The most straightforward, simple solution for a wireless music connection?

If I want to play music on my audio system from my Windows laptop I can connect a USB cable to my DAC. If I want to play music from my PC, I can connect to the DAC with SPDIF. It's very easy, and I can choose from files on the hard drive in various format and media player software. I can also stream from the Internet. The audio system just plays any sound the computer makes.

Now suppose I want a wireless solution for this, so I don't have to take the laptop over to the audio system or run a long digital cable from the PC. I'm looking for only the most straightforward way to replace the wire with wireless. Ideally, this solution changes nothing about the way I use it. I don't even need a remote or a mobile app. I see discussions about this or similar topics have been around for years. One mentioned the now-defunct Logitech Music Sender in a thread started in 2008. I have one of those. It did exactly what I wanted from it, except that it had only analog output.

Until today, I thought Chromecast was the best answer. Now I see in another thread here it isn't that simple. I'm not opposed to solutions that use the network, but a direct link that replaces the wire is the functional concept. What's the closest thing to just getting the PC sound card output transmitted wirelessly to a DAC?

 

I'd love to know, but it doesn't seem like there is one.

I tried Plex Media Server recently, as my wife has a PS4 hooked up to the TV and it has an optical line that I can input into my DAC. The software was buggy, and as far as I could tell it was transcoding the files as it played them. There were also delays between tracks due to a lot of devices on our home internet connection and the fact that Comcast in my area is ****.

Eventually I will get a NAS set up, and just run a LAN cable straight from that into a music streamer device like an Auralic or something similar.

Wish it were more simple.

 

Plex or Muzecast servers and a Chromecast Audio (either with or without an external DAC). You should be up and running in about 20 minutes from getting the Chromecast through the front door.

I prefer Muzecast but there's no iOS for it, only Android.

Neither do gapless playback currently but it's on the to do list for Muzecast and the guy that develops it is brilliant at implementing changes and bug fixes.

 

i was at a dealer once and they were streaming an ipad to a mac system through some kind of sonus small rounded box. i couldn't find it on their web site but maybe someone else kknows. sounded excellent.

 

One thing I'd like to do is stream a music service to the aux input on a table radio in the bedroom. I'm going to order a Chromecast Audio and try it out with the server idea. Regardless of my degree of success with that, I will at least have a solution on hand for the bedroom radio.

 

Chromecast Audio is definitely a good choice.

 

Perhaps Hysolid?
HYSOLID »

Windows software controlled by smart phone app over wifi. No "network" needed. You'll be up and running within minutes. Has its limitations but its free and will get you at least partly there.

 

Am I missing something?
A bluetooth USB connected to the laptop >>Belkin Bluetooth receiver into the back of aux on the stereo?

 

Sounds like a sonos connect?

 

This configuration appears to have a PC wired to the audio system, controlled by a mobile device. I would be fine with using the PC to control the music. I'd just rather delete the wire.

I'm looking for a way to get a digital signal to the stereo, avoiding Bluetooth compression and avoiding having the analog conversion done by a device of lesser sound quality than my DAC.

 

Yeah, my local dealer does the same.

Sonos CONNECT »

 

Bob, if all other options eventually seem too complicated or expensive for what you're after, it might be worth just giving Bluetooth streaming a try.

My own example here: Streaming on the cheap through a bluetooth receiver »

There's a SQ compromise, sure, but with managed expectations (and used in the contexts mentioned ) I was pleasantly surprised.

 

Raspberry Pi running RuneAudio A $70 Bit-Perfect Audio Player? »

 

^^Got it. My turn to sit back and..

 

Bluesound check it out.

 

I inadvertently replied to the linked thread instead of this one. This device appears to have an advantage over other Bluetooth solutions in that it has a digital out at the receiver end. That leaves the analog conversion to the DAC in the audio system. If there is an audible compromise, though, I suppose there must still be compression in the Bluetooth signal. Is that right?

 

Really not an expert but that's as I understand it - others please correct if this is wrong. Still, yes, ultimately limited bandwidth and compression - hence the caveats on use and expectation management etc.

My phone and tablet (which I mainly play it through) are aptX-enabled which it supports and is meant to be less lossy than standard BT.

 

An update on my journey - I decided to abandon the pursuit of something that simply replaces the wire between my PC and the audio system. The advantage offered in that is getting my FLAC files from the hard drive to the PS Audio Digital Link III unaltered. Even though there is the one device that can transmit a digital signal, it involves some Bluetooth compression, and seems to defeat the purpose of choosing that route over streaming.

The Google Chromecast Audio device has arrived and gives me access to everything I can stream on the wifi, which in my case means all of the Napster library. It sounds pretty good, although not quite at the level of the CD player. Another option I now have in this regard is my new TV. It has the same Chromecast technology built in and is connected to a fairly nice stereo system. I have tried attaching my music backup drive to the USB port on the TV. Not a bad option. There is an app on the TV that plays those files. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I may move the Chromecast to the bedroom radio. With the turntable, CD player, and Blu-ray, the main audio system really has enough options without adding wireless.

 

What about a pair of powerline bridges?

You'd still have an ethernet cable from the laptop to the first powerline bridge, and another from the 'receiving' powerline bridge to your audio system, but no long cable strung across the floor.

 

Ever heard of Bluetooth?

 

AirPort Express? Uses Apple Lossless to transmit, albeit limited to 44.1K/16 bit, optical out.

 

No. Should I have?

 

Rogue Amoeba | Airfoil: Wireless audio around your house in combination with an Airport Express or Apple TV or Chromecast should achieve what the OP wants, surely? I haven't used Airfoil myself as I just used AirPlay via iTunes, but that served me pretty well for a few years.

 

I think the concept I imagine doesn't exist exactly, but is approximated by the Sonos Connect. The idea is to be simple and inexpensive, without whole-house capability, wifi, or Internet. It is also to avoid the compression associated with Bluetooth. It is to play a FLAC or other lossless or even hi-res file on the PC and receive it on the DAC. Unless sound quality is preserved virtually completely, the idea is for me pointless. I can just stream Napster on the Chromecast.

 

I don't understand the aversion to wires. Is it an aesthetics thing? I recently mounted a wired gigabit switcher into my equipment rack to hardwire a laptop (to NAS and DAC), Oppo player, Dtv receiver, and Tv to the network.

One of the problems you will run into with a wireless connection is latency. Music can't have intermittent latency so it will require something with a buffer that can pre-load the next second or two of music to avoid dropouts. This will make it seem to the user to be sluggish and unresponsive. Press a button and wait.