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New house in FM dead zone, need FM streaming advice please

smead

smead

AK Subscriber
Subscriber
Hi folks - I'm an old audiophile, but a complete digital streaming newb. Looking for advice on the best way to stream my favorite FM station via my android smartphone into my vintage receiver. Looking for the option that will have the best audio quality in hopes of getting close to the sound I've enjoyed through my analog tuners.

Background - for years I've enjoyed one FM community radio station in our area. A true gem - 89.5 KVMR for those of you in the sierra foothills. Other than using CD players on occasion, I'm an analog person - vinyl and FM. Never tried to stream anything with my phone or other devices. So am clueless about what the best options are. In the old house I could pick up that station in stereo with a moderately strong signal on all of my vintage receivers.

We recently moved to a new house that is actually closer to my local community radio station tower. So I thought I'd get an even better signal. But to my horror, when I set up my various TOTL vintage receivers with awesome FM sections, I am unable to get anything from my station due to the new house being behind a large hill. When I drive to the new house I get great reception in the car, then when I'm a block away dropping down a hill, all static. Bummer.. So I assume my only option now is to stream my station through my phone, or some other device.

I see some simple USB C to RCA adaptors with a built in DAC for cheap, under $30. But that is probably going to sound pretty terrible compared to what I'm used to hearing through my TOTL analog tuners right? Is there another option/device that either uses my phone, or not, and would provide high fi sound comparable to what I'm used to?

Appreciate your recommendations, and remember, I'm a digital streaming newb!
 
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Maybe a WiiM Pro Plus ? Wifi streamer/DAC. Wiim has an app you download to your phone. Used to operate the streamer. Your phone remotely controls the streamer (called casting.) WiiM streamer is attached by line input into your receiver or amplifier
And, I use a TuneIn app in conjunction with WiiM app to stream my favorite FM stations from all over USA, Canada and World.

I don't have any local FM stations, that really interest me.
 
The big problem with streaming is going to be not the DAC, but the compression that the various digital stations perform on their signals, and unfortunately there's no way around that. I suspect that compared with a high end analog tuner, you're going to be disappointed with the streaming. That's not to say you can't have a good quality streaming service, but almost all free streams (which I assume includes all radio stations) are going to be fairly heavily compressed.

I assume you've already looked into the possibility of a rooftop antenna to retain the broadcast signals?
 
smead said:
I see some simple USB C to RCA adaptors with a built in DAC for cheap, under $30. But that is probably going to sound pretty terrible compared to what I'm used to hearing through my TOTL analog tuners right? Is there another option/device that either uses my phone, or not, and would provide high fi sound comparable to what I'm used to?
Click to expand...
I would argue that just about any streaming setup should sound superior to your FM tuners, for listening to that radio stations internet live stream as it's not limited to 15KHz of bandwidth like FM stereo is... assuming they put out a good quality stream. I'll let other people chime in on device recommendations...
 
Old Guy8 said:
Maybe a WiiM Pro Plus ? Wifi streamer/DAC. Wiim has an app you download to your phone. Used to operate the streamer. Your phone remotely controls the streamer (called casting.) WiiM streamer is attached by line input into your receiver or amplifier
And, I use a TuneIn app in conjunction with WiiM app to stream my favorite FM stations from all over USA, Canada and World.

I don't have any local FM stations, that really interest me.
Click to expand...
Ok, I do see my station is available on Tunein. But I can also stream it directly from their web site. So if this is the only station I want, I can just use any DAC with USB in and rca out right?
 
It just occurred to me that radio stations also compress their analog signal to some extent, so I suppose it's anyone's guess as to which will sound better to them.

Do you have a DAC on your computer? If so, you could try connecting that to your receiver and see how their streaming sounds.
 
swechsler said:
The big problem with streaming is going to be not the DAC, but the compression that the various digital stations perform on their signals, and unfortunately there's no way around that. I suspect that compared with a high end analog tuner, you're going to be disappointed with the streaming. That's not to say you can't have a good quality streaming service, but almost all free streams (which I assume includes all radio stations) are going to be fairly heavily compressed.

I assume you've already looked into the possibility of a rooftop antenna to retain the broadcast signals?
Click to expand...
No rooftop antennas allowed at new house. But I can tell it wouldn't work anyway unless 100' tall.
 
swechsler said:
It just occurred to me that radio stations also compress their analog signal to some extent, so I suppose it's anyone's guess as to which will sound better to them.

Do you have a DAC on your computer? If so, you could try connecting that to your receiver and see how their streaming sounds.
Click to expand...
I don't have a DAC. Just a phone and big heavy weight receivers like Sansui 9090, pioneer 1250, concept 11.0, etc..
 
smead said:
I'm not that old, still very sensitive to good sound, can still hear over 15khtz ..
Click to expand...
well, FM Stereo broadcasts are limited to 15KHz so streaming is better in that regard as they can stream with full 20KHz bandwidth. You'll probably find the stereo separation to be better too... since it's not really a thing with streaming! im listening to your station right now and it sounds great... enjoy.

kvmr 89.5 appears to broadcast HD too, so depending on which receiver you used in the past, the HD radio sideband (IBOC) noise might have been adding some noise that you won't hear with streaming either... I think your 9090 was the only one that would filter that out, from your list. interested to hear your thoughts after listening for a while
 
Thanks guys! So I just get a decent DAC and the right cables and that's it? I have no idea what DAC to get, appreciate any suggestions you might have.
 
If you like USA designed and built products. I have older Schiit DACs that seem to work fine. They have a range of price point DACs. Budget to $$$.

Personally I like using a WIFI streamer/DAC combination. And casting from phone. It's a convenient way for me. Not having computer cabled to my stereo system. I can remotely control stream with my phone from listening chair.
 
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smead said:
Just a phone and big heavy weight receivers like Sansui 9090, pioneer 1250, concept 11.0, etc..
Click to expand...
smead said:
So I just get a decent DAC and the right cables and that's it?
Click to expand...
if you are using your phone, you just need to get it's output from the phone to the receiver, whether it's a cable or bluetooth. in this setup, the dac is in the phone, you don't need to buy one. buy a bluetooth unit and a set of cables and plug it into your receiver and pair it with your phone.

bonus points for buying multiple bluetooth receivers for different systems in different rooms and having your phone pair automatically when you turn the system on.;)
 
painttoad said:
if you are using your phone, you just need to get it's output from the phone to the receiver, whether it's a cable or bluetooth. in this setup, the dac is in the phone, you don't need to buy one. buy a bluetooth unit and a set of cables and plug it into your receiver and pair it with your phone.

bonus points for buying multiple bluetooth receivers for different systems in different rooms and having your phone pair automatically when you turn the system on.;)
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That is a nice option, I have systems in 4 different rooms. But wouldn't using the DAC in the phone via Bluetooth have poorer sound quality than cabled through a decent $100-200 standalone DAC?
 
smead said:
That is a nice option, I have systems in 4 different rooms. But wouldn't using the DAC in the phone via Bluetooth have poorer sound quality than cabled through a decent $100-200 standalone DAC?
Click to expand...
considering that the source starts as a compressed radio broadcast, i wouldn't think it would be a problem. it would still be an upgrade to ota.

but to be fair, radio+sound quality is pretty much an oxymoron imo.

bt receiver is 10bux. try it in a room, if you like it, buy more. if not , then spend $200 for a dac.
 
Ok I really appreciate the responses, I think I'm starting to understand the options.

I thought I would need a stand alone DAC to run the audio from my phone. But I just need to get a simple USB C to RCA adaptor cable and use the phone's DAC for a wired solution, or Bluetooth for wireless. I'll try this first knowing it may not have the best audio quality.

While I don't need the standalone DAC, I can still connect a decent quality one like a Schitt Modi 5 to my phone and into the receiver and this should give me better audio quality than using the phone's DAC right?

A streaming device/DAC like the WiiM Pro Plus sounds like a pretty flexible setup that should deliver even better audio if needed.

Am I getting this right? Thank you.
 
I bought an inexpensive Bluetooth receiver with RCA outputs, it's all you need and sounds great on stations like WRTI Jazz/Classical, which has it's own app.
 
I don't think I have this right after all. When I said above:

"I hought I would need a stand alone DAC to run the audio from my phone. But I just need to get a simple USB C to RCA adaptor cable and use the phone's DAC for a wired solution, or Bluetooth for wireless. I'll try this first knowing it may not have the best audio quality."

This is not true right? From what I've gathered, if I tether from the USB c port, the phone's DAC will be bypassed, thus requiring an external DAC. If I tether from the phone's headphone jack, it outputs analog using the phone's DAC.

Is this correct? Just trying to understand what cables I need to try the tethered options.
 
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