Zaphod79
Novice Member
Hi, I need a bit of help deciding the optimal way for me to do this. I have been doing some research but don't have a satisfactory conclusion yet.
For my main stereo I have a Yamaha musiccast WXC-50 with a Roksan kandy ka1 L3 powering Kef LS50s. I also use a rega planet CD and have an arcam rdac, although not currently using it due to an intermittent issue which I think is probably the power supply. I also often group the yamaha with 1 or 2 other musiccast devices.
I want the convenience of a streaming service and I like a lot about Spotify and use it on my phone, in the car and at work. I also use it a lot through the main system at home, except when I spoil myself by putting on a CD. The trouble, of course, is the bitrate from Spotify and I want more for my main system. Unfortunately the yamaha doesn't support Amazon music. I've tried Tidal a couple of times but the integration on the yamaha is terrible and I don't want to have to use my laptop (although the rdac does have asynchronous USB).
So the yamaha has 24/192 support but no amazon integration and I was looking at maybe getting the echo link. This has coax and optical digital in and outs so I could run it through the arcam, which should be better than the dac in the echo, but I think the digital output from the link is throttled to 16/44 despite it's own dac managing 24/96 (I think). I imagine analogue output of a 190 quid amazon own brand streamer would be pretty rotten so I don't really want to just plug it in to the amp. I also don't want to spend another £500 on a bluesound node 2i or similar so my question is: what are my options for streaming at least 24/96 (preferably 24/192) to my amp without spending several hundred pounds? How are other people streaming Amazon HD/'ULTRA HD'? Thanks.
For my main stereo I have a Yamaha musiccast WXC-50 with a Roksan kandy ka1 L3 powering Kef LS50s. I also use a rega planet CD and have an arcam rdac, although not currently using it due to an intermittent issue which I think is probably the power supply. I also often group the yamaha with 1 or 2 other musiccast devices.
I want the convenience of a streaming service and I like a lot about Spotify and use it on my phone, in the car and at work. I also use it a lot through the main system at home, except when I spoil myself by putting on a CD. The trouble, of course, is the bitrate from Spotify and I want more for my main system. Unfortunately the yamaha doesn't support Amazon music. I've tried Tidal a couple of times but the integration on the yamaha is terrible and I don't want to have to use my laptop (although the rdac does have asynchronous USB).
So the yamaha has 24/192 support but no amazon integration and I was looking at maybe getting the echo link. This has coax and optical digital in and outs so I could run it through the arcam, which should be better than the dac in the echo, but I think the digital output from the link is throttled to 16/44 despite it's own dac managing 24/96 (I think). I imagine analogue output of a 190 quid amazon own brand streamer would be pretty rotten so I don't really want to just plug it in to the amp. I also don't want to spend another £500 on a bluesound node 2i or similar so my question is: what are my options for streaming at least 24/96 (preferably 24/192) to my amp without spending several hundred pounds? How are other people streaming Amazon HD/'ULTRA HD'? Thanks.