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What can I use to move music over wifi to my stereo?

Apr 5, 202051 VIEWS

Afternoon guys, hope all is well in audio land. I'm having a heck of a time with a system here. What if you have a big drive full of music but no easy way to get that music to your stereo? Right now I have a tv with a couple of HDMI inputs. I have a universal disc player +AV receiver connected to one HDMI, and an Apple TV 4K connected to the other. I'm running a Sonos theater system off the digital output from the tv. I have the 2 channel outputs on the AV receiver connected to a stereo amp, which runs a decent pair of speakers. All of my movies and digital music are on a network drive attached to my wifi router. The stereo setup is for my LPs and CD/DVD/Blu, and the Sonos handles all the stuff I stream over wifi. It works pretty good. Sonos sounds good, but not great. Its real value lies in how easy it is to use. As my stereo system evolves (I have some fantastic analog equipment now) and I go further down that rabbit hole, I now see that my enormous library of digital music is useless on the very equipment that would make the best use of it. The hard drive is connected to my wifi router, so I would think there has to be a wifi DAC here I could connect to my stereo and pull all that music off the drive. Or maybe a similar, simple solution that won't break the bank. I had a few ideas, but no real solution:

Somehow wire the AppleTV4K to the receiver so that Apple can handle the sound. But I have it connected to the TV, which outputs sound via TOSLink to the Sonos. The Apple remote controls the Sonos volume as well as the Apple menu system. If I screw that simplicity up and make her start using the receiver remote, my wife will lose her mind and probably stop feeding me. I'm not messing with the WAF.
Somehow get a wireless interface pulling music out of the air and sending it to the AV receiver. Hopefully there's something here at MassD that can handle it.

Whatever works, and I'd really like something that would allow me to either select the music via phone app (like Sonos), or via onscreen menu on the tv (like Apple). I've seen questions nearly identical to mine pop up in audio forums and no one has given any realistic answers (realistic means it doesn't cost a thousand bucks and completely rearrange how things run). So, audio brains, what is the correct, simple way to get that music from the drive to my stereo?

100% upvoted

Macleod

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Macleod

May 4, 2021

I've figured this out! The solution is incredibly simple for Mac users:

Buy an Apple Airport Express, 3rd gen, model A1392. I can find them on the Bay for under $50, but I'd go someplace like OtherWorld Computing and buy one they've tested.
Plug it into AC, no ethernet cable needed.
Look in your Wifi pulldown up in the menubar, you'll see the new Express there. Select it, and it'll put you into the setup.
Configure the thing as a client (setup will walk you through that), set a name and password.
Plug a 3.5mm to RCA adapter into the audio out of the Airport Express.
Plug your RCA patch cables into the adapter, other end into any non-phono input on the stereo you want to use.
Open iTunes, select that Airport in your Airplay settings.
Listen, enjoy, brag about how well it works and no Google Chromecast spyware involved.

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ElectronicVices

2909

Apr 9, 2020

I'm not sure how much help I will be as I'm not an Apple Guy when it comes to my home gear. One thing I do know is that apple 4KTV's are pretty limited in their options. Does your receiver and TV support ARC (Acoustic Return Channel)... depending on your TV's capabilities this could leave your current situation with the optical out but still allow you to receive digital audio stream from the TV to the receiver. You may have to switch digital out options on the TV from time to time. I've noticed ARC isn't quite as high fidelity as going directly to the receiver but there isn't a large gap. I'm a Windows user at home and have my music on a DLNA capable machine. I can then use any DLNA app or JRiver to push audio to various DLNA compliant devices (my receiver, Kann Cube, etc...) My receiver is a Marantz SR6012 and can handle DLNA, Airplay, Tidal and Spotify so I can use their HEOS app directly if not pushing local network files. If you got an airplay capable receiver I believe your appleTV should be able to connect to it, although if you have hi resolution files or a ton of FLAC you won't get max fidelity out of airplay. A third option is to buy an Airplay certified streamer box, of which there are many across a wide range of prices... most are not cheap however.

Macleod

Apr 13, 2020

ElectronicVicesMy receiver is a D+M fairly equivalent to yours, perhaps a year or two older. Its DLNA enabled but I've never used that and wouldn't have the first idea how to. It can also use Airplay but since my library is a few months worth of ALAC that would be a waste of time. Both the TV and receiver handle ARC but using that would probably mean no more optical output, which Sonos requires. I'm sure there's no way to switch between audio sources on the panel either. My 8 year old plasma had more audio controls than my current HDR LCD, strangely. This whole thing may be a waste of time: I just hooked up a flash drive to the receiver and found that even though it saw all my songs and the complete directory structure, according to the receiver all the songs were 0:00 in length. Nothing plays. They're fine on my computer, my phone, and all my vehicles played from my phone over BT as well as USB. I can also play everything over mesh to the Sonos, so its not the files. Either my receiver doesn't like ALAC (even though the manual specifically says it'll work) or it doesn't like the .m4a container I used for the songs (even though the manual clearly says that format works). I can't think of anything else that would cause the problem.

rastus

1366

May 12, 2020

MacleodOtherwise known as the Codec Wars, why I’m not joining up... Yes, we are all happily playing together... not,, it is another déjà vu format turf battle... not playing in that sandbox... time for the new open format multi-channel optical interconnect, with a node support PoF, Power over Fiber buss, no metal at all Mom!, all photonic, designed just for music, rest of the stuff can run on a different wavelength. Not another hand-me-down, some other’s creature adoption/adaption, like the USB for music transfer shit-show. Let others, adopt this. I just used my full ten meters last night,, of a Corning optical USB, to better neatly hide/secure/deploy the Interconnect to the isolated iPC2 from the rest of the system. The DAC is supplied from a 5V LPS using a split cable, no direct galvanic interconnect between, all optical.

(Edited)

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rastus

1366

Apr 6, 2020

I am one, who also is not enamored with SoSnooze sound. My wife wanted kitchen-Simplicity, I wanted SQ to boot. So I went Bluetooth, no independent open WiFi could I find then. Today I would still go independent, get a stand-alone, beholden to none closed platform, WiFi/BT solution,, or go under one umbrella like Roon. Put Apple/SoSnooze in a ring together... you will forever be moderating a battle between the two,, or more as you introduce members... Related is that I am trying out Amazon HD and like it better than tidal, more higher bit rate flac’s of music I listen too, and Buffalo Springfield radio does not merge into JZ after 20min... What I may have next in the kitchen, throw a few MUSES03’s in it, good for sound test, WiFi, BT, DLNA & Airplay, in other words,, simplicity,, sort’a...;) I feel your pain. http://www.ebaystores.com/doukstore/_i.html?_nkw=WiFi+Bluetooth+dac&submit=Search&_sid=1218237143

(Edited)

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rastus

1366

May 6, 2020

Network players are part of a final convergence in sources, I feel, so keep watching what is being offered.... the option to use an internal DAC is convenient, want to upgrade,, add on an external. I have liked the Aurender offerings since seeing these things, though I believe a price adjustment is in order, yes overpriced. I'm not completely up on current offerings, though like you, I would rather not be always tied, to needing always being online, to always listen... If the Aurender Concerto app does not need to be online to function, you are free... I really did not like finding out that Audivarna needed to be online to function... https://aurender.com/a30/ A read: https://www.linn.co.uk/blog/dac-or-network-music-player It looks like Chinese home-grown brands are on the WiFi network integrated solution wagon also, cheaper stuff there, be careful;) https://teespring.com/shop/zpolt-s-chifi-all-day?pid=46&cid=2740&sid=front

(Edited)

Macleod

Dec 26, 2020

rastusI can't believe I didn't see your post until now. Apologies! Have you had any luck in your search over this past year? I looked at the Aurender and its a nice piece of gear but at $5500, I think its seriously overpriced. For that money, I could put an iPad at each of my 6 (currently) stereos and use a cast-off iPhone as a remote. And still have enough money left over to throw all that away, buy 40 inch displays and AppleTVs for each system, and use the arcane Siri remote included with those. I have that setup on my main system downstairs now and it works just fine. I'd still like to find something simple for my other 2 channel systems: a box that can pull ALAC files off my Airport USB drive, and it works with an iPhone app to control it. Give me simple RCA output - I don't need XLR output, S/PDIF, coax, or anything like that. I don't need to plug a turntable into it or any other sources, I just want to grab the files and pass them to my preamp, and look at my phone to see what I'm doing.

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