Ready to get back in but where to start?

[bigjppop]

It’s been years since I’ve been on this forum, back when a Mac mini or an Apple TV was where it was at! The world of digital audio has changed immensely and I’m trying to find my way back in. 

 

I need some newbie help just to make sure I’m even on the right path. I’d like to get my headphone station into the new world. I’ve been using a Darkvoice 337 tube amp I bought years ago driving some Sennheisser Hd-650’s. I normally feed that from an old school iPod that was modded into the iMod by Red Wine Audio. Most of my music is all Apple Lossless ripped CDs. I’m going to (finally) put together a Bottlehead Crack headphone amp I bought years ago. 

 

Where I need some help is the digital front end. I’d like to try out Tidal and Qobuz along with the Spotify account my wife keeps telling me to use. I’d like to be able to stream the music off my computer as well but honestly that is secondary at this point. I imagine the streaming services have everything I have. 

 

I’ve been looking at:

Chromecast Audio

Klipsch Gate

Allo Digione 

 

Am I missing anything that would be a cheap and easy solution to get started? I’d love to find something with solid analog outputs but I’m also willing to grab a cheap DAC as well. Maybe something from Schiit Audio or something similar. I’d like to control the entire thing with my iPhone. 

 

My audio journey has been all over the map for 25 years now. Fancy car audio, then a nice 2-channel setup, then Home Theater, then headphones, then high end consumer gear, then pro gear, then room acoustics, then DIY, and back and forth and round and round. Sometime around 2005 I pretty much stopped buying music or listening to anything new and got caught up chasing gear. I need to fix that and these new streaming services seem like a good way to start. 

 

So, am I on the right track with the devices I mentioned or should I look elsewhere?

[bigjppop]

Wow, just looked at my profile, joined in 2008. I’m a dinosaur!

[Ralf11]

IIRC, not all the streaming services have even Redbook levels of resolution - I'd go with the one that has the highest res. as long as it has the genres of music you want.

[bigjppop]

Well, found a Chromecast Audio for 28 bucks and decided just to jump in and start playing with it. 

 

I went ahead and purchased the Topping D30 DAC which seems to get a lot of love at its price point. 

 

Now I guess it’s time to finish my amp construction and start my free trials with Qobuz and Tidal. Here goes nothing!

 

https://www.amazon.com/Topping-Decoder-Coaxial-Optical-CS4398/dp/B07SS8NZCF/ref=gwm_tlc_pi?pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-1&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=QPB4N1DM88B6T26PTA79&pf_rd_p=1dfcfc84-3ad7-4be1-8cf4-d1dd1de5a0dc&pd_rd_i=B07SS8NZCF

 

 

[Rexp]

On 9/2/2019 at 1:02 PM, bigjppop said:

Well, found a Chromecast Audio for 28 bucks and decided just to jump in and start playing with it. 

 

I went ahead and purchased the Topping D30 DAC which seems to get a lot of love at its price point. 

 

Now I guess it’s time to finish my amp construction and start my free trials with Qobuz and Tidal. Here goes nothing!

 

https://www.amazon.com/Topping-Decoder-Coaxial-Optical-CS4398/dp/B07SS8NZCF/ref=gwm_tlc_pi?pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-1&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=QPB4N1DM88B6T26PTA79&pf_rd_p=1dfcfc84-3ad7-4be1-8cf4-d1dd1de5a0dc&pd_rd_i=B07SS8NZCF

 

 

Good luck. One thing you could do is experiment with different player apps as they do sound different, mconnect on android sounds better than the Tidal app for example.