wadiman Posted March 12 Posted March 12 Hi all - In the words of the Borg I've come to understand that 'resistance is futile' (Star trek reference for those who aren't into Sci-fi) and I now want to add a DAC/Streamer to my system. Here's what I want to do: * Take the ARC HDMI output from my TCL C845 TV and send that via the Streamer/DAC to my old-school preamp/processor (EAD Theatermaster) thence to 5ch speakers (0.1 not needed!) * Allow bluray player connection via optical or coax and send the video output to the TV (is this possible?) via ARC; send digital audio output to the pre/processor * Connect the digital output from my Arcam FMJ23 CD player to the DAC (or I may stay with the inbuilt DAC in it if it does a better job on the conversion) * Stream internet radio and possibly tidal or quoboz * Allow playback of FLAC files (not sure of best way to do this - I do have an old Apple Macbook pro that could be used for this purpose) from ripped CDs The sound signature I'm after is a little to the warm-side of neutral. Two potential candidates that I'm aware of are the Bluesound Node icon and Eversolo DMP A6 master gen 2. Budget is sub $3k. Keen to hear any thoughts!
aussievintage Posted March 12 Posted March 12 9 hours ago, wadiman said: Allow playback of FLAC files I would expect most streamers, to allow a USB drive to be connected to them, and be able to play your files from it. Next option is, they should also be able to stream music files from network storage, for example using DLNA. You could also set up the old computer to play them. Don't know about old Macs but most computers will connect via USB to the DAC.
Snoopy8 Posted March 13 Posted March 13 13 hours ago, wadiman said: Here's what I want to do: * Take the ARC HDMI output from my TCL C845 TV and send that via the Streamer/DAC to my old-school preamp/processor (EAD Theatermaster) thence to 5ch speakers (0.1 not needed!) * Allow bluray player connection via optical or coax and send the video output to the TV (is this possible?) via ARC; send digital audio output to the pre/processor If you want 5 channel sound, then use the TV as the HDMI hub. Use the TV HDMI ARC port to the EAD prepro. Connect the BD player to a spare TV HDMI port and TV will send audio to prepro. 13 hours ago, wadiman said: * Connect the digital output from my Arcam FMJ23 CD player to the DAC (or I may stay with the inbuilt DAC in it if it does a better job on the conversion) Try both digital and analog output to prepro. 13 hours ago, wadiman said: * Stream internet radio and possibly tidal or quoboz * Allow playback of FLAC files (not sure of best way to do this - I do have an old Apple Macbook pro that could be used for this purpose) from ripped CD Why not use your Mac to stream Internet radio, Tidal or Qobuz? It will also play Flac files. You do not need to buy a streamer/DAC, with the above! 1
wadiman Posted March 13 Author Posted March 13 Thanks Snoopy - unfortunately the EAD prepro is pretty old so doesn't have HDMI input. It does have an optical input and this is what I was using previously. I do get your point - I can pretty much achieve what I'm after with my existing gear.
aussievintage Posted March 13 Posted March 13 29 minutes ago, wadiman said: Thanks Snoopy - unfortunately the EAD prepro is pretty old so doesn't have HDMI input. It does have an optical input and this is what I was using previously. I do get your point - I can pretty much achieve what I'm after with my existing gear. Some TVs have optical output, which you could use
wadiman Posted March 13 Author Posted March 13 1 minute ago, aussievintage said: Some TVs have optical output, which you could use Thanks AV - yes the TCL does so I can do that for sure.
Snoopy8 Posted March 13 Posted March 13 1 hour ago, wadiman said: Thanks Snoopy - unfortunately the EAD prepro is pretty old so doesn't have HDMI input. It does have an optical input and this is what I was using previously. I do get your point - I can pretty much achieve what I'm after with my existing gear. Then get a used Marantz prepro in the Classifieds
Hi-Fi Whipped Posted March 13 Posted March 13 Yeh along the lines of snoop, you’ve came here looking for a. $3k streamer but for overall usability your system may benefit from a better with a $3k prepro with arc etc. do you have a 5th power amp too? 1
wadiman Posted March 13 Author Posted March 13 3 hours ago, Hi-Fi Whipped said: Yeh along the lines of snoop, you’ve came here looking for a. $3k streamer but for overall usability your system may benefit from a better with a $3k prepro with arc etc. do you have a 5th power amp too? Thanks for your thoughts HFW - The EAD is a great-sounding and very well made prepro from the past despite lacking a few modern inputs - it does a great job of DTS decoding. I have a Bryston 5 ch poweramp. I think I'll just persevere with the current boxes. 2
Hi-Fi Whipped Posted March 13 Posted March 13 5 hours ago, wadiman said: Thanks for your thoughts HFW - The EAD is a great-sounding and very well made prepro from the past despite lacking a few modern inputs - it does a great job of DTS decoding. I have a Bryston 5 ch poweramp. I think I'll just persevere with the current boxes. And why not iif you love the sound. your plans for the streamer would only be passing 2ch streams no matter the connection, does that bother you or would you prefer surround sound from your tv and blu ray player? 1
Snoopy8 Posted March 13 Posted March 13 14 hours ago, wadiman said: I think I'll just persevere with the current boxes. Then get a HDMI de-embedder / extractor to connect any HDMI device to the optical input of your pre pro. 1
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