[Excelsius]

Looking for a wireless setup or speakers to play 30K+ audio files from a Windows PC and laptops (mostly APE, FLAC, some DSD and PCM). Looking for following properties:

• Min 24bit 96 kHz end-to-end bit-perfect wireless support (ideally 192 kHz, but not necessary)
• 3500+ kbps bitrate support
• No wires or additional technology other than power cord and a wireless router
• Loud enough to crank up classical music
• Remote control to change volume, navigate songs
• Roon support
• Ideally multiple speaker support and ability to play different music in different rooms

My research showed that bluetooth technology is ruled out and I need to stick with WiFi technology. Seems like can either go with a wirless amp (like Cambridge Audio CXA81) or wireless speakers for fewer wires. I mostly listen to classical, but wide variety of genres 10% of the time, except heavy metal. Being able to play directly from NAS (Synology DS1618+) while PC is off would be a plus. I'm a heavy foobar user, but recently found out about Roon and it looks quite promising. Budget is under $3K, but can go somewhat higher for major improvements.

So far, the main option I've discovered is KEF LS50 Wireless II (under $2K used on ebay). I realize I might have to add their sub later on. I also wanted to get a smaller pair for my office, likely the KEF LSX II.

Since this is a major purchase, I wanted to get the opinion of other audiophiles here before going for it. Maybe there are better alternatives I'm missing?

 

[Roseval]

Have a good look at streamers supporting UPnP/DLNA. They do 24/192 by design.
Have a look at control points like BubbleUPnP.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Bluesound, NAD with a BluOS card, HeOS boxes from Denon, MusicCast boxes etc. all do streaming with control apps on win/mac or Android/iPhone.

I didn't understand where the gear is or why it has to be wireless. You can run many of these devices over ethernet off your NAS via a switch. That's what I do.

 

[Excelsius]

I can't do UPnP because I'm not willing to compromise network security for audio.

I have a NAS that is sitting in my office, along with my tower PC. All the music is on the PC, duplicated on the NAS. I need a way to play this music seamlessly in other room(s), basically by either playing the media from the PC, or from any of my other networked devices, like laptops and cell phones. I also have a hyper dog and do not want to have wires running all over the place. For example, maybe a single ethernet wire to the entire system could be manageable, but I'm assuming that would still require an amp and physically connected speakers to that amp. Plus I'm on the move for now and having less complicated systems to haul around can be a plus. Nevertheless, even running an ethernet wire is not feasible right now because it would have to run exposed (I can't drill through the walls since I'm renting for now).

Now I am aware of duplicating my music on some sort of a USB stick for each system in each room, if necessary, but that's not what I'm going for. I would like to have a single source of music where all updates to metadata are kept, including statistics such as play counts, duration, ratings, etc. On most days, I probably listen to 10+ hours of music as I work and study, so I think having the perfect system for this would be a great return on investment.

Also, a remote control is critical too. I don't want to mess with apps if I want to quickly change the volume or the track while I'm reading, as an example. So basically the most user friendly setup where you're just listening to high quality music instead of having to keep messing with technology or wires.

 

[tjl5709]

Have you thought about using a stick PC in the other areas? Like you, I have a Tower PC that serves as my A/V hub. All my music (30,000+ flac) resides on it and is tied to a NAS backup. The PC feeds a DAC for my HP amps, a receiver for speaker listening (tv/music/movies) In my shop/garage, I have a stick PC that is fed via my wifi network. It plugs into a a/v receiver and 43" TV. The stick PC is capable of doing streaming from cable supplier (sports) , youtube videos (repair videos), and music. I use Musicbee for general listening. What I like is you can download it's app to the phone to control it. Just a thought.

 

[Excelsius]

Can you elaborate on the stick PC system? It would help if you can provide models numbers for each endpoint so I can look up what this looks like. For example, where does the PC stick plug into? How does it communicate with the DAC and the speakers?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I can't do UPnP because I'm not willing to compromise network security for audio.

I have a NAS that is sitting in my office, along with my tower PC. All the music is on the PC, duplicated on the NAS. I need a way to play this music seamlessly in other room(s), basically by either playing the media from the PC, or from any of my other networked devices, like laptops and cell phones. I also have a hyper dog and do not want to have wires running all over the place. For example, maybe a single ethernet wire to the entire system could be manageable, but I'm assuming that would still require an amp and physically connected speakers to that amp. Plus I'm on the move for now and having less complicated systems to haul around can be a plus. Nevertheless, even running an ethernet wire is not feasible right now because it would have to run exposed (I can't drill through the walls since I'm renting for now).

Now I am aware of duplicating my music on some sort of a USB stick for each system in each room, if necessary, but that's not what I'm going for. I would like to have a single source of music where all updates to metadata are kept, including statistics such as play counts, duration, ratings, etc. On most days, I probably listen to 10+ hours of music as I work and study, so I think having the perfect system for this would be a great return on investment.

Also, a remote control is critical too. I don't want to mess with apps if I want to quickly change the volume or the track while I'm reading, as an example. So basically the most user friendly setup where you're just listening to high quality music instead of having to keep messing with technology or wires.

The devices I mentioned all support wifi and ethernet and apps on various platforms. They all have S/PDIF and analog out so you can run them into integrated amps or AV receivers. You could also buy wireless soundbars from these companies, not really an audiophile solution but very convenient.

Samba/CIFS or dlna behind a firewall is secure. I don't use wifi at all and so there are no security issues. I have my homebrew NAS connected to an 8 port switch and then to a router. The devices in the same room as the NAS talk direct via the switch. Devices in the other room go through the router. In one room I use MusicCast, I like the interface very much but it's only on mobiles, no desktop app. The MusicCast box is a Yamaha ministack so the software and hardware are together. In the other room two Bluesound boxes talk over ethernet to the switch to get to the LAN, I control them with BluOS desktop or mobile apps. I don't play music from my LAN on phones or tablets but I could, and if so I'd set up a VPN to talk to the NAS.

 

[jb001]

Basically by stick PC meaning it has a fixed HDMI port at the end and is meant to plug into a HDMI TV input, along with a small power adapter to provide power. You would use the PC to load the audio and you could connect a USB DAC or use your TV's optical out to connect to a DAC.

Example would be MeLE PCG02.