A chaotic music library? Enter the audio network player.
Enter the audio network player…
Gone are the days were every self-respecting New Zealand household would have a vinyl library sitting there ready to show off to any potential visitors. Whenever a new person would walk into your home for the first time, they would inevitably be drawn to your collection, making comments on your taste (or lack off;-)). It was a sure way to measure up people and a very effective conversation starter for that matter.
These days, while some of us have not given up on the vinyl or CD collection, for a lot of us, our music collection is to be found on your PC. Be it as a subscription service like TIDAL or Spotify or stored on your NAS.
This new way of accessing music gave birth to a new hi-fi component: The Network Audio player or streamer.
What’s in a name
Generally speaking, a network audio player or streamer is a device that (depending on the model) lets you play tunes from:
1. your digital music library stored on your computer, smartphone, or tablet (like CD’s that may have neem ripped and stored on your computer or NAS)
2. thousands of free Internet radio stations
3. a variety of online music subscription services (In New Zealand that is most commonly Spotify, iTunes or Tidal) that offer intriguing ways to discover and mix songs
So, you have a music streaming service which you use a lot, but at the same time you also have thousands of files of music stored on your computer, which you also can’t part with. The question is: what option is there to handle the chaos that is your current music library? The most straight forward answer: an audio network streamer or player.
Strictly speaking, this would include the popular all-in-one solutions that have amplifiers and speakers built-in like the small room Sonos, Bluesound or the RIVA Wand wireless music players. But for today, we will ignore these options as this topic takes us on a very different path.
We will also ignore Network Media Players like the ones that are built into TV’s, Blu-ray players and some AV receivers. You may well be able to use those to play music in your home theatre room, but the interface will be a lot less attractive and user-friendly for that purpose, than an audio network player that was specifically designed for the task. So with that in mind, we’ll strictly focus on ‘the component network audio players’ and their smaller counterparts ‘the compact player with built-in amplifier’ that just requires you to add speakers.
So, cutting a long story short, what started with portable music players or MP3 players and the convenience of converting and compressing CD music into music files morphed into the network music player. Thanks to a connection with the home router (often wireless) the network music player connects to the internet and enables access to Internet streaming resources like Spotify, TIDAL, etc. But also, the home network can access your collection of music on a computer or on a NAS device dedicated to store your music files as well as connect to thousands of internet radio stations.
What’s an NAS I hear you ask? NAS stands for Network-Attached Storage. It is a storage device connected to a network that allows authorized network users to store and retrieve data. It’s rapidly gaining in popularity because it is an effective, easy to operate and low-cost storage solution; it’s a bit like having your own private cloud in your office that gives you complete control.
So how do you choose?
As mentioned before, you will have to decide whether you want a compact network player or a component network player with a separate amplifier.
As per usual, a component network player offers more flexibility, a compact network player is easier and most of the time cheaper if you consider that you don’t have to fork out extra money on an amplifier. Most audio network players will be the latter, but not all. Some options will also include additional extras like a built-in CD player, which might be extra handy if you prefer to hold on to your CD collection and refuse to rip them.
Once you have made up your mind on the component or the compact option, you will have to look into the audio formats that are supported.
Audio formats are actually quite simple once you realize that all audio formats fall into three major categories. As soon as you know which category you want, all you have to do is pick the format within that category that best suits your needs.
- Uncompressed audio is exactly what it sounds like: real sound waves that have been captured and converted to digital format without any further processing. As a result, uncompressed audio files tend to be the highest quality audio for the listener. The downside is that they take up a lot of disk space. You will need a computer or NAS to store your music. (PSM, WAV, AIFF)
- Lossy compression means that some of musical data of the original recording has been discarded to make a smaller file size. Lossy formats are often used by streaming services like Spotify and iTunes. The small file size means that it is easy to store the files on a portable device.(MP3, AAC, OGG (Vorbis))
- And finally, there is a middle of the road option called lossless compression, which is a method that reduces file size without any loss in quality between the original source file and the resulting file. The downside is that lossless compression isn’t as efficient as lossy compression, meaning equivalent files can be 2x to 5x larger. (FLAC, ALAC)
Some of our customers that require high-end audiophile grade music will specifically look for DSD audio. DSD stands for Direct Stream Digital. It’s a high-resolution format that produces a high-resolution signal in a different way (as opposed to the usual PCM that can be transmitted as WAV, FLAC, ALAC or AIFF). DSD is mainly lauded for the ‘character and the naturalness’ that it brings to music. This is a hotly debated topic that we won’t go into at this stage. Fact is that it is the format for some sensational music, preferred by studios and musicians that have extremely high quality on their mind.
Onwards and upwards….
Almost all of the Network Audio players will have wireless connectivity. Depending on your preferences and needs, some may be more useful to you than others. You will be familiar enough by now with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and Airplay (Apple’s wireless Audio protocol that allows you to stream your iTunes library).
You’re very likely to see mentioning of Spotify Connect in the specs. Spotify Connect is the Spotify wireless connectivity feature (using WI-FI) that enables Spotify Premium subscribers to use their phone or other devices to listen to music. It’s a fairly hassle-free way of streaming your Spotify library via Wi-Fi through to your (wireless) speakers.
It’s fair to say that these are the connectivity options that you are most likely to encounter. However, if you go high-end you may also bump into ‘UPnP’ or ‘DLNA’.
DLNA/UPnP or Universal Plug and Play has become a standard in the audio world. It all gets a bit nerdy when you start digging at the detail of it, but the bottom line is that UPnP automates all of the complex steps required to allow devices to communicate with each other, be it directly (peer-to-peer) or over a network. It doesn’t really matter whether these connections are wired (e.g. ethernet) or wireless (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth). UPnP does it without requiring any additional/special drivers.
Sometimes you’ll see devices certified as DLNA. DLNA stands for Digital Living Network Alliance. Basically, DLNA-compatible devices use UPnP to communicate.
The biggest criticism of UPnP is the potential security risk: this is based on the fact that UPnP does not authenticate, assuming that everything connected within a network is trusted and friendly. This means that if the firewalls of a computer are bypassed by say malware or a hacker, everything else on the network is immediately susceptible.
Different models offer different options.
The Rapallo website offers a great range of network audio players; some have CD drives. Different products integrate with different streaming services and support different audio formats. Some offer multi-room audio. And of course there is the price tag…
So we thought we would give you a brief outline of our most popular network audio devices.
When it comes to no-frill quality, you’ll always find Yamaha on our list of recommendations. The Yamaha R-N402 is an excellent audio network streamers that will cover your basic requirements: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Airplay connectivity are there, stream music via Spotify, Pandora and Napster or turn on the Internet Radio. Listen to the music stored on your PC or NAS: no problemo.
TIDAL and Deezer Streaming services, DLNA certification, as well as DSD file format are added to the Yamaha repertoire as you move up the ranks of the Yamaha audio network players. You can even drop the needle of your record player and show some vinyl love with the Yamaha R-N803.
The Yamaha CD-NT670 MusicCast Network Compatible CD player combines the audio network player with a CD player.
The biggest stand-out for the Elac Discovery is the Roon addition, an impressive tool for organising large, complex music libraries. Roon has earned acclaim for its advanced user interface and sophisticated handling of metadata. The ELAC Discovery Tidal has been tightly integrated into the Discovery’s software (subscription is at an extra cost).
While lots of companies are just now jumping into the increasingly popular world of music streaming, Cambridge Audio has been at this for some time.
Cambridge Audio CXN and Cambridge Audio Azur 851N are arguably the biggest names in Audio network player heaven.
The Cambridge Audio CXN sounds fantastic, connections and controls are top. Understandably, the CXN has a whole cupboard of prices and awards to show for it. It supports a wide range of audio formats, including ALAC, WAV, FLAC, AIFF, DSD (x64), WMA, MP3, AAC, HE AAC, AAC+, and OGG Vorbis. Audiophiles of New Zealand, this is streamers heaven.
The Cambridge Audio Azur 851N is the company’s flagship audio network receiver. We’re talking toroidal transformers, a separate DAC for each channel, Balanced XLR outputs and very impressive high quality case work for the delivery of a high quality consistent signal with low noise and buzz. Need to say more?
We are very aware that to many serious lover of music, streaming or downloading music is a worse crime than murder (Well… almost). For the music lover who wants to dabble into crossing boundaries without getting in neck-deep, T+A developed the T+A Music player, allowing for both the conventional CDs and FM tuner as well as downloads—no matter the source. It’s a really well thought-out product with serious audiophile pretensions.
So…
It’s fair to say that we can only share a few popular options when it comes to network audio players. There are many valid and justifiable choices and a lot depends on your expectations, requirements and budget.
Between the extremes of vinyl and a music streamer lies a world of possibility and despite of what your preference or opinion might be, it’s great as a consumer to have options.
If it’s all rather confusing; just give us a ring and we’ll help you sort out what’s right for you.
Sources: Cambridge Audio, What Hifi, Lifewire, Yamaha, ELAC, Crutchfield