That's essentially what my setups look like, too. I'm using my main work computer (16GB M1 Mac mini) with a Roon client for my headphone listening, simply because that's how I listen to music while I work. And I've got a headless 8GB M1 Mac mini sitting in my two channel system in my living room that's got Roon Server running on it for critical listening (via USB), and I use my appleTV (via the TV's optical out) for casual listening, simply because I despise the Roon remote app on iOS so freaking much that I'd rather use Apple Music on my appleTV via optical and have the TV on the whole time to essentially just heat up the room unnecessarily for a couple of hours a day than pull up that f#cking Roon remote every time I just want some muzak while I cook dinner or whatever.
I've used the ER20XS for concerts as well and I'd recommend them first. They are my go to choice for concerts. I was in the Army for 15 years so I'm used to triple flange ear plugs. In fact I won't go to a concert without ear plugs for protection; I use my discretion to determine if the music is too loud, no concert is worth permanent damage to my ears.
But if you think those won't be comfortable in your ears I've also used Howard Leight by Honeywell Laser Lite High Visibility Disposable Foam Earplugs, Pink/Yellow , 200-Pairs (LL-1) - 3301105
The foamies as I call them are very comfortable. Once I was at a U2 concert at Madison Square Gardens where the roadies were deaf (do they come any other way) the sound was turned up too high for the speakers, making the speakers resonate (in a bad way) in their cabinets and causing lots undesirable distortion etc. Believe it or not when I put in the foamies U2 sounded almost like they were playing the studio recording all the terrible distortion was gone. Are the foamies acoustically accurate? Hell no. But they saved that concert from being a terrible experience and are good to always keep around.
About a year or two from now it'll still work just fine, but it will also have ripped multiple barn door sized holes into your home's firewall because you can bet your butt that it won't receive any regular updates to fix all the security issues that are present in all general purpose operating systems of this complexity and that will inevitably be discovered and actively exploited in the months and years to come.
There will also be new streaming services you want to use, new and "better sounding" AirPlay and BT audio iterations your phone or tablet (and that phone or tablet's manufacturer's marketing department) will want you switch to, and changed APIs your favorite streaming service will require for continued use. Not a problem, of course, as long as there are constant updates being released that you'll have to stay on top of without accidentally bricking your box.
If we can do this without the general-purpose computer aspect of it, we may have something. But then of course we lose all the shiny Badges of Honour and Holy Compatibility, and it becomes "just another input you can control remotely." Otherwise, yeah, not for us.
If we can do this without the general-purpose computer aspect of it, we may have something. But then of course we lose all the shiny Badges of Honour and Holy Compatibility, and it becomes "just another input you can control remotely." Otherwise, yeah, not for us.
At a minimum you would always be at the mercy of protocols set by others (Airplay, ChromeCast, AlexaCast) which you would need to provide updates for... And not to talk about customer demand for proprietary apps supporting their favorite stream sites.
I rather pay Linkplay $100/$150 per device and let them deal with that. So far their products work. The future will tell if they will continue to support them.
I find it too inconvenient to use a dedicated streamer for all the reasons above. I suspect the easiest streamer solution for me will remain my iPhone. Once they transition to USB C vice lightning port we may not even have to use the dongles which is the worst part of using an iPhone for this purpose as the dongles always seem to break due to cable strain. But thinking about this makes me want to grab a 6th Gen iPad Mini as a bedside "streamer".
Has anyone used the newer USB-C iPads as a streamer? Do you still need the dongle if you don't mind running on battery? I'd be doing feeding an OG Modi Multibit or a Bifrost 2.
I find it too inconvenient to use a dedicated streamer for all the reasons above. I suspect the easiest streamer solution for me will remain my iPhone. Once they transition to USB C vice lightning port we may not even have to use the dongles which is the worst part of using an iPhone for this purpose as the dongles always seem to break due to cable strain. But thinking about this makes me want to grab a 6th Gen iPad Mini as a bedside "streamer".
Has anyone used the newer USB-C iPads as a streamer? Do you still need the dongle if you don't mind running on battery? I'd be doing feeding an OG Modi Multibit or a Bifrost 2.
To use a phone (a general purpose computer with a bunch of radios) with a umbilical cord to a DAC is not convenient or efficient AFAIC. I much prefer a WiiM Pro and use the phone to cast to it whatever I want to listen to. It's convenient (as I interface with the various services via their native apps on the phone), efficient, because at least Chromecast and Alexacast do not use resources on the phone. And it does it all up to 192kHz 24 bit.
Has anyone used the newer USB-C iPads as a streamer? Do you still need the dongle if you don't mind running on battery? I'd be doing feeding an OG Modi Multibit or a Bifrost 2.
Yep, I'm using an iPad Pro (M2 chip) as my streamer. Lossless is a free upgrade with Apple Music so it just makes sense. Unlike Macs, the iPad can automatically switch it's output (bits and kHz) to match the song. My Gungnir MB makes a nice little "click" during each format change. You can use a simple cable like this to separate power and data signals for a cleaner signal (and to maintain the iPad's charge): https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B098SVSDYW
I still use Squeezebox as my streaming solution. It meets my needs. I also gave up on Vortexbox and am presently running Squeeze Server on Mageia Linux at present.
Both photos were from "Down Periscope", the first photo was the sonar operator, the second photo was electrician and radio man. He repeatedly used his body to complete electrical circuits. I have a few former submariners at work and this isn't their favorite movie.
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