Can anyone advise the best way to route hi res audio from the Grateful Dead “Play Dead” streaming app to an NDX2? Play Dead is accessible via iOS, Android apps and web browser. It is integrated with the Nugs app but appears not to be Roon compatible.
Easy options for me would either be iPhone/iPad app or the web player on a Windows laptop with digital/optical output. Alternatively perhaps a Mac/Mac Mini with optical connection to the NDX2 although I have no Mac experience.
I can imagine connecting iOS via Airplay but I think that has a ceiling of 24/48 (correct?) whereas Play Dead offers 24/96 and 24/192. From what i understand of windows audio, web browsers are unable to access dedicated WASAPI, and the internal windows audio mixer is likely to downsample e.g. to 48 khz or even 44.1. So both of the device and laptop routes seem compromised. [Although, would I really notice??]
I’m hoping that someone has researched this and come up with best solution. I imagine there may be other streaming apps where this use case is relevant; Nugs, Neil Young Archive etc. Thanks!
I can’t help you on this because I haven’t subscribed - I already have too many CDs of the Dead to listen to. It is true that Airplay to Naim is restricted in quality so you would do best to find an alternative. You may be able to get some help from the Steve Hoffman Music Forums where there is a thread entitled ’ PlayDEAD: GD Streaming Service’. If you are not familiar with the forum you will find that it has both music and hifi experts.
Thanks Clive. Too many CDs here as well, which is exactly why I’m interested in the app. Think of the real estate savings if this had been available 20 years ago!
I looked at Steve H but didn’t see that anyone had a particular recommendation. Hoping that someone here has researched the best way to connect an iOS device to a Naim system DAC…
How many do I need? That is a great question and one that has been asked many times in this house. The radio stations are fun but the attraction of the app is live concert recordings on demand; pick a year, pick a venue and press play.
The iOS app appears to be Mac compatible so that could be an option with an optical connection to the DAC. Maybe a Mac mini if that can be controlled from an iPhone. In the meantime I shall take a trial subscription and try the iPhone/Airplay route. Maybe not full HD but 24/48 should sound better than CD (right?).
Last time I checked you could not get more than 16/44.1 over Airplay whatever it says in the specs about supporting 24 bit. Chromecast could be an alternative as that does support 24/192 but on the real world it has other compromises that to my ears make it sound nothing special. No harm in trying these options though.
Thanks for the reply. Chromecast and iOS dont play well together but I have been experimenting with Airplay which works. Even though we know it’s being down sampled to, the HD recordings still seem to convey a bit more body and oomph than my CDs and 16bit flacs. All pretty good except … I’m getting minor dropouts and blips, maybe one per song which I take to be network issues, buffering etc. Enough to be annoying.
Which leads me to thinking, is there a trusted solution for a wired connection between the iPhone (USB C) and one of the digital inputs to the NDX2?
It’s been a while since I tried Chromecast from with an iPhone, but I recall that even though it was reliable and played 24/192 the sound quality was nothing special. Chromecast can stream directly from web services, unlike Airplay which always routes the signal though your phone, so the phone and its WiFi connection shouldn’t be a factor here.
Perhaps you have a LAN issue somewhere if you are finding problems with both.
As for USB, unlike Naim’s older streamers you can’t connect an iPhone to the NDX2 USB port, but you could use a USB to SPDIF converter if you don’t mind a wired connection.
Thanks Chris, I did some research on Chromecast and Airplay. Copilot tells me that Google’s implementation for streaming from a phone actually downsamples to Lossy AAC. Airplay downsamples but to lossless ALAC, which suggests it would be the better choice if my home network could hack it. Unfortunately, apps like Nugs and Play Dead are closed proprietary phone streaming services with no UPNP capability, e.g. to take advantage of the hi-res aspects of Chromecast mentioned above. That said, I simply couldn’t get Chromecast connection to work reliably anyway which is either down to a buggy app or Apple/Google issues.
I dug out an old USB SPDIF converter that I used before the NDX2 replaced the laptop. It works OK. The sound is better , full fat hi-res, and no dropouts so that is definitely a workable solution. What that reveals, however, is how much I like to browse my phone when listening to music, something I can’t do when it’s wired to the hifi.
Interestingly when connecting via Airplay, the album artwork and track details show up on the NDX2 and the remote worked for play/pause/fwd etc. That’s very handy. The SPDIF connection is via tuner input on the 282 and the NDX2 remote has no effect which is frustrating.
I think I have run this is as far as it will go. Thanks for all the replies and input. It’s been a learning experience. Airplay + the remote is definitely the most practical route from a play/listening perspective and the quality is quite acceptable. So I need to figure out how to improve the home network (suggestions welcome!). Failing that, I can use an old phone as a dedicated streamer but I don’t know that I will find myself using it as much.
If you want to free up your phone, perhaps you could use a different device to connect to the USB to SPDIF converter? Maybe an old Mac or iOS device. Just use it to run the Play Dead app, and run the Naim app on your iPhone.
Thanks. I have been considering that. I think it is plan B due to the absence of remote control function. It’s a bit of a pain to have to visit the hifi rack just to pause or skip a track. (How lazy we have become, I haven’t had to do that since using a cassette deck!)
Yes, there is probably no perfect solution that covers everything, but at least this option would give you know input selection and volume control from the Naim app or remote.