charne@sprin

Fell in love with music, then hiked the tech trail
Subscriber
Anyone else use an Internet tuner to greatly expand the program sources available for music?

I've got Grace Digital tuners hooked into systems in both my office and living room -- in each case, wired into McIntosh gear (MAC6700 and MA5300) using TOS-link digital connections.

Audio quality is pretty good - certainly not up to the standards available from other high end sources; but extremely listenable.

There is no other availability of such a broad range of programming across the wide range of musical genres.

And it's a lot of fun to hear broadcasts from all corners of the world.

Like short wave with no fidelity or reception issues.

Grace Digital may have discontinued their component tuner - but Sangean is still selling one now for under $200. Connects to local wi-fi and into the system.
 
My new Yamaha does it directly. I like it as it sounds a lot better than FM does and they have a lot of soundtrack channels that I don't have to sit through awful movies to discover.

However, that insurance company ad that features the dad and his son and their podcast...well, It makes me wish for an aneurysm. Last night I couldn't get away from it. Over and over again, on every channel, there it was. It needs to die.
 
Grace Digital has discontinued its tuner -- they still sell radios but no component Internet tuner. Looks like Sangean is the only choice.
 
Gotta ask because I don't know. Does an internet tuner offer anything I
can't get online? Sound quality? Station selection? I guess those are the
two main considerations.
 
Offers integration into your system -- can't speak to # of stations, but they are all easily accessible and organized in one place.
 
My concern would be that they may be locked into one service and when that service dies or updates beyond your hardware then the device is useless, haven't studied them closely, but am assuming that they are connecting to an internet radio service of some sort. I have a Turtle Beach AudioTron that there is no longer support on. There is a workaround, but not worth the trouble now.

I have been using software internet radios on my pc and iphone playing through my system with chromecast audio, and works pretty well for me. I do understand the desire for something you don't have to fire up the computer for, but I almost always have my phone with me, so it is kind of like a remote in convenience, and if/when cca is no longer supported, I am not out as much money. In fact, with a harmony hub, my iphone is a remote for the system anyway.
 
I use my Amazon Echo Dot's for internet radio about 99.9% of the time. Also don't need to get up from the couch to change station. Can access anything that Tune-In offers.
 
Some of these companies are proud of their equipment. I guess the third
consideration is convenience. I'm willing to bother with a browser; Streema
claims they have 70, 000 stations.
 
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