Hi Fi Streamers, Music Servers & Media Players

FLAC files are compressed, like MP3s, and manage to pull it off while losing very little data. This means they are both quick to stream, and suitably detailed. MQA (Master Quality Authenticated) is a FLAC file on crack. It uses some truly magical digital wizardry to deliver a very high quality file that is also slim enough to be streamed without interruption. If you have a music streamer, these are the two file types you'll encounter the most – although you may wish to experiment with DSD, which is a whole different ball game.

CXN100Network Player Introducing CXN100 - the successor to the iconic CXN V2 network player.If .. AXN10Network PlayerCambridge Audio's AXN10 network player can breathe new life into your system – op.. Multiple WiFi receivers can be used together to create a multi-room / multi-zone audio system. All of the receivers work together seamlessly via the Smart Sonix app, can be renamed to the relevant room, and either controlled separately or grouped together in party mode. But performance in the real world is affected by the acoustics of your car or home, your choice of amplification, and your source material. We still believe that the gold standard for auditioning speakers is hearing them in your own environment — that’s why we offer a 60-day money-back guarantee.

The Uniti Atom Headphone Edition is a headphones-based version of the Uniti Atom – the entry-level machine in Naim’s What Hi-Fi? Award-winning Uniti just-add-speakers streaming system range – and like its forebear, this Edition features built-in streaming smarts and connections aplenty. Its presentation is clear, detailed and insightful, managing to organise the musical information in a cohesive and entertaining way. Its main talent lies in delivering music in a balanced manner, regardless of genre or source.

You can also stream at higher audio resolution with Wi-Fi than you can over Bluetooth. If you’ve already got an amp or receiver that you love, the Marantz SACD 30n will make your digital sources sound fantastic. It also features a great CD transport that plays SACD (Super Audio CDs), audio CDs, and more. Build quality is substantial, with its innovative https://www.arylic.com/collections/music-streamer SACD-M3L transport mechanism, powerful toroidal transformer, and shielded construction inside the chassis. The Bluesound NODE packs a lot of features into a component about the size of a trade paperback book.

We would suggest that spending broadly the same as your amplifier would be a decent place to start, though it always pays to be flexible to get the right one. While the new Atom has been designed with headphones users in mind, it can, of course, also be used as a streaming preamplifier, either connected to a power amp or a pair of active speakers. At the time of writing, there's really no service on the market that can compete with the comprehensive nature of Roon, but there are options available – and many of them are significantly cheaper. JRiver is quite an old school pick, but it handles video and images as well as audio, and offers a lifetime license for as little as $60. Those looking for a Roon-like experience without the pricetag should consider something like Audirvana. We may not be entirely sure how to correctly pronounce it, but it offers much the same experience that Roon does, albeit in a slightly clunky interface.

Music streamers do have more versatile streaming features and usually include a built-in DAC (which music servers don't always have). A server is most useful if you have a large, dedicated collection of downloaded hi-res or DSD files, while a streamer is best if you listen to online streaming platforms more frequently. Which of course you haven’t been, because it was never actually yours in the first place. If you have a gigantic library of music files, then you'll need a streamer that can handle them. It's a multifunction workhorse of a music streamer that offers CD ripping, straight streaming, and most importantly, an internal hard drive space that can max out at 8TB of storage.