What a deep dive into streaming - after almost 70 years. My AirLense will be delivered in a couple of days. It will be connect to my DirectStream MkI, BHK pre and so on. I want to buy now, or order, the single simplest accessories to stream from my Qobuz/Tidal subscriptions. For the last couple of years it’s been an iPhone with an AudioQuest Dragonfly Cobalt hard wire connected to the BHK preamp. THAT was simple. Now the AirLense with ethernet connectivity to my router. So talk to me nice and simple… Tell me what should be between my AirLense and router? My perhaps naive perspective wants to abide by the KISS principle. So please keep it simple stupid. You start deep diving and I’ll just skip over.
For now I have no intention of connecting a NAS. I want streaming and keep my streaming preferences organized.
Thanks all.
Please, be gentle. Someone mentions a Raspberry Pi build/mod I’ll puke. Simple.
You need a control point and something to run it on. The obvious candidate is mConnect, which is put out by Convers, maker of the hardware module used in the AirLens. I use an iPad but you probably could get it on your iPhone.
mConnect works fine with Qobuz, but its interface does have a couple of things that annoy me. There are certainly other options out there, but for a simple solution to begin with I would recommend mConnect and an iThing.
Edit: the title of your thread suggests to me that you are planning to buy some kind of a box such as a Roon Nucleus. That is certainly possible, but not required. My recommendation will get you started; you can decide later if you want to try something more elaborate.
Re: Mconnect
Get this one (it’s free) and it works well with the AirLens:
Don’t be confused by related applications with similar names.
Have fun.
10-4 good buddy. Appreciate it.
Here’s simple. Connect the Airlens to your router with wifi or ethernet. Connect the Airlens to your DAC with your choice, coax, optical, I2S. Install mconnect control app on your phone. The app will find your airlens and connect to it. The app gives you a choice of sources, like Qobuz, Spotify, etc. Pick which to use and use it like you always do. The Airlens and mconnect are really just replacing the wire you have between your phone and your preamp.
Thanks for the simple answer.
I have several iThings that will suffice. I suppose even a couple years old legacy iThing should do just fine. And if an iThing works then I can play around with that instead of procuring a $500 Roon Nucleus.
If one of those Apple devices is an iPad, you can get the HD version of mConnect. This is designed to be used on a tablet held horizontally and is IMO nicer to use than the phone.
I was considering using an older iPad. Thanks for the recommendation.
Looked up the new Nucleus One on the Roon site today. Sounds really interesting. The $500 price seems like a good value. It will be interesting to read some reviews and comparisons with the more expensive version when they come available. If the two versions sound the same it seems like a no brainer. With the price difference there must be some significant compromises somewhere.
Honestly I think the older models are way too overpriced. Compared to DIY they are like 3x cost. The new one is not fanless, but its same design. It should sound the same as the Core. Its running same code just cheaper chips (slower, less memory, cheaper heatsink tech…etc). Its a great entry price for fully built.
It has my attention. For $500 it really appears to be a good fit for me and my needs.
For ~$200 and an hour or so of time you could build a ROCK. pretty simple.
Additionally if I’m not mistaken the AL is a tidal connect end point since you’re a tidal user, kind does not get anymore simple then that.
Mine arrives this Monday, can’t wait!
