These days, music streaming makes a great part of our music listening experience. We can browse effortlessly our entire digital music collection, searching by album, artist, track and even genre, and playing it in one simple click.
But the technology may sometimes appear complex and the choice overwhelming. Scroll down for your guide to choosing the right music streamer for you: it may be your first one or the upgrade you have been saving for!
At the most straightforward of levels, you can simply connect your computer to one of the many DACs on the market. Then, using your favourite music management program (iTunes, Pure Music, Windows Music Player, etc) you can manage the storage and replay of your music.
Until recently, streamed music usually meant a compromise in quality (low bit rate MP3), however with music stored in a lossless format (FLAC, ALAC or WMA) many of these computer based systems now outperform their disc spinning counterparts and the base standard for any good music streaming service is equivalent to that of CD.
Many labels are now releasing for download, albums and tracks in high resolution format (24/96 or even 24/192 as opposed to CD’s 16/44), these represent dramatic improvements over standard CD and cover a huge variety of genres.
Via the use of Network Attached Storage (NAS) drives or even better a dedicated music server, huge amounts of music can be stored easily and safely on a device no bigger than a shoe box and accessed by any music player attached to your home data network either wirelessly or wired.
The first MOON Network Streamer was introduced in 2012. Poised and ready for the future, the technology was given the name MiND (for MOON intelligent Network Device). MiND technology offers, beyond streaming that is also available from others, a level of control and performance unmatched by others.
MiND2 now pushes that concept to another level again. It is a way of organizing, listening to, and enjoying your music. MiND2 technology streams music from your digital music library on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device and online streaming services to your audio system, allowing playback via your amplifier and speakers. With full access to Tidal Masters, Qobuz Sublime & Deezer HiFi.
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Most streaming products no longer require you to have a computer in your listening room, these music streamers act like any other source component and can be plugged directly into an existing amplifier. These are then usually controlled from a handheld device such as smartphone or tablet. Normally Android or iOS based.
The MOON 390 is multi-function crossover type product that has the function of a modern network player (MiND 2), DAC, preamplifier, headphone amplifier, and phono stage. In other words, it provides the performance you want with the flexibility you need!
The Moon 390 is a ROON Ready device with Tidal Masters, Deezer Hi-Fi and Qobuz Sublime+ Music Services with MQA and DSD decoding. It can stream local source to other zones and has a menu-configurable MM/MC phono stage. The High End ESS DAC PRO chipset will allow up to 32-bits / 384 kHz sampling rate (USB). The 390 also has Multi-room synchronized playback and HDMI 2.0 switching (4k, HDCP 2.2).
Simaudio’s excellent streaming solution, MiND 2, meets with their world class amplification, creating a box that does it all. All you need to do is hook up a pair of speakers and you’re ready to start streaming high-quality music.
MiND 2 is Roon Ready and allows the playback of all the most common file formats, including DSD, and MQA file formats (via local files and TIDAL Master files)
Not only a streamer/amp, the ACE also features a moving magnet phono preamp, multiple analogue and digital inputs, and a jack for headphones. Anything but a jack of all trades, the ACE truly is A Complete Experience.