[bacmsl]

So my NAS ( QNap  HS-453 DX ) is setup with a wireless Raspberry PI4 loaded with free Volumio feeding my 10 year old BDA-1. Everything sounds good but I was wondering about getting a paid subscription of some kind, so I was looking at the different services out there. Well, being the consumer that we are I am posting this in hopes to get some responses ( which I understand are highly subjective ) about services people are using and think are worth the money. I know everyone has likes and dislikes and there is no simple answer, but I'm sure I am in the same position that many people are, where to go? We are in a sweet spot of the technolgy age where storage, DA converters, and streamers have come together to give the world  great listening opportunities and variables.

Barry M

[James Tanner]

So my NAS ( QNap  HS-453 DX ) is setup with a wireless Raspberry PI4 loaded with free Volumio feeding my 10 year old BDA-1. Everything sounds good but I was wondering about getting a paid subscription of some kind, so I was looking at the different services out there. Well, being the consumer that we are I am posting this in hopes to get some responses ( which I understand are highly subjective ) about services people are using and think are worth the money. I know everyone has likes and dislikes and there is no simple answer, but I'm sure I am in the same position that many people are, where to go? We are in a sweet spot of the technolgy age where storage, DA converters, and streamers have come together to give the world  great listening opportunities and variables.

Barry M

Hi Barry

I think your question also raises the spectrum of what of all the ways we can access our digital files is the most accurate and error free?

NAS
Wired
Wireless
Attached Drives
Rorary vs Solid State Drives
Internal Drives in your player
Streaming
ROON
Etc.

james

[bacmsl]

Um, sort of I guess. As a Bryston owner as a lot of the people who come here probably are, I was just wondering what worked for them that's all. I've read here over the years that this worked for that person and this worked for somebody else. I'm in no hurry to sign up for something just yet, after all its taken me 10 years to get this far LOL.

[zoom25]

Spotify Premium is what I've been with for the past 6-7 years. I've tried Tidal and Sony's streaming service (now discontinued). I love the UI on Spotify, the curated playlists are great (most streaming services had really bad playlists that didn't make sense when I auditioned them), and the library is the biggest that I've found. In every genre, I can find many albums or soundtracks here and there that are missing on other platforms. I wish Spotify was lossless, but even as is, I'm not paying more money for other services to have less music. I supplement Spotify with my own lossless music.

[witchdoctor]

I don't think paid file renderers  services sound any better than free ones. If you get a paid subscription get it for the features.
Is whole house music access important to you?

A streaming service on the other hand is great. If you don't have one already I would recommend it.

[witchdoctor]

If you are not married to your rasberry pi you might try accessing your NAS from the Paradigm PW Link and using the digital out to your DAC. The Link gives you the DTS Play-Fi app to access all of your music and streaming services, AND ARC room correction:

https://www.paradigm.com/en/wireless/pw-link

[mikeeastman]

I’ve tried four or five different services including JRiver and Roon and in my opinion Roon blow the others away in both ease of use and sound quality. With Roon my wife will play my system now on her own, she won’t touch it with any of the others. In the long run don’t if that a good thing or not. I don’t stream music so can’t speak to that aspect.

[bacmsl]

So I'm not in love with my PI i just like doing things like that. I just read an article on own to make a home made streamer and all the things a PI can do. I've for a long time wanted to have a good media center that was more software than hardware, but technology had to catch up. My NAS also has about 1.5 Terabytes of movies on it with about another 1.5 to put on it. The music to store it and play it else where in the house is just and added bonus. The PI is just a cheap thing to get me over the hump. Besides I see Bryston uses it successfully. 

[zoom25]

Ahhh I misread your post. Give Roon a shot. It's a 14 day trial. You may even be able to get 90 day trials from some manufacturers if you look around.

Roon's been my favourite for library manager. I stopped using Audirvana Plus, Amarra, Clementine and iTunes. The management on the others was subpar and a few of them would even crash from time to time. Amarra was the worst in that regard. With Roon you need zero maintenance.

[oem-wheels]

I have the youtube app on my TV.. Its FREE and rarely I can't find a song.. I can control it from my phone which makes so much easier..  I'm able to send the sound to my DAC via toslink cable.. Sound is pretty good.. Nice for casual listening and great for looking for new stuff.. Did I mention this part is free ??  When I find something nice , I buy it in hi rez download if I could.. There I have JRiver.. One time fee per year to keep up to date with their latest updates.. You don't even have to buy it every year.. Works great and its cheap..

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Consider Audirvana.  I  have not had any issues with the latest version for windows.   For $75 it is a steal.  It sounds much better  than JRiver.  It has a good user interface.  JRiver is a great tool but its sound quality is midfi.  You can't really beat Roon but is it expensive.

https://audirvana.com/product/

[oem-wheels]

Audirvana looks interesting.. I wonder if all what they say they do makes a difference in my situation where I stream via Ethernet cable.. I'm assuming my Oppo does all the work , my computer just sending the unprocessed signal..

[glynnw]

After using JRiver for over 10 years, I am in too deep to switch, but I think  JRiver gives me everything I need.  Links to album and artist info by wiki, google, youtube, lyrics and you can create your own links as well.  I read about people liking Roon's curation, but by using the links I can easily dig as deep into an artist as is available on the net - somedays I find myself spending several hours learning about the music while it is playing.  A question - does Roon provide an easy way to change tagging info?  JRiver does this simply and I do spend a bit of time making sure everything is listed as I like it.  The only thing that might cause me to switch is the sound quality - I have no problem with JRiver and quite a few people say it's sound is as good as any, but I may try Roon just for that reason.  As I am in my 70s, hear nothing above 11 Khz and have tinnitus, some days I am just happy to listen to anything.  And if there is a new song I want to hear, I use Alexa and a $50 thingie to see if I like it before spending money on it.

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Audirvana looks interesting.. I wonder if all what they say they do makes a difference in my situation where I stream via Ethernet cable.. I'm assuming my Oppo does all the work , my computer just sending the unprocessed signal..

A computer does make a difference.  I used a high end laptop as my music server.  Then I built a custom desktop computer with premium parts, SSD drives (some are M.2 eliminating SATA Cables) and a low ripple power supply.  I run it headless and remote in using Windows Remote Desktop.  The difference in sound was stunning and I was not expecting it.  The music with the desktop had a much blacker or more quiet background.  There was more detail and it was more musical.

[oem-wheels]

Thanks Greyhound fan.. I'm going to try it.. A dedicated laptop with Audirvana.. I've been meaning to buy a new computer anyway.. Doesn't a laptop have an advantage because of the batteries that it runs on instead of the regular switching power supply ?

[GrooveControl]

Barry, I also use Volumio on RPi, but I feed an SMSL SU-8 DAC with balanced outputs before the Bryston amplification.  I use several music services.  Spotify when I want self-serve, and Sirius or internet radio for full serve.

In my opinion, the Spotify app is great and has an amazing implementation. You can stream Spotify through Volumio by enabling the Volumio plugin, while running the Spotify app from your phone, tablet, Windows or Mac computer, and bounce between them at will. Of course you can always just use Volumio to control Spotify, but the Spotify app is better.   Unfortunately Volumio is not supporting Sirius yet.  I hope that comes soon.  In the meantime, I have an Echo Show 5 connected to another input on the preamp and I just need to say "Echo... play Seriously Sinatra" and I'm in business.

Sound wise, I have no complaints with Spotify, but have not compared it to any other service. 

 

[I.Greyhound Fan]

Thanks Greyhound fan.. I'm going to try it.. A dedicated laptop with Audirvana.. I've been meaning to buy a new computer anyway.. Doesn't a laptop have an advantage because of the batteries that it runs on instead of the regular switching power supply ?

You would think so but I hand picked all the parts and the corsair power supply has very low ripple (corsair RM550x) and it blows my laptop away in sound quality.  It cost me about $1200 to build.  I used a Fractal Design quiet case and bought ultra quiet fans from Noctua.  No video card.

Also, turn off all the crap running in the background including antivirus.