tlarwa Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 So I'm a hardcore vinyl guy ... built a listening room around my vinyl rig, and have enjoyed it immensely. But, I've been expanding my jazz collection and repertoire, and I've found that a good, affordable way to find out what I like before I shell out good $$ on quality vinyl is to preview it on Spotify. So, I'm using the USB connection on my Yamaha CD-S300 CDP to allow me to Spotify through my system. I currently have one of my iPads connected to the CDP. What I really like is that I can control that iPad (through Spotify) with my iPhone remotely from my listening chair. It's awesome! What isn't awesome, though, is the quality of the music playback. It's not horrible, but it's certainly many steps below my analog rig. I'm wondering what a logical, and affordable, upgrade path would be. I would be willing to add a DAC, to replace the CDP connection I'm currently using, but I'm not sure what to get that will allow me to use my iPad/iPhone combo like I am now. I know there's a couple iDACs out there (Wadia and Arcam come to mind) but I know precious little about them. Or is there a better way to accomplish what I want to do? I'm not looking to spend a fortune as this will never supplant my analog rig as my primary source. But I would appreciate an improvement in sound quality. Thanks in in advance for your advice! Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted January 19, 2016 Moderators Share Posted January 19, 2016 Can't help with the question, but I completely like the whole idea, a great way to hear new music and general listening, the convenience is ridicules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlarwa Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 Can't help with the question, but I completely like the whole idea, a great way to hear new music and general listening, the convenience is ridicules. Yeah, it's a great way to preview music before plunking down cash on new vinyl. But I'd still like it to sound better! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlarwa Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 Here is a thread on the Gon which may help: http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-make-digital-sound-like-analog-vinyl.666332/page-4 Interesting thread. But I'm not in search of making my digital source equal my analog source, just to make it sound better than it does through the internal DAC in my CDP, while keeping the convenience of being able to control Spotify on my iPad with my iPhone! The more I read, the more sure I am that I need to invest in a decent DAC. The question is, which one to get that will accommodate an iDevice connection. I don't want to go through the effort of incorporating a music server, Mac Mini,or anything like that. I've heard my friends' digital front ends that sound terrific, so I have no doubt they can get there. But not without some significant investment. I'm just looking for a step or two improvement, at a reasonable cost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twk123 Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) A few things on Spotify- Make sure you pay for Premium then go to Options and Select, "High Quality Playback" and also turn off "Set Same Volume for All Tracks". The Audioquest DragonFly 1.2 is a well regarded budget DAC for around $150 or the Shiit Bifrost is also a highly regarded DAC that is more expensive. I dont think the DAC should matter in regards to the IPhone control as the connection is directly to the IPad. Edited January 19, 2016 by twk123 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattSER Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) 1. Yes, get a decent DAC. 2. Do you have a pc to run spotify on? You can run spotify from your pc and still control it with your iPhone. 3. I hope you're paying for spotify premium so you can stream "high quality" 4. Turn off the "make all tracks same volume" option. 5. Not all spotify tracks are created equally. Some will still sound like garbled garbage. I used to rock out to "Du Hast" in my high school days, but the spotify version is a garbled mess. In fact, only the fifth Rammstein album is clean. The first four have fallen victim to terrible encoding artifacts that can be found all over spotify.....Not that I expect anybody here to give a rat's *** about some Rammstein albums. I've also heard these terrible compression artifacts in select Marilyn Manson, Hoobastank, and GnR songs. Edit: sorry I just reread the part where you said you don't want to run a dedicated music server. Edited January 19, 2016 by mattSER 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tlarwa Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 1. Yes, get a decent DAC. The big question is which one will work with my iPhone/iPad? 2. Do you have a pc to run spotify on? You can run spotify from your pc and still control it with your iPhone. No. And as I said in an earlier post, I don't want to go through that hassle. I don't have room for one on my audio shelf anyway. 3. I hope you're paying for spotify premium so you can stream "high quality" Yes, I have Spotify Premium, and I'm streaming at the highest quality setting 4. Turn off the "make all tracks same volume" option. I will check on this one. Not sure how this is set. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nitrofan Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I found that some artists sound very bad on spotify others really good. Some very good sounding ones are Chicago, emerson lake and palmer. Hard rock/metal seems to be more highly compressed and not as good quality generally speaking. I for one like spotify a lot but it's not perfect. What do you expect for 10 bucks a month or worse free Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shiva Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 Take a look at the now discontinued but still excellent -Logitech Squeezebox Touch. It is a great streaming device that can be controlled easily with your iphone from the comfort of your chair. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Logitech-Squeezebox-Touch-Mint-with-Mint-Box-/231814299070?hash=item35f9357dbe:g:dVsAAOSwX~dWmEkq Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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