The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Anyone here have experience with the Primare Prisma line? I’ve been cautioned not to buy anything with a built in DAC, but this thing looks so convenient to my needs, will have to track one down to listen, of course...but I’m very interested in learning more about the I25 Prisma model.
 
I recently set-up a Raspberry Pi with a JustBoom Digi HAT Kit and Volumio, that I can plug into my Audiolab's amplifier integrated DAC. With the Spotify plug-in that support streaming from the app, I have all I need to enjoy the automatic radio / discovery features of Spotify. And for a 40€ second-had purchase (cheaper than the coax cable that I use for it!), it does the job well. If you're into DIY, Pi are definitely a great solution (and you can still buy a second one to get a Retropie gaming console, but I digress)

I previously had a Pioneer all-in-one (NC-50) with Tidal MQA. Quality is definitely worse with Spotify, but I realised that I eventually end-up buying the streamed albums that I like, so I'm back to Spotify only. Also, most of my streaming is on commute or at work when I'm not 100% focused on the listening experience, so that's enough for me at the moment.
 
MikeH said:
I might do a Tidal trial for now and test it out. Forgot I was going to look into Qobuz too! Thanks for the reminder!
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Qobuz is really good, I actually like it better than Tidal for HQ stuff. Tidal's actual MQA rendering requires using an Android phone and analog out or a DAC with MQA built in or whatever else overly complicated setup. With Qobuz you're just.... streaming HQ tracks. Pretty simple. That said, their interface is hot garbage and the selection isn't as big as Tidal so ymmv. But I find myself using Tidal for playing Kidz Bop for my son and Qobuz for everything else.
 
apassant said:
I recently set-up a Raspberry Pi with a JustBoom Digi HAT Kit and Volumio, that I can plug into my Audiolab's amplifier integrated DAC. With the Spotify plug-in that support streaming from the app, I have all I need to enjoy the automatic radio / discovery features of Spotify. And for a 40€ second-had purchase (cheaper than the coax cable that I use for it!), it does the job well. If you're into DIY, Pi are definitely a great solution (and you can still buy a second one to get a Retropie gaming console, but I digress)

I previously had a Pioneer all-in-one (NC-50) with Tidal MQA. Quality is definitely worse with Spotify, but I realised that I eventually end-up buying the streamed albums that I like, so I'm back to Spotify only. Also, most of my streaming is on commute or at work when I'm not 100% focused on the listening experience, so that's enough for me at the moment.
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Yeah I’m running something similar but with a hifiberry hat and a Volumio. Is a great start. You can used tidal/Qobuz with Volumio too but you need to subscribe to MyVolumio. My longer term plan, because the hifiberry is compatible as an endpoint, is to set up a roon system to marry Qobuz and my old digital library...
 
botherly said:
Qobuz is really good, I actually like it better than Tidal for HQ stuff. Tidal's actual MQA rendering requires using an Android phone and analog out or a DAC with MQA built in or whatever else overly complicated setup. With Qobuz you're just.... streaming HQ tracks. Pretty simple. That said, their interface is hot garbage and the selection isn't as big as Tidal so ymmv. But I find myself using Tidal for playing Kidz Bop for my son and Qobuz for everything else.
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I like that you need to listen to Kidz Bop in Hi-Res. Way to teach your son about high quality audio while he's young!
 
Has anyone got any experience of using a PC as their base? I’m thinking of putting together a cheap PC for the living room and I was wondering if I could stick in a sound card or use a USB DAC to my amp.
 
Thackeraye said:
Has anyone got any experience of using a PC as their base? I’m thinking of putting together a cheap PC for the living room and I was wondering if I could stick in a sound card or use a USB DAC to my amp.
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I have my PC hooked into my amp using the onboard audio. Games, films, digital music all go from my PC through my amp.
 
Thackeraye said:
Has anyone got any experience of using a PC as their base? I’m thinking of putting together a cheap PC for the living room and I was wondering if I could stick in a sound card or use a USB DAC to my amp.
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That's what I did- I'm using a Mac Mini with an outboard hard drive for storage and an outboard USB DAC. I've gotten it set up so that it automatically starts my library when powered up and I can use my phone or tablet as a remote. There is no reason to turn on the monitor at all.

Probably easiest would be to use an inexpensive Windows laptop and an external hard drive and USB DAC.
 
HiFi Guy said:
That's what I did- I'm using a Mac Mini with an outboard hard drive for storage and an outboard USB DAC. I've gotten it set up so that it automatically starts my library when powered up and I can use my phone or tablet as a remote. There is no reason to turn on the monitor at all.

Probably easiest would be to use an inexpensive Windows laptop and an external hard drive and USB DAC.
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I already have a NAS up and running, so the external storage is all sorted. I'm planning on getting a second hand Dell office PC, throw a second hand graphics card in it for games, and try and get the audio into my amp for games, movies, and music.

Are the USB DAC's much of a muchness? Richer Sounds here seem to do the Audioquest Dragonfly's at a decent price.
 
Thackeraye said:
I already have a NAS up and running, so the external storage is all sorted. I'm planning on getting a second hand Dell office PC, throw a second hand graphics card in it for games, and try and get the audio into my amp for games, movies, and music.

Are the USB DAC's much of a muchness? Richer Sounds here seem to do the Audioquest Dragonfly's at a decent price.
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The Dragonfly should get the job done. Going up in price gets you more advanced DAC chips for decoding high resolution downloads for example.

Personally I wouldn't spend a ton on a DAC. Technology changes too quickly. My experience has also been that most sound pretty similar. You'll get a bigger difference in sound quality between a $250 and a $500 phono stage than you will in DACs.
 
I’ve got my NUC set up as a ROON core playing to my pi and a few other smart devices around the house. Gotta say it works like an absolute charm! Very impresssed!

Now comes the long and arduous task of moving my library across and filling in the gap with Qobuz...
 
Things are never simple with digital until it gets working...

So my ps audio dac isn’t compatible out of the box with Linux so the SOtM won’t work with it but ps audio can update the chip to make it compatible with Linux so it will work. They’re figuring whether it needs to go to boulder or if the distributor in England can do this...

Probably worth it long term as most one box solutions are Linux but it’s making sending back the SOtM and getting a refurbished old Mac mini to use as my end point very appealing...
 
Great thread! I need to up my digital game in the living room - currently have an iPod dock for my Classic, and a Chromecast Audio for Spotify. Still have all my CDs and ALAC rips thereof locked away in iTunes, along with whatever other random MP3s that have accumulated over the years - so need to get those to something more accessible that I can just dial up while sitting on the couch. Maybe a Mac Mini like some have mentioned, or maybe a NAS that can run some sort of server like Plex... IDK yet.
 
oldschoolkirby said:
Great thread! I need to up my digital game in the living room - currently have an iPod dock for my Classic, and a Chromecast Audio for Spotify. Still have all my CDs and ALAC rips thereof locked away in iTunes, along with whatever other random MP3s that have accumulated over the years - so need to get those to something more accessible that I can just dial up while sitting on the couch. Maybe a Mac Mini like some have mentioned, or maybe a NAS that can run some sort of server like Plex... IDK yet.
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If you go server and it’s just music I’d go roon if you are willing to pay, it’s ace!

I’d also advocate the NUC over a Mac mini as a core. It’s an appliance so you can just forget about it and there is no underlying os to worry about updating or making your hardware obsolete. You can then have your player/endpoint as anything room ready from the simple raspberry pi upwards...
 
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