Advice for a streaming newbie

[Richard_uk]

Hello everyone

I'm new to this forum, so I'm not sure if this is the best section for my post, but please let me know if not. 

I've always been into my music and good hifi but up until now I've used mainly CDs and vinyl.  I'm now looking for a streamer and would appreciate some advice.

Basically I want to access music streaming services, occasional internet radio and want to copy my CD collection to a NAS storage device.  I started looking at streamers and had been considering something like the Cambridge Audio CXN which seemed to be widely reviewed as one of the best streamers for around £1000.  I've now started reading about more 'diy' solutions using the Raspberry Pi, such as the Allo Digione Signature using the Volumio software, and I'm really interested to know if I could put together a system of similar or better quality.  I'm new to a lot of the technology and software but I'm ok at picking up technology generally if I'm pointed in the right way.  Are there any good sources of info where I can read up on some of the basics?

I guess my first questions are really:

   what components do I need?  I'm assuming that I need streaming software (Volumio for example), a NAS drive (I've seen 2 bay Synology devices on Amazon), the streaming hardware (Allo digione signature?) with Raspberry Pi module, and a DAC (Allo Boss possibly?). 

   Should I be looking at the Allo products, or are there others makes that I should be looking at? (Allo was simply the first I came across, and seemed to have good reviews)

There are loads more questions I have but I think that's probably enough for now!

Many thanks for reading this.

Richard

[Richard_uk]

Many thanks for these replies, I think I need to do some reading now  - the guide you (Tom) recommended looks good, I've only had time for a quick scan but I'll try and read it properly later.  The Khadas tone board you mention looks a good buy too.    

 

This is where I'm at now:  I would like to try the diy route with individual components, mainly because I like the idea of be able to tweak and upgrade as I get more into it.  I'm looking primarily for best possible sound quality (obviously dependent on budget) for a good old fashioned two speaker hifi system - I don't need anything like multi room or video capability at present. 

 

The DAC I understand, I just need the best sounding one in my budget.  I'm a bit more confused about the stage before the DAC, some people seem to just use a cheap Raspberry Pi, others use more expensive boards.  Whats the main difference between using the RPi, compared with the Allo Digione or the Khalad VIM board.  I guess from a sound quality point of few the boards are providing the clock, and therefore any jitter?

 

Software wise I see that (AudioDoctor) you like Roon.  I believe this costs, and while I'm happy to pay if I know it's what I want, would something like the free of charge version of Volumio do me to start with?  

 

Many thanks, Richard