I had very similar experience many years ago. A lad in Silicon Valley was selling his speakers for 50% of what he had paid for them. I offered him 50% of that and a day later got an email from him to pick them up. I went to his apartment and Iād say the sum value of all his non hi fi furniture etc. was about $500 and the hi fi was conservatively worth $50K. He had a turntable that costs $10K alone. He had the speakers he was selling for about 3 months, didnāt like them and was making way for the new set about to arrive.
I would have thought that was very little to invest in equipment in a lifetime. Iād have spent a massive multiple of that on cars and probably even more on bicycles and fucking lawn mowers than Iāve spent on musical equipment
Iāve been lugging around an auld hi fi/ music centre for years. I call the thing the beast. Itās been in about ten different houses with me. The original turntable gave up the ghost many years ago, and I bought a Gemini turntable about 11/12 years ago thatās still going strong. Running it through a little cheapo two channel dj mixer and then through the music centre. Itās not an ideal set up by any stretch but has served me well for a long time.
I look forward to the day that I can go in and get myself sorted with a better set-up. Iāve a few things in mind
So, Iāve upgraded to HD on amazon music.
Until now, iāve been using a chromecast as an interface (into a dac). It specifically says that chromecast will only stream in standard format, not HD (or hifi, or whatever its called, specifically audio anyway)
The amazon echo link is a new device which will do the same, but will stream amazon in the high bit rate HD.
Should I purchase this, or is there something better out there?
My only requirement is streaming amazon music in its best form into my system, which already has a good DAC.
Also, do I need an echo dot as well (Iām happy to use my phone, and not bother with alexa)?
I canāt get an answer anywhere.
You need to use a laptop or a tablet and load up the Amazon music app on it. Run a USB cable from the laptop or tablet to the DAC, the DAC should have a USB input, generally a squarish profile, so you need that cable that has standard USB connector on end and the squarish connector on the other end. You have to use USB to bypass the DAC in the laptop or tablet. Listening to HD through an echo or any other little device is a waste of time. Youāre basically setting up a high res front end to your hi fi.
Iām not an expert (imagine ) but Iād say any tablet would support CD quality output (HD in Amazon speak), whether they support high resolution (Ultra HD) would depend on the vintage of the tablet. Iām using a hand me down Mac that I bought off my daughter (that I had preciously bought for her obviously) and it works like a charm. Thereās a setting within Applications/Utilities called Audio MIDI Setup where you can set the audio output, I have mine set to 2 channel, 24 bit, 96kHz which is the highest setting on that vintage Mac.
I upgraded to family and wasnāt able to open new user accounts. I kept failing the āare you a robotā test. Before ye say anything, itās a common occurrence apparently .
By device do you mean a tablet or laptop?
If you use the tablet or laptop as your source you donāt need the Link, just go straight to your DAC. The advantage is your have the Amazon app on your screen and can build libraries, playlists, see what tracks are HD and UltraHD etc. The Link wonāt let you do this (you can only tell the bitch Alexa what you want) and Iām not sure whether the Link electronics actually transmits HD or Ultra HD data.
) but Iād say any tablet would support CD quality output (HD in Amazon speak), whether they support high resolution (Ultra HD) would depend on the vintage of the tablet. Iām using a hand me down Mac that I bought off my daughter (that I had preciously bought for her obviously) and it works like a charm. Thereās a setting within Applications/Utilities called Audio MIDI Setup where you can set the audio output, I have mine set to 2 channel, 24 bit, 96kHz which is the highest setting on that vintage Mac.