The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

Joe Mac said:
Youll likely have to control both through the arcam app then, rather than the tidal or Qobuz one, which can be a little clunky but is doable for sure. If it specifically says Tidal Connect rather than supports Tidal that let’s you control using the Tidal app and it then stream natively on the streamer itself. I don’t know how highly regarded Arcam Music Life is as software though, some of the hifi makers own efforts are a hot mess which is why I’d tend to look for tidal connect or roon support and use them instead.
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Okay gotcha, that was my main concern. From what I can tell Music Life is pretty much garbage. I honestly don't need anything fancy in terms of the app, but it does kinda need to like... work.
 
Mather said:
Okay gotcha, that was my main concern. From what I can tell Music Life is pretty much garbage. I honestly don't need anything fancy in terms of the app, but it does kinda need to like... work.
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Most of the built-in apps I have used haven't been too well-designed in terms of UI. The Aries software was real clunky. But it did get the job done. Then I downloaded Roon as a 30 day trial....

The other reason for Roon Ready is later on you could always add an end point upstairs as well to listen to streaming on your main system if you felt so inclined. It doesn't appear as if the Arcam you're looking at is Roon Ready.
 
Mather said:
Okay gotcha, that was my main concern. From what I can tell Music Life is pretty much garbage. I honestly don't need anything fancy in terms of the app, but it does kinda need to like... work.
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Yeah blue sound and sonos have the best manufacturer apps by a country mile, sonos in particular is a pleasure to use, but if you’re going for the Arcsm you’ve probably outgrown their efforts at hardware. Just look for Tidal Connect support on whatever you consider with Roon Ready as a welcome bonus. Aurallic and Lumin are pretty big names as you move up in the streaming world and although Cambridge aren’t beloved across the board the CXN does get its fair share of plaudits.
 
Joe Mac said:
Only to CD quality. Won’t pass hi res, even with Apple product and Apple Music you need to use a lightening to USB csble into a DAC.
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See this is the stuff I'm trying to avoid. I think the Music Life app passes high res? It's so hard to effing sort this stuff out
 
Mather said:
See this is the stuff I'm trying to avoid. I think the Music Life app passes high res? It's so hard to effing sort this stuff out
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Don't see why it wouldn't pass high res. The only drawback would be that you HAVE to use the Music Life app to stream any high res. Since it isn't Roon Ready and doesn't have Tidal Connect, that's the only software you can use to play high res audio. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that though.
 
Mather said:
See this is the stuff I'm trying to avoid. I think the Music Life app passes high res? It's so hard to effing sort this stuff out
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It likely does. To be honest chromecast even does. Airplay has so many limitations because it’s essentially the phone streaming and sending the decoded signal to the player whereas all the others the phone is the remote and the streamer is executing the stream. It mean that on Airplay if you walk upstairs with your phone in your pocket to get a drink or go for a slash it can drop. What its good for is ad hoc playing a song for a mate at their place because everything supports it and it’s easy to use.
 
Joe Mac said:
I mean totslly, I built my streamer out s micro computer and HAT and my roon core out of NUC so I am totally there with you!
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This is the fun stuff, having 27 tab open in your browser plus 15 different pdfs up just trying to find the right setup that won't break the bank and work with at least half of the current equipment you already have.
 
I was going to say if you’re not tied to arcam the marantz DACs are supposidly really good so could look at one of their SACD/streamers but HEOS doesn’t support Tidal Connect or roon either so same clunky in app experience.
 
Mather said:
No the Arcam CDS50, SACD and streamer. From what I can tell out of the box with the Native music life app it can do all the high res tidal and Qobuz
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Ya I think you would be good. If you poke around you should be able to find a deal for Tidal for your first 3 months. I think when I first signed up (around September) they had a pay for 1 month and get 3. Then you can test it out without spending too much $$ and seeing how the Arcam app works.

Nice thing with Roon is it shows you the chain so you see if there is any point where the stream is being down sampled on you.
 
Mather said:
No the Arcam CDS50, SACD and streamer. From what I can tell out of the box with the Native music life app it can do all the high res tidal and Qobuz
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Yeah it will. I’d totally trial that app before buying though because the interface is a huge part of making digital work well and if it’s clunky finding tracks will be a pain in the arse and will eat into your enjoyment.
 
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