Tidal or Competitor Without a Computer (like Spotify)

Dr Tone

Member
Apr 24, 2016
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If you have a macbook or any computer you should be able to stream direct to the MSB renderer from the Qobuz windows or macos apps using UPNP/DLNA.

Or Roon.
 

JimmyS

Well-Known Member
Sep 1, 2013
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Chicago, IL
If simplicity is the top requirement, a WiFi connected laptop with usb to the DAC is the solution. You can control the laptop from your listening spot with various tablets / remote control apps. This was my first entry into Digital steaming years ago.

A bump in sound quality is to go the Aurender / Lumin route. They both offer options with / without a DAC, so you can chose a player to suit your needs. I had an Aurender setup feeding my DAC via USB and the sound quality was improved over the laptop setup. The dedicated app is nice as well for searching for music to listen to. With the apps supporting Tidal an Quobuz, it’s was a very nice improvement over the basic laptop setup for me.

My current DAC has a network input on it, so now I run Roon to serve my music. I have about 55,000 music files on a NAS and use Tidal and Qoubuz as well. This setup has provided the best sound quality and has simplified music playback throughout the house, though has the most complex supporting setup (Roon core pc, NAS, etc..). I have 8 stereos that can play music in various rooms, and each is a Roon endpoint. One app controlling these feeds made for one very happy wife :).
 

Dr Tone

Member
Apr 24, 2016
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Another option to test the waters would be the relatively cheap Bluesound Node 2i being controlled by an iDevice. It has line-out and digital out to feed another DAC. The line out should be of better quality than the headphone out of an iDevice.

No other computer hardware required.
 

Ron Resnick

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Thank you, Jimmy and Dr Tone and Alex!
 

morricab

Well-Known Member
Apr 25, 2014
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Thank you, Jimmy and Dr Tone and Alex!
Hi Ron
I use the Bluesound Vault (a node with built in hard disk). I stream Qobuz and the sound quality is very good fed into Kassandra or one of my other Dacs. It is hard wired into my router (it doesn’t connect wireless to the network but is controlled through an ap on my Android tablet).
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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Hi Ron
I use the Bluesound Vault (a node with built in hard disk). I stream Qobuz and the sound quality is very good fed into Kassandra or one of my other Dacs. It is hard wired into my router (it doesn’t connect wireless to the network but is controlled through an ap on my Android tablet).


Hello Brad,

I’m not sure I understand any of that, but I definitely like Qobuz!

Whatever streamer I get I will definitely connect it with a hard wire ethernet connection to the wi-fi.
 

Forte

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2017
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I second/third Bluesound as it is a simply turnkey setup.
Either a Node or Vault (to rip cds to its interval hard drive).
Connect an Ethernet cable from your internet router to your Bluesound device, then using digital out connect a digital coax/toslink to your MSB dac.
Download Bluesound iOS or android app and control music (Spotify, tidial, Qobuz, Amazon Music, etc) from iOS/android device.
The Bluesound app is super easy to use and always has software updates.
Just no DSD though.
 

Ron Resnick

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What do I need Bluesound for if I use a streamer?
 

Forte

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Feb 16, 2017
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What do I need Bluesound for if I use a streamer?

1) Ethernet cable from your router to Bluesound (node or vault)
2) Digital out (coax or toslink) to your dac..or rca interconnects to your preamp but you can bypass Bluesound volume control
3) download iOS or android app (free) for music selection
 

Ron Resnick

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1) Ethernet cable from your router to Bluesound (node or vault)
2) Digital out (coax or toslink) to your dac..or rca interconnects to your preamp but you can bypass Bluesound volume control
3) download iOS or android app (free) for music selection

Thank you, but you are telling me how. I am asking you why?
 

Forte

Well-Known Member
Feb 16, 2017
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Sorry my bad.
Bluesound Node would just be another optional streamer. The Vault adds the functionality to rip cds.
 

Dr Tone

Member
Apr 24, 2016
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What do I need Bluesound for if I use a streamer?

It is a streamer. What streamer are you planning on using, we didn't know you had made that decision already.
 

nonesup

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Feb 15, 2017
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[QUOTE = "asiufy, post: 563302, miembro: 1550"] No a través del Renderizador. Necesitará la salida USB a través del servidor de su elección.
Respeto tu decisión de no querer a Roon, pero no lo entiendo. :) Te hace volver al menos 2 o 3 años en términos de facilidad de uso. [/ QUOTE]
Not through the Renderer. You'll need to output USB via the server of your choice.
I respect of your choice of not wanting Roon, but I don't understand it :) It does bring you back at least 2-3 years in terms of ease of use.

This has been a surprise for me. I thought that the MSB with the render module would work the same as Lumin, which is a DAC with render, and does not need a server to play Qobuz.
 

nonesup

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Ron, if what you want is simplicity (not server), to be able to access Qobuz and do not want ethernet cable, the only solution I know is the Lumin X1.
1.- It is DAC and Render in a single box
2.- It connects directly to the internet to transmit Qobuz (without the need for a Server)
3.- It has an Fiber Optic input, so if you use a switch that has a fiber optic port, you can have the switch as far as you want.
 
Last edited:

asiufy

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Jul 8, 2011
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[QUOTE = "asiufy, post: 563302, miembro: 1550"] No a través del Renderizador. Necesitará la salida USB a través del servidor de su elección.
Respeto tu decisión de no querer a Roon, pero no lo entiendo. :) Te hace volver al menos 2 o 3 años en términos de facilidad de uso. [/ QUOTE]


This has been a surprise for me. I thought that the MSB with the render module would work the same as Lumin, which is a DAC with render, and does not need a server to play Qobuz.

Lumin is an UPNP-based network streamer w/ DAC. UPNP wouldn't allow for third-party streams (like Tidal or Qobuz), so Linn came up with the OpenHome extensions, which did allow for that, as well as many other niceties.

Lumin, being completely derivative of the Linn products, is OpenHome compatible too, as thus inherits that functionality, which they have implemented in their app (Lumin's). You can also use Linn's app on the Lumin, and vice-versa. I much prefer Linn's app to Lumin's.

Now, MSB's Renderer was purely UPNP before, which was a pain, as it required third-party software (BubbleUPNP) to convert the UPNP protocol into OpenHome, and allow the use of better (OpenHome) software, like Linn's and Lumin's.

So, long story short, you CAN play Qobuz or Tidal directly into an MSB Renderer, as long as you use BubbleUPNP.

The new (v2) Renderer HAS implemented OpenHome, but it seems only partially, as I could not get it to play Tidal or Qobuz, at least not with the Linn app. But maybe it's coming soon, with a software update on the MSB Renderer.
 
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nonesup

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Ok Alex, a very interesting information.
The only thing that I disagree with is that I prefer the Lumin application over Linn's :)
 

Ron Resnick

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Jan 24, 2015
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I am loving Qobuz in the car! 24/192!


104D1834-587B-4E81-8FB0-DDB413F67965.png
 

Hi-FiGuy

Member Sponsor
Feb 23, 2015
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I am loving Qobuz in the car! 24/192!


View attachment 50128
One of my all time favorite SACDS. That song in particular is amazing at loud volumes.
The more I listen to Qobuz the quicker my desire to continue buying round things dimish.
We will see how this process evolves once we are out of our temporary living situation and have our next home.
 

Exlibris

Well-Known Member
Oct 7, 2015
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systems.audiogon.com
Here is the simplest way to try it out (for about $50 total):

1. Buy a Chromecast Audio (CCA). They're discontinued but available at certain places:
https://www.mobilefun.com/google-chromecast-audio-black-70476

2. Buy an optical out cable for the CCA. The CCA has a port that delivers both an analog out and an optical out. You'll skip using the analog out in favor of getting the digital out via the optical cable. Unfortunately the CCA only does optical out so useless for you if you don't have optical in on your DAC or a converter. You can always use the analog out but a good separate DAC will obviously be much better.
https://store.google.com/us/product/optical_cable_chromecast_audio?hl=en-US

3. Open up Qobuz (or Tidal) on your iPhone and cast to the CCA.

I'm late to the game here but I just did this. My DAC doesn't have an optical IN so I also had to buy a Optical-to-Coaxial adapter. It all sounds surprisingly good streaming Spotify.
 

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