Auralic Altair DAC/Streamer

[photonman]

I have just ordered an Altair. I am tired of multiple boxes, power supplies, cables and cords, usb this or that. I have rationalized in my mind that with the state of digital equipment and music, I am personally at the point of diminishing returns and an all-in-one of decent quality sounds very appealing to me now.

 

The only thing that would concern me, at what point would this device not be able to communicate with the streaming services because it cannot be updated or upgraded anymore and the hardware is not compatible with the new software programs needed, maybe a non-issue.

[photonman]

Hmmm.... I been thinking about Tidal for some time. Looks like it's a better streaming option than Spotify in many ways. Too bad I will loose all my playlists in Spotify☺

But I can stream my FLAC files from my computer to the Altair with JRiver, right?

Anybody tried it with headphones? I have AKG KM550MKlI headphones.

 

You can transfer spotify playlists to tidal and with any other streaming services. Just google it, I forget the particular website I used but it is more than possible and pretty easy.

[photonman]

Been using the Altair for about 3 weeks now and have some comments and experiences to share:

 

- I tried streaming Spotify via Bluetooth and whoa, that sound was awful and gain or volume was really low.  Switched back to Tidal streaming through Lightening DS and a completely different experience.  I am guessing Airplay will be about the same as bluetooth but no impetus to try.

 

- One thing I do notice is that when switching from 16 bit to 24 bit tracks, there is a loud "scratchy" sound but going back down to 16 bit tracks  from 24 bit is fine.  Hopefully firmware 5 will fix that.

 

- My router rebooted due to power outage and when I started up the Altair after that, it got stuck  in a "Starting..." loop so I eventually after about 30 minutes decided to reset the configuration and start all over which forced me to reset the network wifi information and this was the fix.

 

- Was using my iPhone for the Lightening DS app.  So I got a phone call which I took, so my music came off.  So after my phone conversation I hung up and without looking pressed play on my Altair remote and WHAMMO my music came blasting on at volume 100, nearly knocked me off my seat, luckily my class a amp is only 35 WPC.  This is something I did twice in the same day before I realized what was happening suffice to say I know longer leave Lightening running on my phone as the Altair can run fine with out it the app running.

 

- I love the one box streaming solution and am looking forward to their faux-MQA handling.  I love having balanced analog outputs on the one box.  My stereo setup has never been so clean as no need for USB and all its widgets etc. I am sold on these streaming appliances.

[photonman]

20 minutes ago, cordobaman said:

 

photonman, may I suggest you Please contact AURALiC support and express your issues?

Global Tech Support =  [email protected]

 

Well now there is five of us in the world wide market I have submitted my issues.

[photonman]

7 minutes ago, karmanfamily said:

The one issue that's really a deal breaker for me is the reset that you have to do when you have to reboot your wifi...

 

They know about that already...

ha, did not realize they know about that one but for me not a big deal, just the state of technology and I do not reboot my router normally, it was just a power outage anomaly.   But what did suck was wondering what the heck was going on with my unit for over 30 minutes, I was getting a little nervous that the OS kernel was hosed up and so I took a risk and started exploring the menu.

[photonman]

Noticing about a $400 price drop on the Altair recently.  Could that mean a new updated version is soon to be released, a G1 version?