Garage WiFi amp

Opa1

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Most have noticed I'm changing up a few things around here. I spend most of my time in the shop working on junk or just piddling around. I've been using a Ipad/phone to stream Tidal etc. from my Desk PC to the shop. What I want to do is set up a better system. Anyone have ideas on what I could get for a good amp that works with WiFi?
 
I only have familiarity with Bluetooth....the Audio Engine B1 does pretty good and has a decent reception range of they say 100'.

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a lot of those chi-fi TPA 3116 amps have bluetooth. is that what you mean?
I'm not sure. My Ipad uses wifi to connect from my main PC. That is what I would like to do with a amp. Might be the same thing?
 
That would probably work. Somewhat on the expensive side though. :) Wonder if a chromebook would work? I'd like to hook up a outboard DAC to it.

So you don't want to use the iPad anymore and instead want to use a Chromebook? In either case, which DAC would you be using or more specifically, what kind of inputs does the DAC have... SPDIF, AES/EBU, USB?

If you already own suitable amp options for the speakers you are using in the shop, then don't buy an amp, just get a streaming source that can connect to a DAC (that you hopefully already own) which in turn connects to an amp/preamp (that you already own).

Doesn't the Tidal app for iPad simply connect to the music in the cloud? In other words you don't actually need your PC running, just stream directly from the internet/cloud to the iPad, isn't that what you are currently doing, or have you downloaded a bunch of content for "offline" listening, and that content is being stored on your PC?
 
So you don't want to use the iPad anymore and instead want to use a Chromebook? In either case, which DAC would you be using or more specifically, what kind of inputs does the DAC have... SPDIF, AES/EBU, USB?

If you already own suitable amp options for the speakers you are using in the shop, then don't buy an amp, just get a streaming source that can connect to a DAC (that you hopefully already own) which in turn connects to an amp/preamp (that you already own).

Doesn't the Tidal app for iPad simply connect to the music in the cloud? In other words you don't actually need your PC running, just stream directly from the internet/cloud to the iPad, isn't that what you are currently doing, or have you downloaded a bunch of content for "offline" listening, and that content is being stored on your PC?
Yes this is what I'm currently doing. I would need a USB connection for my D30 dac. I have a bunch of amps/speakers. The reason for the chrome or ipad is to be able to see what's playing. I don't listen to any downloaded content in the shop.
 
Much like @Thermionics suggests, in my garage, I've got a HifiBerry Amp+ on a Raspberry Pi, driving a pair of EPI M50's that I found on the curb, sharpied "Works Good" across the tops.

I run DietPi to make it a Roon endpoint tied into the rest of the house. There are plenty of other software choices - RoPieee XL, MoOde, Volumio, etc. that would be better than Roon for garage-only use.

The software will generally pull your music over the network from your Desk PC, or you can attach an external USB storage device directly to the Pi. The iPad (or any other web browser) can then control playback.

The one shortcoming, IMO - My implementation is 100% knob free. Sometimes I want a physical knob for volume control. Apart from that it's perfect.
 
You could always get a Raspberry Pi running MoOde and add a HifiBerry AMP+

ampplus-2.jpg


Add a 16GB MicroSD card and an 18v power supply and it should be good for 25WPC into 4 ohms and you can point MoOde to your music folder on your PC.

-D

Bingo, and since @opa1 already has a bunch of amps and speakers, he really just needs the RPi and a 5v power supply and he's in business.

I believe Moode has Tidal integration, but since I'm not a subscriber I've never used it. I'll look into that.
 
FWIW, I'm going to put some of my extra gear into the garage we're building and feed them via a spare Raspberry Pi 2 running MoOde (I put three gig drops into the garage - one for the farm gate, one for a computer for access to shop reference books, and one for the Pi).
 
Your shop has WiFi but no Ethernet I presume?
Yes that is correct. Most of what y'all are talking about is zooming over my head. lol All I want to do is what I'm doing with the Ipad but, be able to use the dac for a bit better sound quality. I would still need something with a screen to see what's playing/selection. Running the system would be totally independent of the Desk PC except for the router/wifi.
 
Yes that is correct. Most of what y'all are talking about is zooming over my head. lol All I want to do is what I'm doing with the Ipad but, be able to use the dac for a bit better sound quality. I would still need something with a screen to see what's playing/selection. Running the system would be totally independent of the Desk PC except for the router/wifi.
In a cursory look at the superb freeware called Moode which runs on the Raspberry Pi microcomputers, it appears you can easily stream Tidal to it over WiFi using AirPlay up to 16/44.1, but no higher, and that's an AirPlay constraint rather than anything specific to Tidal, Moode or Raspberry Pi.

Alternatively, I'm seeing references to people having Tidal success at all bit depths and sample rates with Moode's UPnP Renderer mode, simply by using a $5.99 iOS app called mConnect as the "Control Point" interface.

So if 16/44.1 is good enough, then this is no sweat and requires next to nothing to get going. If higher rez files are to be played, still not a big deal but that would require skipping AirPlay and going with Moode's UPnP mode instead, plus the $5.99 mConnect app.

Is the WiFi signal strength in the shop strong, mediocre, or shaky?
 
Bingo, and since @opa1 already has a bunch of amps and speakers, he really just needs the RPi and a 5v power supply and he's in business.

I believe Moode has Tidal integration, but since I'm not a subscriber I've never used it. I'll look into that.
I just updated Moode to 6.2.1 last night and didn't see any config for the Tidal credentials. Spotify, yes. I used BubbleUPnP to stream from my Android phone to Moode last time I did that.

@opa1 not to worry about all this lingo. There's a solution out there for you.
 
I just updated Moode to 6.2.1 last night and didn't see any config for the Tidal credentials. Spotify, yes. I used BubbleUPnP to stream from my Android phone to Moode last time I did that.

@opa1 not to worry about all this lingo. There's a solution out there for you.

It will be pretty much just as you described with Bubble, however there is no Bubble app for iOS, it's Android only. So he'd do that very same thing using the mConnect app for iOS instead.
 
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