empty
To me the biggest benefit is if for example you see an album posted in the music thread you can listen to it immediately, choose to buy, or just stream it whenever you want. For me the difference between Qobuz and local streamed music is not significant enough to worry about.
Have you thought about adding the Poly to your Mojo (if you intend to keep that)? That should give you the convenience of streaming (many streamers e.g. Naim ones have an inbuild DAC which outperform the Mojo).
2 Likes
There is streaming from your own store (e.g. ripped CDs, ripped LPs or downloaded purchases), and there is online streaming, either from free sites like Spotify (limited sound quality), or subscription services like Tidal or Qobuz. Some people do one, some the other, and many people do both. Most streamers (as one-box solutions or software on a computer, general purpose or dedicated) allow both, biput some may be specific for one or other.
As I use streaming primarily from my own store, using only free online streaming to sample new music, my focus is mainly on the own-store variety. Given that you already have a DAC that is at least half decent (I don’t know it myself, but am familiar with Hugo and upwards and fully anticipate that Mojo gives a very good account of itself for the money) it is easy and relatively cheap to set up both local and pnline streaming using a computer of some sort. The ‘problem’ is simply that there are so many options that it can be difficult to decide where to start - which I guess is where you are.
Many of the possible options, such as Allo digione, have several users on this forum, so hopefully some will respond. It is worth searching some of the options on here as well - time well worth it for what you will glean. I use software called Audirvana, costs £84, runs on a Mac or PC. It is at best used on a dedicated computer, running nothing else - I use a Mac Mini (my profile gives details), it being my music store as well, Feeding direct to a DAC. Best sound quality is the dedicated USB output, but with Hugo it suffered from RF modulation in the DAC, and required isolating: a Gustard U12 (~£120 last time I looked) did the job perfectly, sounding as good as a Melco N1A specialised equivalent).
Regarding Mojo, and member here (@Analogmusic) speaks highly of it and may be able to comment.
As for sound quality, for me adding Hugo to the Naim ND5XS I was running at the time raised it above any CD player or vinyl I had heard, and compared to CD you don’t have problems with disk misreads/ skips, with no interpolation by error correction circuitry necessary. It is of course very convenient with double or triple albums, e.g.opera or prog., needing no break at all in the music to change disks.
Edit: Osprey’s idea sounds worth checking out.
1 Like
I use my Mojo with a google Chromecast audio and am delighted with it. These are available second hand from the usual internet sites.
I think there is a musical improvement when using the mojo with optical input from the google chromecast audio when compared to USB input.
as to why buy a streamer, I don’t find the USB put as musical as the SPDIF inputs…
Seems I am not alone in this finding.
The chromecast is a streamer I believe, just a not very versatile one. Cheap and cheerful.
Well it is the original chrome cast technology so tidal works natively through the tidal app.
Yes.
In essence you have a modular streamer anyway in the shape of playback via the iPad Qobuz app to the Mojo (I assume) to the Nait. You might find it a bit more clunky than a dedicated streamer but sound quality is likely to be pretty decent regardless.
Moving on from that you have a plethora of dedicated streamers which are likely to be as good or better if you want to upgrade.
I suspect you could do better than the iPad feeding the Mojo but as with all these things unless someone has specific similar experience you won’t know until you try.
Sorry, that’s probably confusing matters.
I have a ChromecastAudio. Works fine with Spotify, but not with lossless streaming from Tidal or Qobuz. Probably my WiFi network…
The Mojo is better then the internal Dac of CD5i(2). Maybe I just have to hear the newer Naim streamers to compare. Thanks!
Then you already have a streamer! Question is do you want a better one?
1 Like
Mine works great through WiFi on tidal lossless. There’s a decide to connect the chrome cast to Ethernet too
You can always spend more money and get incremental improvements in quality.
I would say your iPad to Mojo is a actually pretty decent and would surprise many people.
If the lack of convenience doesn’t bother you, I’d struggle to recommend an upgrade that would make a huge difference without spending a small fortune. I would probably upgrade the DAC before the iPad as streamer!
I connected the CCA to ethernet and it works fine now with Tidal, not with Qobuz but that’s ok with me.
This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.