Decisions! Decisions! How to get into Streaming and how to get over my Audiophile Roots


After spending days and days googling this subject, I am deeply mired in deep pits of data quicksand trying to decide which way to go to get good sound in streaming my music collection to my good stereo systems.  In other words, I want the streamed music to sound as good as the original CD would if played instead.  (My stereo systems are described here:  https://systems.audiogon.com/users/echolane).

or should I just kick the audiophile to the curb that keeps clamoring inside of me to choose the more expensive route because it’s got to be better.

Here are the choices I’ve  narrowed it down to

A. Should I  buy USB hardrives and hire a ripping company like RipToPlay that specializes in classical music and opera?   And rip to WAV or FLAC or ALAC.   About $500.    If so, I would need to add something like a Sonos Connect in the Living Room which becomes another source to the integrated amp and accepts commands from an iPad app or similar.  $350. Also add Apple TV to TV room stereo which does the same as the Sonos $59.  Easily controlled by Sonos app on my existing iPhone or iPad.  Done.  Total cost not much more than $900.
 B.  Or should I buy a Naim Uniti Core* that rips and stores and serves the music to one of my systems?  $2000.  And Not Done.  
I’d still need to buy a decent DAC that converts its digital signal to analog.   More $$$.   Then, what else would I need to buy  to stream to the TV system and how much more would that cost me??  More $$$.  Total cost could easily exceed $4000.

*Ive looked into Bluesound, Cambridge Audio, McIntosh, Elac, Linn and more

It all seems so simple.  Go with A because it’s much cheaper.
But won’t B potentially give me much better sound?

Here are some of the questions that occur to me:
  
  — Is the DAC inside the Sonos Connect competitive with so-called audiophile DACs?  Would I be really able to hear a difference?  After all it’s just transferring bits.  Everyone it receives is passed on unchanged.
  — Has  the Naim Uniti Core ripper improved enough to add better metadata to my classical music collection than the professional  ripper that specializes in classical?  It seems there are serious deficiencies of the Naim’s classical capabilities, but without trying it, it’s hard to know.
  —The Naim has a reputation for sounding really good.  Why the heck should it sound better than the Sonos?
  — If I choose the Naim because it sounds good and in hopes it’s classical music deficiencies will still allow me to find the music I want to play, what else do I need buy to stream the same music in my TV room system?

As I write this I keep thinking to myself,  What’s the problem?  What’s so hard about this decision?  After all Choice A is orders of magnitude cheaper than B.  But it’s the darn audiophile inside me, the one that  has been programmed to consider things like  this audio cable for $500 sounds way better than this other one for $100.  And this $5000 speaker sounds way better than that cheaper one.   And tubes sound better than digital.  And that more expensive cartridge is way better.....and on and on.




   

128x128echolane
Eric -
  Start simple is probably good advice.  I am really so tired of data diving and if I choose Sonos and it turns out to sound too LoFi, I can probably sell, recoup some money and buy something more Hi-Fi.  The truth is I rarely listen that critically anymore.  I am often multi tasking on my iPad while listening.
amg—
How do you like Roon?  It’s been recommended to me because it can search/find  the music you like to play best.  But it seems costly for just doing that and nothing else.  Or am I missing something?
Hit send too soon, sorry.

Seeing how confused you are with options, my suggestion is to start cheap, and focus on the user interface and acceptable sound quality.

I remember a friend of mine spend a year looking at Harley's and customizing them in his head. I kept telling him to get any motorcycle and put a few thousand miles on it before investing that much. That his tastes in riding would completely change. He did not listen, and in the end got married and couldn't buy a bike.

If your pleasure in discerning different DACs or in listening to music? Your choice here determines how you train your ear/brain to listen. Too often we train our ear/brain to listen to electronics and their quality and not so much how we are enjoying the music.

Start simple. Make sure you have easy access to radio and streaming services. Your tastes in listening may change radically once you jump in.

Best,

E
Another dimension to consider is streaming radio stations as well as services like TIdal. 70% of my music listening is not to music I own anymore. I often listen to a classical or jazz station, hear a musician I didn't know about, then go to Tidal to hear the whole album.

This reminds me, I need to find my book on records to listen to before I die. :)

Best,

E

As an addendum to my previous post, I have a 12Tb HHD (in Raid 10) QNAP NAS holding my digital music, music and photos (in a fire I would grab it first).

I use a pair of 1Tb SSD (actually a mirror raid) in the NAS as the ROON server on Ethernet. I can then stream via the Node2 to wherever. The most expensive part is the NAS naturally.

I still have all my Vinyl, CDs and Blu-Ray media stored.

Bluesound Vault is another option. I have the Node2 and Pulse2 and Flex speakers around the house. I (via an iPad running ROON) can control what music I play, where and when, including my primary music system.