I rarely stream for environmental reasons. Most of my library is 320mp3 on HD, although I have flacs of certain things too. Wired out to speakers, played via either Foobar (if in library) or VLC player (if not).

JBL mega boom blue tooth speaker to my phone whilst tinkering in the shed is just fine.

Standalone digital radio in the kitchen whilst cooking

Main Hi Fi system gets very little use ATM for just music. It's mainly used for watching TV.

Are there any ways - apps or hardware - to filter out alerts from a device when listening to music? Having to switch off individual alerts before walking the dog is as much a pain as getting endless dings in the middle of listening to something great?

Also, in my office, I run my laptop's headphone out into the dock input on a stereo. If I leave it plugged in, will the laptop switching into standby/sleep damage the speakers?

Tony,

For any sort of decent fidelity, you don't want to stream from your phone. Bluetooth is bandwidth limited.

I use a Bluesound Node for streaming and a networked HD for my ripped CDs. You could also use a non-networked HD connected to the Node via USB.

The Node is a streamer with a DAC inside. Neither the Streamer or the DAC are the greatest in the history of man, but decent for $500. I control the Node through any bluetooth device, i use an old Ipad because the old Iphone I was using needed recharging every two days or so. The Ipad is just for control, the Node is connected to my home network (as is the HD), but the audio outs only go to my hifi. Like Sonos, Bluesound has the capability to network multiple devices throughout the home, but I only have the one.

Its a rabbit hole, for sure, but the Node is a simple way in.

Others build machines with a Rasberry Pi and various attachments. My attraction to the Bluesound is the control app is good and easy to use. Some of these solutions do not have as elegant a software interface.

If you have a smart TV plugged into your regular stereo, your TV may have a connector for a USB hard drive. Then you’d just need to get a drive and fill it up with music.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Wed Oct 19, 2022 10:03 am
I use the Radiogram app to stream radio and it loves to frequently just stop altogether. It's maddening. I haven't found any other FM streaming app that doesn't do this. This cockamamie set-up I have is mostly livable but it has absolutely nothing on FM radio. I have occasionally streamed live radio from far-off lands and that is pretty cool, so I guess that's what digital offers.

sorry to spam this thread, but the Bluesound Node has, built into its software several radio apps. I use Tune In and it allows me to stream all my favorite stations (WCBN, WMBR, WZBC, WFMU, WPRB, etc.) as well as Radio Nope. It also offers Radio Paradise and I Heart Radio, which I have not explored at all.

I will give TuneIn another spin. I tried it and had issues, but it's worth another shot. I've also wondered if I have some phone setting turned on that is making streaming difficult.

On a similar note, my 4K Sony smart TV doesn't have an analog audio output other than the headphone jack. Unfortunately there is no way to send the headphone jack audio to the home stereo (for music playback) and send the HDMI audio to the soundbar (for movies) - meaning, I cannot leave both plugged in because the headphone jack mutes the HDMI. I could just keep unplugging it, but the connector is a bit intermittent. It got stuck MUTED! Ahhhhhh.

Anyway, I'm wanting a decent way to convert the optical digital output of the TV to RCA jacks. Anyone know of anything with decent converters on the cheap for that task?

If I'm understanding correctly, I think you need a HDMI breakout box. I had no idea these existed but I got a cheap one from Parts Express (or maybe eBay?).
I can't say how good/bad the converters are but it did the trick.

tommy wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 1:07 pm Anyone know of anything with decent converters on the cheap for that task?

How cheap? Fiio D3 will do it and gets good reviews. ~$25