Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners Need advice on upgrade of budget stereo system

I'm not new here but I had to setup a new account to log in for some reason. Anyway I have always valued the advice gotten here. Here's what I have, 1 pair M50's, 13 yr old low end Onkyo receiver (R-520) old Pioneer CD player, ipod Touch Gen 4, Pure i20 dock. This is the system in my "other " living room. We pretty much only use it when shooting pool, not that often, but I have never been happy with the sound and both the ipod and dock are on borrowed time. I want to improve the sound without spending a lot.
Currently I am streaming Pandora and playing songs that are stored on the ipod in various formats. That's all I really need. My ipod is too old to run Spotify or any of the other newer sources for better quality streaming.
I've seen Onkyo has wifi receivers with "buiilt in" Spotify, etc. I'm not real clear what that means. I think it still needs a source like a PC or phone/ipod, is that correct? If so, will I be able to stream the higher res files to the receiver? I'de rather not use a pc as a music server, that seems like too much effort to just throw a few songs on while shooting pool but if it turns out to be the best option for some "future proofing" then maybe I would. What's your advice on the best budget option (under $500) to stream at higher bitrates and play some stored music at the best audio quality I can while maintaining ease of operation?

The cheapest option is to buy a Chromecast Audio for $50 and connect it to your R-520. Then you use your iThing as a client to control the Chromecast. That's what I have on two systems and it's real good.

Thanks, I checked that out, looks like they stopped making them.

Roku or Amazon Fire stick are quite similar.

Hi mikeR,

We have a component that will likely do everything you are looking for. It is our 4in1 DAC with Analog Out. You can put your songs on a USB Drive and plug it into this DAC. Our DAC will play the native resolution up to 24/192. You would also be able to stream from Spotify if you like or just play a WebRadio station.

I'd like more info on this. I'm trying out Tidal and I'm not sure but I think my limitation now is the DAC in my Chromecast Audio. I need MQA support.

Thanks Ian, I can't seem to find it on your website.?

That's Ian's project for today, Mike.