beck one moment then Miles Davis, Strauss, Alice Cooper, ect. the next.
I just set it and forget it.. I run a 14" HDMI input TV/monitor placed on top of the OPPO to see what`s playing, if I become curious, & to also set my flash drive playing preferences.

This hard wired setup is simple with content & source quality controlled, with consistent excellent sound for my all day background music needs..
No Smart Phone, tablet, or WiFi streaming desired..

Just what works for this old man.

Kind regards, OKB
 
I mentioned my main setup in an earlier post, but my second setup is also in the same room and gets used quite a bit, but it is used for headphones with some use of my vintage Marantz.

Yamaha WXC-50 (it accepts Bluetooth, Airplay, DLNA (hi rez and DSD), an optical input for Chromecast Audio, and can play SiriusXM/Tidal/internet radio via its app, etc). The Little Dot DAC is only used on occasion with my laptop since it has a USB input that the Yamaha doesn't.

It has two sets of outputs. One of them goes into my Little Dot MKIII headphone amp. The other feeds my Marantz.

Since it works with pretty much everything I own, it has a lot of flexibility. I have the Marantz connected to an iHome plug that can be turned on and off with Siri and Alexa.

When I use headphones (typically HiFiMan HE-350s or Shure SRH940s). I will typically use Airplay to send an audio stream from one of my other devices (iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch controlling the iPhone's Apple Music app/Airplay, laptop, etc). However, it works great with my Synology NAS music server, as well.

I often have Alexa connect to it via Bluetooth using the Marantz and Pinnacle speakers and stream audio to it from Amazon Prime Music (I have the free version + the $25 a year subscription that matched my own library). Since Alexa works with SiriusXM and TuneIn, I use it for that too. The Echo Dot is also hooked up directly to a speaker in the kitchen, so I use it when I am making a meal in there, as well.

Below is a pic of the space.

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I use this little Phillips speaker in the kitchen. It is now connected to an Echo Dot via aux.

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Right now streaming Spotify premium over Logitech Media Server. Hard wired to my Squeezebox Touch using Spotty. RCA cables into a Sony 2000ESD and out of that into 3 SWTPC amps and into a Pair of Polk 7s and an Eminence 15" DVC sub with an electronic xover set to about 50hz
 
Mine is focused on: Synology NAS with Bubble upnp and Minim installed, gig ethernet to the NAS. There are a ton of recordings archived in FLAC there (mine) or AAC (my partner's itunes library)

Bubble on the NAS has definitions for OpenHome renderers in the living room, office and bedroom:

living room: ethernet -> oppo 103 (OH) -> Korsun D9 integrated -> Thiel CS 2 2s
bedroom: ethernet -> WDTV live plus (OH) -> Grace Digital BT513 -> Mission 731s

The office is a little more convoluted:

ethernet -> sony uhph1 (OH) -> arcam irDAC-II -> yammie RX-V1200 -> Gallo CL-1 + velodyne FSR 10
-> Senn HD598
or USB to arcam
or Sony disc to arcam
or Sony hires disc to HDMI to arcam (via a sweet coax output in my monitor, an HP 2475W)

A lot of what's happening in the office is workarounds for that Sony player. I didn't know how bad the analog outputs on it were until I'd already had it in the house for a bit - the office wasn't done, the office system wasn't remotely assembled for 4 months after the player arrived. The analog outs're unusable in comparison to any other way of pulling audio out of the player - the fidelity is execrable.

I used the DAC on the AVR for a while, but getting analog back to a headphone amp was annoying. The irdac is so much nicer - it gives me a fine USB dac with two coax and two optical inputs and a nice headphone amp all in one place, so I don't have to have the receiver on to listen to headphones. My monitor saved the day on hires discs with its built-in splitter. I'll get a dedicated splitter at some point - the coax out only works if I'm actually watching the HDMI input, and if I'm working, I'm not.

All that said, then I layer the wireless network in, largely for control via the Android tablets in the house. Having the Bubble openhome renderers defined on the NAS means the Android stuff can see each of them, and playlists can be moved from room to room easily.

If there's something I'm listening to in android that I want to hear over the speakers, I can use the Air Audio app - lets me run an LPCM stream wirelessly to any of the DLNA renderers the tablet can see. A/V sync is substantially delayed that way, but the SQ is pretty good. I've looked at the bitrate, and the stream typically runs about 3 megabit. In theory, that should support redbook FLAC and maybe a little higher.

In the office, or bedroom, I can use BT to hit the endpoint, too, but as a rule that's a "because I can' thing rather than a "because it's great." Both BT receivers do aptX, and the tablet does aptX, but if anything goes potty in the handshake, the fallback mode is joint stereo.
 
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