One box Solution

[Phyztech]

Boulder 866 seems to be rather good..

 

[hearhere]

Choose a Linn Dealer that don't sell the other two and give them the offer of a sale if they can match the price point?

Only worth gambling on if he is sure that the Moon or Linn is actually better than the NAD. Frankly I doubt it, particularly as the MAD offers so much more - eg Dirac "room correction", "analogue direct" so no ADC>DAC with analogue sources, both MC and MM connected without the need to change plugs, very comprehensive sub management, etc.

But it's the sound that matters if none of these NAD features are needed. Peter

 

[hearhere]

Boulder 866 seems to be rather good..

And so it should be at £15K - and that doesn't even include an IR remote! Does the app offer a really good and intuitive user interface and is it available on all 4 (or more) platforms? I think not, but I've not investigated as it seems over-priced and under-featured. But it does include a power amp that most of the other suggested alternatives don't have.

 

[Ray Vardy]

Only worth gambling on if he is sure that the Moon or Linn is actually better than the NAD. Frankly I doubt it, particularly as the MAD offers so much more - eg Dirac "room correction", "analogue direct" so no ADC>DAC with analogue sources, both MC and MM connected without the need to change plugs, very comprehensive sub management, etc.

But it's the sound that matters if none of these NAD features are needed. Peter

I'm a newbie so you'll know better. For room correction though Linn provides a feature called Space Optimization, saved me with my installation for sure.

 

[Phyztech]

And so it should be at £15K

And no phonostage unfortunalety + only balanced inputs which limits it a bit in terms of connectivity

 

[timster]

And no phonostage unfortunalety + only balanced inputs which limits it a bit in terms of connectivity

As a Linnie, that doesn't surprise me. In Linn world the more it costs, the less you get (features wise).

 

[Paulq]

Hi Paul we don’t seem to have heard from you regarding your Yamaha 2000 purchase. How are you getting on with it? I had one in home demo and it was very good but went with the much more expensive Gold Note.

Apologies, life ran away with me for a little while so forgot to update.

The Yamaha is great, everything I said earlier actually in terms of build and sound, so no complaints on that score. I upgraded the speakers to Quad Z1's which were/are a definite step up from the S2s and, in combination, the 2 components are pretty sublime with any type of music. After mucking about with Tone Controls (I know....) I just leave the unit in Pure Direct mode and the representation of music in every genre is just the sound I was after. Love it.

The only small issue I have had is around connectivity. For a little while, though now seems remedied so may indeed be a network issue, was that the unit didn't appear on the network without a reboot. Once done, all good. Tidal Connect isn't as seamless as I would like but, again, I suspect that is down to the MusicCast software as opposed to anything else, where the Yamaha doesn't always appear as an output device straightaway. Once it does it's flawless, just a small frustration. I did reach out to the dealer I bought from who were pretty unhelpful, to be honest, but I think I have managed to fettle it anyway. I think my network may be a bit flaky of late as I have had issues with other devices and, in my experience, you don't tend to have performance or reliability problems with Yamaha gear.

Overall then a very solid 9.5/10 and no regrets at all.

That Gold Note though........

 

[DomT]

Apologies, life ran away with me for a little while so forgot to update.

The Yamaha is great, everything I said earlier actually in terms of build and sound, so no complaints on that score. I upgraded the speakers to Quad Z1's which were/are a definite step up from the S2s and, in combination, the 2 components are pretty sublime with any type of music. After mucking about with Tone Controls (I know....) I just leave the unit in Pure Direct mode and the representation of music in every genre is just the sound I was after. Love it.

The only small issue I have had is around connectivity. For a little while, though now seems remedied so may indeed be a network issue, was that the unit didn't appear on the network without a reboot. Once done, all good. Tidal Connect isn't as seamless as I would like but, again, I suspect that is down to the MusicCast software as opposed to anything else, where the Yamaha doesn't always appear as an output device straightaway. Once it does it's flawless, just a small frustration. I did reach out to the dealer I bought from who were pretty unhelpful, to be honest, but I think I have managed to fettle it anyway. I think my network may be a bit flaky of late as I have had issues with other devices and, in my experience, you don't tend to have performance or reliability problems with Yamaha gear.

Overall then a very solid 9.5/10 and no regrets at all.

That Gold Note though........

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I really liked the Yamaha. I think that it looks better than the GoldNote. Allinones have come a long way and I feel can compete well. I rate the Yamaha above anything from Naim. And one thing that I did want but do not have is the HDMI input that the Yamaha has.

 

[dhansak]

This ticks a lot of boxes (no pun intended)
https://simaudio.com/en/product/ace-all-in-one-music-player/

 

[Paulq]

This ticks a lot of boxes (no pun intended)
https://simaudio.com/en/product/ace-all-in-one-music-player/

That was another one I listened to before going for the Yamaha. It's an axcellent pice of kit, I rate Simaudio stuff highly. Again, not cheap though.

 

[Paulq]

Thanks for the feedback Paul. I really liked the Yamaha. I think that it looks better than the GoldNote. Allinones have come a long way and I feel can compete well. I rate the Yamaha above anything from Naim. And one thing that I did want but do not have is the HDMI input that the Yamaha has.

What's the control app like for the GoldNote Dom? I am an Android user and often they lag behond Apple in the app development stakes. Not sure if the device is Roon ready or if that's what you use, just curious.

 

[DomT]

What's the control app like for the GoldNote Dom? I am an Android user and often they lag behond Apple in the app development stakes. Not sure if the device is Roon ready or if that's what you use, just curious.

Yes it’s Roon ready but I don’t like how Roon degrades the music so I don’t use it. I also don’t use the inbuilt Gold Note streamer at the moment. It’s a good streamer and the app is good but after using the Innuos for over a year I am addicted to its more superior app and also it sounds a lot better than both the Yamaha and Gold Note streamers. The Gold Note App is on par with Auralic so it is one of the better ones. It also does gapless playback that the Yamaha doesn’t do which is weird as other Yamaha streamers do gapless.

But the DACs in both the Yamaha and Gold Note are good and so when listening with the Gold Note I am not using either of my Luxman or Benchmark DACs.

 

[simon g]

Yes it’s Roon ready but I don’t like how Roon degrades the music so I don’t use it. I also don’t use the inbuilt Gold Note streamer at the moment. It’s a good streamer and the app is good but after using the Innuos for over a year I am addicted to its more superior app and also it sounds a lot better than both the Yamaha and Gold Note streamers. The Gold Note App is on par with Auralic so it is one of the better ones. It also does gapless playback that the Yamaha doesn’t do which is weird as other Yamaha streamers do gapless.

But the DACs in both the Yamaha and Gold Note are good and so when listening with the Gold Note I am not using either of my Luxman or Benchmark DACs.

Sorry, Dom, but I have to challenge your oft mentioned assertion on Roon, for balance. I know you've experienced this 'degradation',but I never have. Indeed, only recently and at your suggestion, I compared Roon against the Moon app. No difference whatsoever. Nada. Zilch. Square root of jack.

Roon requires proper set up to work optimally; I've posted on this previously so I shan't repeat myself. I would, though, reiterate a major advantage of Roon is that if Roon Ready components are used then changing kit does not necessitate using a different interface. No worries on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of in house apps. You are experiencing this for yourself; you really like the Innuos app so you're using an external streamer with your 'all in one' (effectively making the Gold Note an an amp with a DAC) . If you used Roon & Roon Ready components then you could change compinents and enjoy the same user experience.

 

[DomT]

Sorry, Dom, but I have to challenge your oft mentioned assertion on Roon, for balance. I know you've experienced this 'degradation',but I never have. Indeed, only recently and at your suggestion, I compared Roon against the Moon app. No difference whatsoever. Nada. Zilch. Square root of jack.

Roon requires proper set up to work optimally; I've posted on this previously so I shan't repeat myself. I would, though, reiterate a major advantage of Roon is that if Roon Ready components are used then changing kit does not necessitate using a different interface. No worries on the effectiveness, or otherwise, of in house apps. You are experiencing this for yourself; you really like the Innuos app so you're using an external streamer with your 'all in one' (effectively making the Gold Note an an amp with a DAC) . If you used Roon & Roon Ready components then you could change compinents and enjoy the same user experience.

Did you listen to that specific Stevie Wonder track that I mentioned? I don’t recall you responding at the time. Tuga noticed the same difference that I did without me prompting him. Others such as Fourlegs have also commented on the sound quality difference. We have different streamers and maybe this is where the difference lies? I can only report what I hear. I was prepared to buy Roon if it sounded great and was useful. To me it was neither.

 

[hearhere]

Roon requires proper set up to work optimally; I've posted on this previously so I shan't repeat myself. I would, though, reiterate a major advantage of Roon is that if Roon Ready components are used then changing kit does not necessitate using a different interface.

I am still somewhat confused by Roon. I tried it for a month using a dealer-loan Nucleus but that's all.

At the time, I was of the opinion that the job it did of cataloguing and playing music was not significantly better than the BluOS interface I've been using for several years. I didn't like the necessity to have an extra box and a subscription, particularly as BluOS has no such extra box and is free.

I'm still confused by how Roon actually works. Does it (and if so why does it) actually handle the music files or the signal as it passes from the streaming house into my router and then streamer? I believe that the less the signal is handled the better the sound - even in the digital domain.

If Roon simply provides my streamer with the address of the music and leaves the streamer to access the file, then that's great. But I suspect Roon wants to elbow in and become more involved. Am I right? I think this based on the fact that the Nucleus has output sockets that feed the DAC. Can Roon simply provide file addresses?

Also, there are many Roon Ready streamers that still require an external Roon Core (if that's the current label for the Nucleus or DIY alternative), but are there any streamers that have Roon Core built in? Then just a subscription would be required, or one could use an alternative (free) app to access music without the Roon bells and whistles.

I find the Roon website rather less than helpful or forthcoming on these matters. Thanks.

Peter