Various types of audio streamers

Let’s face it: the streaming world is pretty complex. Perhaps not for experts in the industry, but for the normal citizen who is ready for his next source. In the days of turntables, it was simple. For an average enthusiast, some required switching from 33 to 45 rpm. That’s it.

Even with CD players, the field is still fairly simple to divide: there are CD players with and without d/a converters. A player without a converter is called a drive. And then there are players that like all types of discs (e.g. also SACD and DVD audio) and players that can only read audio CDs. That’s still understandable. But then we get to streamers…. and then we basically hit the jackpot. But let’s try to simplify anyway.

Bridge, server, streamer

With streamers, the field is a little trickier to classify. As mentioned earlier, there are streamers with and without a d/a converter. A player without a digital-to-analog converter is called a streaming bridge. A player with d/a converter is called a streamer. So far, so good!

There are also – as mentioned before – streamers with storage function. These are sometimes called servers, although that is actually a crazy name, since a server usually has no audio output. At least in its pure form, a server only “serves” data to clients. This is often not the case with a streamer with a built-in disk: in most cases it can play music just fine. Fortunately; otherwise it would quickly become an expensive and complex joke.

By the way, there are also pure servers in the audio world. Roon has the Nucleus, for example. And Aurender also has separate servers and ripping stations where CDs can be copied directly to the internal storage of the server. However, pure servers are rare. Partly because they are expensive and the demand is not very high, we estimate.

Closed and open

Good: we now know that there are various types of network players. With or without a d/a converter and with or without built-in storage media. It’s already getting more complex, but it’s still understandable. Now we enter the world of software. And this does make streaming audio complex for the average enthusiast. And we do understand that.

Simply put, there are players that use what is called an open system and brands that use a closed ecosystem. An ecosystem is another name for a collection of devices where the manufacturer has coordinated everything together. An example is Apple. Everything from Apple works together. We call that in jargon an ecosystem. In virtually all cases, an ecosystem uses a special protocol from the manufacturer itself. However, there are also market-wide, open protocols. It is up to the manufacturer to make a choice in this. Do we keep it closed, or do we go for an industry standard? There are advantages and disadvantages in both cases.

Let’s start with an industry standard: UPnP. This abbreviation stands for Universal Plug and Play. It is an official standard for configuring devices on a network as well as for exchanging data. Streamers with UPnP baked in register and can also show what they can do. Useful for the rest of the network. And therefore also for the user: he doesn’t have to do anything and can start streaming immediately.

But – unfortunately? – there are manufacturers who bake in their own protocol. The best-known two are Airplay and Chromecast. However, these are so big that by now it is built into everything. So we can no longer see that as a disadvantage in this case: adoption is market-wide, making it almost an industry standard.

The biggest within the audio world is Sonos with SonosNET. And Bluesound with BluOS. But Roon also uses its own network protocol: RAAT. Aurender uses CIFS, a network file system protocol, to send data. A little goofy, but it works.

So when a manufacturer uses its own system, we call it a closed ecosystem. That has advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that devices work flawlessly with each other. It really is plug and play, because the manufacturer controls everything. The disadvantage is that you are immediately trapped in a system. After all, the devices do not work with other brands. So think carefully before you commit.

Online services

It is important to realize that it is not a given that a streamer will support all online streaming audio services. There are now countless online services, which makes it difficult for smaller manufacturers to integrate everything. We often see the “hi-fi manufacturers” integrate Tidal and Qobuz because they offer high quality lossless audio. Think CD-quality FLAC streams or even higher: 24 bit 96 kHz FLAC for example.

This is usually supplemented by Roon support, Spotify Connect and Airplay. The even slightly larger manufacturers may add extras such as Deezer, online radio services (TuneIn and Calm Radio are the larger ones) and perhaps Chromecast support.

The reason we bring this up is that it is important to carefully consider beforehand which service fits your listening habits. While the offerings are in good shape with each service, there is still a difference in offerings. Not all platforms have agreements with all publishers. So it is possible that you will not find certain artists on Qobuz, but you will find them on Tidal. And vice versa. So pay close attention to that.

Completing

In this chapter we have outlined the various types of streamers. So there are models with and without a d/a converter. And there are models with and without built-in storage media. An important difference is that there are streamers that use an open standard – think UPnP – and there are streamers that have set up a closed ecosystem. Take note of this if you plan to use multiple streamers in your home. Finally, what services are supported by each streamer also varies.

In the next chapter, we will discuss the different protocols you may encounter.