All in One From Cocktail Audio - Focus on its Streaming ability

[mdconnelly]

I've been down the same path with regarding to CD ripping.   I chose to use EAC and it took a long time to finally rip all of my music.  Yes, it is tedious, but I also learned much along the way so no regrets.  I'm sure there are better tools now to do so as well as ripping services, but I know little of them.  


But I can speak to sound quality for streaming.   I have an excellent CD transport (Oracle) which allows me to play CDs to the Dev via the AES/EBU input and have been very happy with that combo.   For a long time I streamed using LMS to a Squeezebox Touch to the SPDIF of the Devialet.   That sounded very good but not quite as good as the CD transport.  Then again, it did allow me to stream hi-res music as well.   AIR was never very reliable for me, but when it did work, it sounded better than the SB Touch... probably as good as the CD transport and better on hi-res music.   Over time,  I found myself streaming far, far more than spinning CDs.  Along came Roon and, well, there's just no going back.

But given my frustrations with AIR, I opted to give the Sonore uRendu a shot (USB input to the Devialet).   All I can say is WOW!  Sound quality took a major step up and no more stuttering or white noise from AIR.  Compared to other high-priced music streaming solutions, the uRendu is a huge bargain.   I'm using the iFi power supply for the uRendu but many have said that it will improve even further with a better power supply.   Haven't gone there (yet).