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Post by davidl81 on Mar 7, 2019 10:52:50 GMT -5
Guys,
Right now I run Tidal form my AppleTV 4K to my Marantz AV8802A. I am not really looking for MQA, just Tidal HiFi. Is the way I have it set up right now giving me HiFi, or does the AppleTV some how lower the SQ? If I am losing SQ, what hardware should I look at? I hear a lot of people talk about Roon, and I am not opposed to going that route, if I do what hardware should I buy (I would use iPads/PC for the actual software part)?
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Post by wilburthegoose on Mar 7, 2019 11:42:58 GMT -5
If it sounds good to you, you're all set.
However - there is the Rendu solution.... I was a non-believer, but I went out and purchased an ultraRendu. And I use Roon - it works great with Tidal.
But you need a way to get the sound to your 8802A. A good DAC should do the trick.
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Post by davidl81 on Mar 7, 2019 11:49:38 GMT -5
If it sounds good to you, you're all set. However - there is the Rendu solution.... I was a non-believer, but I went out and purchased an ultraRendu. And I use Roon - it works great with Tidal. But you need a way to get the sound to your 8802A. A good DAC should do the trick. Does the Rendu take the place of the PC for the "server" portion of Roon? |
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Post by wilburthegoose on Mar 7, 2019 13:28:56 GMT -5
No - the Rendu is connected to your home network and feeds your Marantz. However, the Marantz units don't have a USB input, so you'd need a DAC too.
If you wanted to test Roon, I'd get something like a Raspberry Pi endpoint and just feed the optical/digital output to your Marantz. That's what I use in my home office with my old Denon AVR-4311.
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Post by creimes on Mar 7, 2019 13:57:02 GMT -5
I run Tidal HIFI/Masters through either my Mac Mini using Audirvana+ over the USB input on the XMC-1 or through my Nvidia Shield TV which decode HIFI and Masters tracks through HDMI to my XMC-1. Allo has a Digione Signature Player that is able to do Roon as well, it has a coax out so you wouldn't need a DAC just use the coax output to your Marantz. www.allo.com/sparky/digione-signature-player.html |
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Post by Loop 7 on Mar 7, 2019 16:30:53 GMT -5
davidl81 Since MQA decoding isn't a requirement, using the Apple TV app > HDMI > Marantz is an elegant solution and I think you may want to stick with that for a while. I've been using Roon for two years and my only real complaint is that it cannot be controlled/played with an Apple TV or Roku app; it relies on using tablet/phone/computer apps for control. Aside from this very niche complaint, Roon is just awesome!!!
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Post by davidl81 on Mar 7, 2019 16:39:14 GMT -5
davidl81 Since MQA decoding isn't a requirement, using the Apple TV app > HDMI > Marantz is an elegant solution and I think you may want to stick with that for a while. I've been using Roon for two years and my only real complaint is that it cannot be controlled/played with an Apple TV or Roku app; it relies on using tablet/phone/computer apps for control. Aside from this very niche complaint, Roon is just awesome!!! Thanks Loop. Really as long as I'm getting HiFi via AppleTV I guess I'm happy. I think it sounds fine the way it is, but I was just curious if I was missing out on something by using the AppleTV versus other options. It is a very simple setup, but (waiting to get blasted for this) I really can't tell the difference between Tidal via AppleTV and Spotify via AirPlay............... Tells me I have unrefined ears lol. |
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Post by creimes on Mar 7, 2019 18:16:11 GMT -5
davidl81 Since MQA decoding isn't a requirement, using the Apple TV app > HDMI > Marantz is an elegant solution and I think you may want to stick with that for a while. I've been using Roon for two years and my only real complaint is that it cannot be controlled/played with an Apple TV or Roku app; it relies on using tablet/phone/computer apps for control. Aside from this very niche complaint, Roon is just awesome!!! Thanks Loop. Really as long as I'm getting HiFi via AppleTV I guess I'm happy. I think it sounds fine the way it is, but I was just curious if I was missing out on something by using the AppleTV versus other options. It is a very simple setup, but (waiting to get blasted for this) I really can't tell the difference between Tidal via AppleTV and Spotify via AirPlay............... Tells me I have unrefined ears lol. Then I would say you are completely fine, the ATV will stream HIFI to your Marantz so your all good, Android is now able to stream the Master tracks but if I can notice a difference I'm not sure, never tried to A/B such a thing as I might go even more crazy, if there are Master albums I will play them over the HIFI ones but just because really haha. Chad |
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Post by Loop 7 on Mar 7, 2019 20:58:50 GMT -5
In my experience, the latest generations of Apple TV produce excellent audio when used as you are.
Think about this: Apple has unlimited resources to spend on their hardware. An Apple TV has a completely in-house designed chip and their HDMI implementations are simply first rate.
Now, I'm going to ignite another fire-filled debate but Airplay, in my opinion, is another thing altogether.
I'm an Apple fan but Airplay has always seemed illogical to me because it requires an app on one device to do the first stream and then sends that to an Apple TV. In many cases, it will be a tablet or phone which cannot be turned off as it burns through battery power. The protocols used by Google's Cast, Spotify Connect and others make so much more sense to me since the playback device is working directly with the service's servers.
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Post by Cogito on Mar 7, 2019 22:03:27 GMT -5
In my experience, the latest generations of Apple TV produce excellent audio when used as you are. Think about this: Apple has unlimited resources to spend on their hardware. An Apple TV has a completely in-house designed chip and their HDMI implementations are simply first rate. Now, I'm going to ignite another fire-filled debate but Airplay, in my opinion, is another thing altogether. I'm an Apple fan but Airplay has always seemed illogical to me because it requires an app on one device to do the first stream and then sends that to an Apple TV. In many cases, it will be a tablet or phone which cannot be turned off as it burns through battery power. The protocols used by Google's Cast, Spotify Connect and others make so much more sense to me since the playback device is working directly with the service's servers. I'm a fan of Airplay. I can use it with my iPod, iPhone and even my Windows laptop using Tuneblade. Battery power issues aren't really an issue considering the flexibility of basically using any service on any Apple or Windows device. |
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Post by rockman85 on Mar 8, 2019 18:44:43 GMT -5
davidl81 Since MQA decoding isn't a requirement, using the Apple TV app > HDMI > Marantz is an elegant solution and I think you may want to stick with that for a while. I've been using Roon for two years and my only real complaint is that it cannot be controlled/played with an Apple TV or Roku app; it relies on using tablet/phone/computer apps for control. Aside from this very niche complaint, Roon is just awesome!!! Thanks Loop. Really as long as I'm getting HiFi via AppleTV I guess I'm happy. I think it sounds fine the way it is, but I was just curious if I was missing out on something by using the AppleTV versus other options. It is a very simple setup, but (waiting to get blasted for this) I really can't tell the difference between Tidal via AppleTV and Spotify via AirPlay............... Tells me I have unrefined ears lol. Apple TV and Sonos and the like are prone to jitter, I upgraded from a Sonos to a Blue Sound Node 2i for this reason. One alternative I considered was the Wyred4Sound Reclocker, which supposedly fixes the jitter issue with the apple tv, I havent personally tried it but I read good things. wyred4sound.com/products/digital-converters/remedy-reclocker |
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Post by Loop 7 on Mar 8, 2019 19:48:05 GMT -5
The Apple TV 4K has HDMI out only - I am guessing jitter is much less of an issue than with toslink. In fact, I'm starting to see companies shed toslink for it's drawbacks in favor of coax, I2S, HDMI, etc. |
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