No. The MacBook air just becomes a dumb box that sits next to your Stellar, connected with a 1m USB cable. You stream to it with your control point devices. That’s the way I used to do it before Spotify Connect support was built into the DAC.
It’s not quite so clear. Difference services Pandora/Spotify use different methods to send the signal over wifi. The wifi streamer you choose has to support them. There may be a universal piece of software that you can send everything through, so you only need your little wifi box only needs to support one streaming protocol.
My sMS-200 supports Roon, Squeezelite, MPD&DLNA, HQPlayer, ShairPort (for Apple stuff), MinimSpot, LibreServer, and BubbleUPnP. So pretty much anything you want to send to the sMS-200, you can.
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Quite a deal here
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If this is not out of your price range
http://www.sonore.us/microRendu.html
you could use it with a low cost ethernet bridge like this:
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Thank you for you input. It was great to get some solid opinions of streaming content over WiFi. I have decided for now to purchase a Chromecast and ditch the Apple Music for Qobuz or Tidal. I have a trial subscription to both. This will suit me for now and achieve my goal. Things can always change in the future, this is a good place to start. I still need to buy furniture.
Not sure a Chromecast is going to be a very good solution, unless, sound quality is not a priority.
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If you are going to use the Chromecast Audio and not the standard Chromecast into the DAC of the Stellar don’t forget to purchase an mini to full sized toslink cable from Amazon.
This will do it all. They usually sell out in days when they hit amazon. I have 3 units myself. I use the optical output.
Wireless WiFi Audio Receiver - August WR320 - Multiroom Adaptor for Speaker Systems https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY9U439/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_ILH3Cb3K0CJD4
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Of course sound quality is important otherwise I would not be on this forum. Hi res Signal over WiFi into a Steller Gain cell DAC, what’s the problem?
I’m in the minority - I really love wifi.
Could be that I have technical experience, a house without interference or good equipment but I find it to be excellent for everything.
It seems to me that PSA will eventually need to offer embedded wifi. Naim seems to do this well and I realize it is a can of worms when it comes to audio.
I don’t see why PSA “needs” to offer embedded WiFi as other than Naim whose streaming products are priced on the upper end of the scale only Auralic of the major streaming device companies offer WiFi. The other major players, Lumin, Aurrender and Innuos are hard wire only. If you “need” WiFi then it can be easily accomplished with an Extender.
You need to use an ethernet cable attached to a router. The ethernet connection can be skipped with built in wifi. Most who own Auralic streamers say wifi is the cleanest sounding connection.
Kyle
I own two Auralic streamers and have for almost four years and the “they say” is not always correct. And no you don’t have to attach a cable directly to the router. In the proper environment a WiFi extender or a Mesh network work flawlessly. If you haven’t owned an Auralic device then don’t assume what it needs.
If you read what was written, you’d know I said Auralic does not need an Ethernet cable! What makes you think I don’t own an Auralic Aries G2, smart guy? And what makes you the guy to tell people what to do?
Kyle
I understood what you wrote completely in that you are promoting the need for PSA to include WiFi in their future streaming products like Auralic. My point is that even if included WiFi is not always the best answer due to the individual network environment and if you like a streaming product and “have to have” WiFi the problem can be easily solved with a cheap WiFi extender. Adding WiFi capability to a streaming product is just something else to go wrong and for owners who don’t read manuals or have any network knowledge to complain about. It is an constant source of complaint on the Auralic forum and has been from the beginning. As for what you own I don’t know nor care. My point again is that WiFi is not always the answer.
You are wrong! I was not pushing anything! Just pointing out , without built in wifi, you need to use an ethernet cable and an extender or router. So, you obviously did not understand. I happen to read, and, understand manuals, and, posts on forums!
I also spend a bit of time on Auralic forum, and, don’t see wifi connection as a big problem for those that have a decent network. Perhaps you should heed your own advice about assumptions.
You just made two very important points which unfortunately do no represent the norm. You read manuals and you have and understand the need for a stable network. More and more neither one of those traits are common. For a company like PSA including WiFi is just another opportunity for headache as the majority of the companies that do streaming for a living understand.
+1 to mesh wifi, and use of the mesh routers as access points. A blended system with wired ethernet connections, mesh wifi, and mesh based access points works wonders in my setup. I have a five pod Eero setup.
Adding Ethernet via power line adaptors is cheap and easy and there is no degradation of the signal or artifacts added. Most higher end streamers, servers, and DACs forgo WiFi for a variety of reasons, but mostly related to better sound. Low end streamers will have WiFi, but higher end ones for the most part do not.
Interesting opinion, Auralic would not agree, nor would I. I own the Aries G2, and, can say, WIFI SQ is equal to or better than ethernet! My server is also connected to my network via WIFI.