Amp for streaming
- Thread starter PoD
- Start date
Obviously with an AMP like that you'd need speakers etc - which you don't make clear if you have already.
If you do already have a AVR/Speaker setup then most low cost streaming devices let you play Spotify controlled via your phone.
I'm personally a fan of the Amazon Fire TV's, but the Roku range will work as well - possibly the chromecast but I don't have one personally.
If you do already have a AVR/Speaker setup then most low cost streaming devices let you play Spotify controlled via your phone.
I'm personally a fan of the Amazon Fire TV's, but the Roku range will work as well - possibly the chromecast but I don't have one personally.
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Yep works well....I have 2 Chromecasts connected, one for music and one for video so I don't have to change the Dolby pro logic to multichannel setero and vs Verser....
Do you mean connecting my Amp to the TV then stream through the TV to the Amp?
Would I not see a significant quality loss?
Are there any other cheaper Amps that allow digital input?
Keep all your connections digital and quality loss isn't an issue.
Hell, you're talking about Spotify which is already madly compressed - not sure there's any "quality" to be lost
To be honest, at your budget everything is going to be much for muchness and will likely come down to your speakers. Which, at the price of a Marantz PM6005 looking to be around £280 mark you'll probably be looking at £150/£200 mark for a nice pair of speakers to match.
If you're wanting to go down the pure streaming audio route without doing the AVR option then I'd seriously consider a SONOS as the Play 5 will cost less overall and likely fit all your current needs while being totally extendable to the rest of your home.
The online rainforest has them for £342 and with Prime you'll get it tomorrow. Job done.
Hell, you're talking about Spotify which is already madly compressed - not sure there's any "quality" to be lost
To be honest, at your budget everything is going to be much for muchness and will likely come down to your speakers. Which, at the price of a Marantz PM6005 looking to be around £280 mark you'll probably be looking at £150/£200 mark for a nice pair of speakers to match.
If you're wanting to go down the pure streaming audio route without doing the AVR option then I'd seriously consider a SONOS as the Play 5 will cost less overall and likely fit all your current needs while being totally extendable to the rest of your home.
The online rainforest has them for £342 and with Prime you'll get it tomorrow. Job done.
Keep all your connections digital and quality loss isn't an issue.
Hell, you're talking about Spotify which is already madly compressed - not sure there's any "quality" to be lost
To be honest, at your budget everything is going to be much for muchness and will likely come down to your speakers. Which, at the price of a Marantz PM6005 looking to be around £280 mark you'll probably be looking at £150/£200 mark for a nice pair of speakers to match.
If you're wanting to go down the pure streaming audio route without doing the AVR option then I'd seriously consider a SONOS as the Play 5 will cost less overall and likely fit all your current needs while being totally extendable to the rest of your home.
The online rainforest has them for £342 and with Prime you'll get it tomorrow. Job done.
Thanks Roy, you are right I am looking at a starter set, I was thinking of the Q Acoustics 2020i's for speakers.
I won't just be streaming audio, I will be connecting my TV and other devices whilst using Spotify when I want to search for new music etc and I would rather get something I can build upon that doesn't break the bank than a single SONOS unit.
So would you suggest I connect though the TV and if so then what quality does the Chromecast support? else is anyone aware of any Amps or some other way I can connect a digital input to my Amp?
OK, I think you need to brush up on terminology and things then as you're looking at the wrong kind of devices if you want something that can be extended upon in terms of an A/V (audio / visual) setup.
An "AMP" is just an "amplifier" design for taking analog or digital AUDIO input and amplifying the signal to be used with unpowered speakers - like the Q Acoustics 2020i.
That's likely going to be fine for you short term, and for many people this is exactly what they're after, but if you plan on using your TV as the "central" device that you plug in all your other AV equipment in to you'll likely be disappointed with the optical output on your TV only supporting stereo sound to your AMP and be limited in the future by the number of HDMI inputs your TV has.
I think what you're after is an "AVR" or "Audio/Video Receiver".
An AVR will typical use HDMI inputs (as well as optional optical / analog inputs) that allow it to deal with video and audio.
The advantage of this setup is that it means all your devices are "manged" by the AVR so they can transmit the highest quality sound (7.1 over HDMI) to your AVR and then just pass on the image to your TV.
Additionally AVR's will likely have more HDMI inputs allowing more devices to be used in future.
Additionally if you make use of any of the built in features of your TV (like Freeview) you'll want to make sure your AVR / TV supports ARC (Audio Return Channel) so that you can easily pass the sound from your TV to the AVR just using a single HDMI (although this can also be done using the optical output on your TV).
Sticking to your original budget you could get a Denon AVRX2100 (7.1 capable AVR with 8 HDMI INs and 2 HDMI outs) and a chromecast for the same price as your original AMP.
Technically you're spending your money on additional things you weren't planning on doing so I suppose the sound MIGHT be better out of the Marantz, but with so many variable in the chain I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference when you consider the extra functionality you're getting with the Denon.
I think that's about a simply as I can explain it. I'd suggest if you don't understand exactly what is being said you read up a little more before spending £400 on hardware that doesn't give you your best bang for your buck.
EDIT: P.S. Don't be afraid to buy second hand. 2 of my 3 AVR's have been bought form the members market on here and the third second hand from another forum. All have served me well!
An "AMP" is just an "amplifier" design for taking analog or digital AUDIO input and amplifying the signal to be used with unpowered speakers - like the Q Acoustics 2020i.
That's likely going to be fine for you short term, and for many people this is exactly what they're after, but if you plan on using your TV as the "central" device that you plug in all your other AV equipment in to you'll likely be disappointed with the optical output on your TV only supporting stereo sound to your AMP and be limited in the future by the number of HDMI inputs your TV has.
I think what you're after is an "AVR" or "Audio/Video Receiver".
An AVR will typical use HDMI inputs (as well as optional optical / analog inputs) that allow it to deal with video and audio.
The advantage of this setup is that it means all your devices are "manged" by the AVR so they can transmit the highest quality sound (7.1 over HDMI) to your AVR and then just pass on the image to your TV.
Additionally AVR's will likely have more HDMI inputs allowing more devices to be used in future.
Additionally if you make use of any of the built in features of your TV (like Freeview) you'll want to make sure your AVR / TV supports ARC (Audio Return Channel) so that you can easily pass the sound from your TV to the AVR just using a single HDMI (although this can also be done using the optical output on your TV).
Sticking to your original budget you could get a Denon AVRX2100 (7.1 capable AVR with 8 HDMI INs and 2 HDMI outs) and a chromecast for the same price as your original AMP.
Technically you're spending your money on additional things you weren't planning on doing so I suppose the sound MIGHT be better out of the Marantz, but with so many variable in the chain I think you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference when you consider the extra functionality you're getting with the Denon.
I think that's about a simply as I can explain it. I'd suggest if you don't understand exactly what is being said you read up a little more before spending £400 on hardware that doesn't give you your best bang for your buck.
EDIT: P.S. Don't be afraid to buy second hand. 2 of my 3 AVR's have been bought form the members market on here and the third second hand from another forum. All have served me well!
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