What Do I Need?

[DavidHB]

You face a common problem; how much should the introduction of a streaming system into you hi-fi setup change things? Is it just another source, or a game changer? My experience suggests that, for many people, it is the latter.

This thread describes my own starting point, seven months or so ago. Post #14 in this thread completes the story. While our equipment inventories are different, the 'integrate or replace' question was/is the same for both of us.

You have, in my view, started in exactly the right way by experimenting at (relatively) low cost. Before you make a major investment, my experience suggests that getting the infrastructure right (if you haven't already done so) is the important next step. If you want to use a lossless format (e.g. FLAC), and probably also transcoding, make sure that the connection between your music server and your player is by Ethernet, ideally using a decent quality switch rather than the switch component of your ISP-supplied router. If you are using a NAS as your server (which I think is the best arrangement), try to put it somewhere where it will not be audible in the listening environment - good NASs have quiet fans, but there is often a bit of disk noise (unless you are using an SSD!).

The choice of player/renderer is very much a matter of sound quality, and therefore of careful and personal choice in dealer demonstrations. But you also need to ensure that the player you choose has software for your preferred computing platform; Naim, for example, do not currently have a control point for Android. If there is third party software you like (e.g. Bubble DS/UPnP), try it with your favoured player. This process may mean that you need to compromise in some way.

If your main listening source has been CD and/or FM radio up to now, a high quality streamer will change that choice radically. For most purposes, the internet radio capabilities of the streamer (or of MinimStreamer) will make FM and DAB radio redundant. And a good streamer will, it is now generally thought, out-perform a correspondingly good CD player. With the streamer, you are buying a high quality DAC; it will often make sense to connect the CD player digitally to the streamer (if it has that capability), to play those CDs you have not yet ripped.

But you will rapidly find, I think, that you will be using the streamer most if not nearly all of the time. This means that the priority will be to get the highest quality signal path from the streamer to the speakers that you can manage. Configurations here vary; some streamers are source components for a conventional Hi-Fi system, others (like my Akurate DSM) incorporate what is essentially a combined analogue and digital pre-amplifier, while a third group has built in power amplification.

(later EDIT: I'm sorry; in the first version of this post, I had not paid enough attention to your list of equipment 'lying around'.) In your case, if the Krell amplification and your speakers sound as good to you as I think they would to me, the simplest solution for best stereo sound quality is an ordinary renderer/streamer feeding an analogue input on the Krell. At that level of quality, you would probably be looking at the Naim NDX or the Linn Akurate DS to provide an appropriate front end; these particular products do not have extra features (CD drive, amplification) you would not need, so their considerable cost is at least all spent on the player. The Naim has wifi connectivity (a mixed blessing, see above) and a USB input (both of which Linn refuse to include in their products), and is the cheaper option, but now that Linn's Exakt technology is being introduced into the Akurate range, there may be a few second hand Akurate DS players for sale. If you want other options, the Lumin player may be worth a look. In the end, it will, as I have said, be down to sound quality and what a dealer you trust and who is willing to give a decent demo can supply.

As regards your alternative approach, I have no experience with integrating music and AV systems. Some music systems (again like my Akurate) can function as the left and right front channels of an AV system, and pass through the remaining channels via HDMI to another decoder/amplifier. I suspect that is a messy solution unless the music system is the priority. Enabling HDMI on my Akurate also has a small but noticeable effect on sound quality; I don't know whether other players have the same issue. With the equipment you already have, for best music sound quality a separate stereo system will, I suspect, be the easiest and cheapest to set up, provided of course that having two systems in your living area is domestically acceptable.

I hope these thoughts are of some interest. I think that you are going to have an enjoyable, if somewhat expensive, time ...

David