[ajzepp]

I swear, I feel like I've been struggling to find just ONE lossless music option for like ten years now. A while back I settled on Sonos plus Deezer (a Euro based streaming service, for those of you not familiar). In the US, the "hifi" version of Deezer had only been available via a Sonos player, which I have. But now there's a beta desktop app that also streams lossless.

So here's my question: I have a macbook air, circa 2015 (non-retina). It has a few USB ports and another one on the R side that I think is one of them thar Thunderfoot ports. So can anyone tell me 1) if it's even worth it to run a digital connection into my DAC and/or receiver from the Mac, and 2) if it's even worth the hassle.

Any feedback is appreciated.

[dB Cooper]

If you are playing lossless files or streams, it's definitely worth it- and isn't even much hassle. I run a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC from my MBP Retina for bothTidal 'Hi Fi' streaming and native lossless files.

Never heard of Deezer but I'll take a look. Right now Tidal seems to be the only lossless game in town but there's supposedly Qobuz from Europe launching soon. I'll look at any contenders because Tidal's searching and UI leave a few things to be desired.

[ajzepp]

Deezer’s great. Its the largest streaming service in Europe (pretty sure), and it’s as low as $9.99/mo if you get a 12mo subscription. Until recently the lossless plan (called Deezer Hifi) Sonos was the only wY in America to access their lossless quality. So adding this desktop app is a really nice feature. I went ahead and just bought a USB cable to run from my mac into my Schiit multibit DAC, and then into the headamp.  It sounds *fantastic*.

[shadowlight]

Deezer’s great. Its the largest streaming service in Europe (pretty sure), and it’s as low as $9.99/mo if you get a 12mo subscription. Until recently the lossless plan (called Deezer Hifi) Sonos was the only wY in America to access their lossless quality. So adding this desktop app is a really nice feature. I went ahead and just bought a USB cable to run from my mac into my Schiit multibit DAC, and then into the headamp.  It sounds *fantastic*.

Can you share the link for 9.99/mo for Hifi?  The cheapest that I have found is with Sonos special which is 14.99.

[ajzepp]

Can you share the link for 9.99/mo for Hifi?  The cheapest that I have found is with Sonos special which is 14.99.

If you use this link (the one that customer support sent me), scroll down to where you see the Hifi subscription, and then after you click on "subscribe" it should give you the offer for a 12-month $9.99 option.

https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/?referer=sonos

[JLM]

I run a 10 foot long USB from my lap (late 2014 MacBook Air) to a DAC (DSPeaker Dual Core 2.0 Anti Mode) in my Cardas Golden Cuboid/near-field setup.  I keep about 400 albums on iTunes ripped using ALAC on the MBA and also use Tidal.  No complaints.

[shadowlight]

If you use this link (the one that customer support sent me), scroll down to where you see the Hifi subscription, and then after you click on "subscribe" it should give you the offer for a 12-month $9.99 option.

https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/?referer=sonos

Thanks Ajzepp.

[ajzepp]

Thanks Ajzepp.

Anytime. If you sub, hope you enjoy it. 

[ajzepp]

I run a 10 foot long USB from my lap (late 2014 MacBook Air) to a DAC (DSPeaker Dual Core 2.0 Anti Mode) in my Cardas Golden Cuboid/near-field setup.  I keep about 400 albums on iTunes ripped using ALAC on the MBA and also use Tidal.  No complaints.

Thanks JLM, that's where I'm at currently, as well. Picked up the same cable (who knew how many damn USB connectors there were, geesh!) as you did, and so far I'm very happy.

[shadowlight]

Anytime. If you sub, hope you enjoy it. 

I have been listening to Deezer free for a while and I do like the selections that they provide.  Time to subscribe to hifi version 

[shadowlight]

Anytime. If you sub, hope you enjoy it. 

Thanks JLM, that's where I'm at currently, as well. Picked up the same cable (who knew how many damn USB connectors there were, geesh!) as you did, and so far I'm very happy.

I plan to leverage Logitech Ickstream plugin to stream.