We know this because of better sounding – but lesser-known – alternatives like Bluesound’s Node 2i (€550) and AURALiC’s Aries Mini. Seemingly of secondary concern to both Sonos and Google was sound quality. Sonos – and to a lesser extent Google – built their market reputation on 1) being super easy to set up and, when the mainstream moved from downloads to streaming, 2) supporting an enormous range of streaming services. Perhaps the most recognised makes and models of network streamer are the Sonos Connect (now Sonos Port) and Google’s (now discontinued) Chromecast Audio. We talk to it over the network using a smartphone and/or desktop app. Where it differs from a Mac or PC is that we don’t give our network streamer instructions via a keyboard and mouse. In other words, a network streamer is a computer solely dedicated to audio playback. The DAC decodes the digital signal to analogue and sends it onto an amplifier. At its most basic level, it’s a computer made up of hardware and software whose only task is to receive a digital audio stream from a nearby server or the cloud via Ethernet or Wifi and pass it on to its own internal DAC – or an external DAC via USB. The software that we install onto our PC or Mac allows us to interface with the hardware: a keyboard and mouse allow us to tell the computer what to do a screen outputs visual feedback.Īnd its through the screen that we get to ‘see’ the operating system – usually Windows, MacOS or Linux – and any other applications we might have installed: MS Word, Adobe Photoshop or VLC.Ī network streamer is not too dissimilar to a PC or Mac. We can see the hardware if we pop the lid and take a peek inside: the CPU, the RAM, the storage (SSD or HDD) and the inputs/outputs (I/O). An Apple Macbook or Windows-based PC is made up of two fundamentals: the hardware and the software that runs on the hardware. With the same name as one huge album, after all you could haveġ0 Greatest Hits albums.IT 101. Surprising how simple things are wrong, such collating albums When comparing to other UPnP servers, it is Instances, each with different audio libraries Asset Collections: create add additional asset.Runs efficiently in the background detecting new & changed tracks,.ReplayGain can be applied to Wave, LPCM and mp3 stream, volume matching across tracks for devices which have no support,.Capture the PC sound output and stream to a UPnP player (Windows Vista or newer),.DSD and DFF compatibility, decode, send untouched or DSD DoP.Configurable Wave, LPCM or mp3 decoding (no quality loss) for devices which cannot play specific audio types,.Customizable browse tree with advanced search facilities (Album by Release, Style, Composer, Conductor.),.Dynamic Browsing, include / Exclude Genres, or Years with ease.Dynamic playlists: find newest, least or most played tracks & albums.Internet Radio: browse popular stations from around the world,.Designed from the ground up as an audio only UPnP server,.Such as Linn DS, Naim NDX, XBox 360, PS3, etc). UPnP is a method of sharing media contentīetween devices, where audio files are stored on a computer, server or NAS, multiple audio devices around the home network can play audio from the UPnP server (devices Compatible) audio server, designed as an audio only server, which an emphasis on quality and enhanced browsing abilities.
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