Ventured past Sonos for home stereo
 

Dedicated amp, non bluetooth streamer (wifi) and decent speakers.

Oh my goodness does Sonos compress the heck out of stuff.

check out the Bluesound products as a comparison. I've been really happy with the Node Nano. It supports the major streaming services as well as NAS.

I use w/ spotify connect (wifi not bluetooth) and the sound quality is pretty good. I also appreciate that it can be controlled from within the spotify app.

(its own ap is fine, not fantastic)

I got the Cambridge mxn10 for streaming and am blown away. Also ordered the wiim ultra to compare but I’m sending that back without even opening the box. I don’t need the display screen and eq stuff would be a distraction. Using tidal for the most part.

I'm also using a Blusound Node with a Pardo linear power supply feeding a Denefrips DAC. Consider a streaming service that uses lossless compression (FLAC) and also offers high-res (24bit, 96kHz)...you'll be quite surprised just how good and analog-ish it can sound. I use Tidal, many also like Qobuz. Noticeably better SQ than Spotify.

I am also running a Node, the only thing I do not like is you can't stream Amazon music direct, it needs to play from a playlist, not sure about other sources. Unless they finally updated that have not checked recently. I have listened to an inexpensive Auris on my system and was quite impressed.

If you are shopping there are lots of excellent used amps and speakers out there.

Dropped a check at my guy's to order speakers and got a pretty cool demo. Twin 1k watt Bryston amps fed by a Bryston pre amp and some sort of nice cd player. Speakers were Mofi 888.

Un-freaking-real.

Well if you were ordering that, it should up your game, a lot. You are not helping the Canadian deficit any. I have not heard the Mofo 888, Bryston does make a excellent product.

You piqued my curiosity, so I signed up for Tidal and did a bunch of AB testing between it and Spotify (connect) last night. Yes, Tidal sounds better. I don't think its from compression as much as lossy format (Tidal seems more full range - better lows), but even bluetooth streaming in the car, Tidal sounds a bit better, and I think its more how they EQ their files. The only analogy I can think of is in photoshop you start with the same RAW file, and Tidal would have more vibrance and a bit of sharpening. Then both export to .jpg but the Tidal export is slightly higher resolution. It ends up looking better because of the edits than the compression method. End of the day, still sounds better. . . Do I want to keep both services though? Spotify UI is miles ahead of Tidal's.

Tidal and Spotify can stream from their native apps, just select the device you want to play on (have to be on same wifi network)

While I could maybe kinda sorta try to squeeze the speakers into the house there is no way I could also add the amp they need. Pretty fascinating how high power isn't just about being louder but also really tight and controlled bass at all levels.

I’ll agree with you on Spotify’s superior UI. But the SQ from Tidal simply ups the game in a way I appreciate in my dedicated 2 channel room. If Spotify actually ever releases their hi-res format, I’ll surely switch back.

Too large a speaker in a smaller room can cause problems. If they were running the Bryston 28B it likely was, that is way more power than those speakers really req. Yes having lots in reserve takes any strain from the amp and keep the driver in check, also less likely to damage speaker running more powerful amp.

Right this setup was in a good sized room with lots of sound treatments on the walls. We also got to hear two different pre amps and that was a huge change too.

Tidal isn’t as intuitive as Apple Music but it does have some neat suggested play lists. I’m pretty clueless on jazz beyond steely Dan and in just a couple days have really found some great stuff like Dave Brubeck. Spending a lot of time searching for the best quality recordings in several genres. Boogieman by Sarah McCoy is pretty nuts for a smoldering vocal track. Peter Gabriel’s ‘So’ is sounding great too. Some car favorites are terrible though. I’ve learned nice equipment reveals bad recordings.

Just a ton of fun digging into this.

So I have a new processor for the family room the Marantz gave up the ghost after 15 years. It will let me stream Apple Music from my phone through Bluetooth to the speakers there. Which is handy.

Based on the above - and because I’m too lazy to go google it - I’m assuming the compression isn’t lossless.

Ventured past Sonos for home stereo
 

I’m not the expert to answer that but I can say this for sure- when I switched
from Bluetooth feeding the amp to streamer device feeding the amp everything opened up.

As of now streamer gets music signal via WiFi. Plan to test it with streamer wired to router as well but my reading suggests that is not likely to change much.

Nice equipment reveals bad recordings…..yes it does. This is especially true if you are a vinyl collector and turntable hobbyist. Not so much with streaming in my experience. As a vinyl collector, especially as a jazz record collector, I am just as interested in who the recording engineer is and what studio was used as I am the actual artist. With streaming, nothing wows me but I do use it for its obvious advantages/conveniences and don’t worry so much about the hi-fi aspects of it all. I enjoy its conveniences but that’s it. Even the equipment is a bore

Jazz is really my passion and if you are genuinely interested, I will find some time and make a list of 20 must haves for someone just getting into it. I got into it in the 80s as a teenager who was learning guitar….when I read Robby Krieger (The Doors) and Bob Weir (The Dead) interviews in guitar magazines mention they were influenced by McCoy Tyner/John Coltrane, or Bill Evans, I said who? Went to my record store and asked the employee “Steve” for some guidance and he walked around pulling all the milestone jazz records out and handed them to me. To this day, Jazz records come into my collection weekly and many of my choices are purely down to who made/engineered the recording…..past couple years my efforts have been to collect anything recorded by Roy DuNann. His “sound” is really something !
https://jazzprofiles.blogspot.com/2018/06/the-search-for-roy-dunann.html

Anyway, back on topic

Ramones I'd love any direction you can give on top quality jazz recordings!

Ok I look forward to making the list and turning on anyone to this subject….not much jazz love on this forum ….but give me some time. I’m swamped today with work.

For a start check out Jim Hall - Concierto. Has Steve Gadd on drums….our local hero. My dad grew up next door to him. A very accessible recording anyone can dig I think. It’s on all streaming platforms

Oh I know of Steve Gadd, total bad ass! I'll check it out today.

Consider Patricia Barber on vinyl. A phenomenal and creative jazz singer and pianist with a passion for audiophile quality recordings. There are so many others...

If using Spotify, pick Joey Alexander "radio" and sit back and enjoy. You'll be introduced to this innovative young piano player and countless other artists of similar genre. If your taste is more toward Jazz Fusion, Hiromi Uehara will blow you away, especially any of her three "trio project" albums with Anthony Jackson on bass and Simon Philips (of Toto, Jeff Beck, and even The Who) on drums. Three of the best musicians on the planet today.

On a properly set up system (ideally with a carefully blended sub) and via a real streamer...not Bluetooth. Report back!