Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Advice from Axiom Owners music streamer

I've not bothered with streaming music before. But now i'm interested. It seems there are a lot of choices when it comes to streaming. After some reading I have come across the Marantz NA-6006 Network Streamer.
I have owned over the years several other D&M products so I am ok with the brand. Anyone here own this particular piece of equipment or have some thoughts on the subject? I will be using what ever I settle on in a simple two channel system.
thanks in advance,
Jeff

Hi Jeff

I had a Marantz NA 7004 and NA 8005. They were pretty good, both had that relaxed Marantz sound. Neither could handle the highest res files and, as I recall, neither had Tidal.

The Bluesound Node 2 is a bit less expensive than the 6006 and has good reviews. The Sony HAP Z1 is a bit more expensive and has uniformly great reviews.

I ended up with the Gold Note DS-10, a bit pricey, but sounds great.

Good luck to you!

Check out the reviews on Audio Science Review. Big database now. Lots of DAC and streamers measured and disected.

The bluesound is reviewed here

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ents-of-bluesound-node-2i-streamer.6631/

Price has almost no correlation with performance you will find. In fact the pricier usually the less of a sure bet....

Anyway, the minidsp SHD was recently reviwed and also has dirac on board. If you havent tried Dirac its worth looking at.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?pages/Audio_DAC_Performance_Index/

Sounds like Amrir didn't like the Bluesound much.

I don't know about the Marantz you mentioned, but you might want to think about what's important to you. What do you want access to, what type of user interface do you want, will the device be supported for the next xx years, do you want a display - and if so, how big?

I've been looking around at what to replace my "old" Squeezebox devices with. Been looking for at least two years, and I still can't seem to find anything that doesn't add complexity. Seems as if the vast majority of people who do stream, are not all that interested in sound quality, or interested in using anything but their phones, and some half baked free app loaded with adds.

In my case, I want a device that does not require a separate display to see the device menu functions and album art, and it needs to be large enough to see without too much trouble. It should also have a simple remote, or touch-capable. It needs to have access to numerous streaming services (not all do), and I also want access to my FLAC files stored on a network drive. Then there is the software needed to play my music files.....some media players just, well.... suck.

I wish Logitech would have stayed in the game. The Squeezebox devices were simple, easy to use, and worked reasonably well.

Can you all help me understand where the Axiom Air fits in as a music streamer? Recall you can buy this in a "box form" with no speakers and turn your legacy system into a modern system.

I don't know what I don't know.

Sounds like you want Roon. It will turn your existing Ipad\Iphone\Android\PC into a streamer with all the album art you like, plus compatible with Quobuz and Tidal, Plus Network Shares or USB and most importantly is bit perfect. What goes in goes out.

Roon is software that needs a hardware device to render the playback.

Cheapest option is a chromecast Audio with the DAC of your choice. Use the mini optical SPDIF out on the chromecast.

Roon is 10$ a month or 699$ lifetime. Chromecast Audio is discontinued but they are on ebay. A topping D10 was used in the ASR tests and achieved impressive results of. Pretty dang cheap and impressive setup.

Mojo,

The AxiomAir Transformer is a music streamer and has a decent BurrBrown DAC. I believe it would be kind of similar to the Squeezebox Classic without the remote. It has an analog input and a couple of digital inputs and a single analog output.

You connect to it via the AxiomAir App. It can access flac files stored on your NAS or plugged directly into the Transformer via USB. Via the app you can also access Tidal. Spotify Connect is available via devices on the same network. I believe it can also act as a Roon endpoint but have not tried that. One of its nicest features is multiroom Spotify Connect if you have more than one for multiroom audio.

The only current feature it is lacking for me is Qobuz and I use my Squeezebox Touch for that.

Hope that helps.

Thank you for that education. I am trying to understand why anyone would want anything else than the Axiom Air Transformer.

Performance specs on the Transformer are not published. But besides that, anything else that may be missing?

Reasons I can think of why someone may want to get something else may include:
No balanced outputs
Qobuz support
Lack of display/touchscreen (only available via the app)
Looking for some ‘high-end’ DAC
If you want a traditional volume control knob and not buttons.
Don’t want to be tied to the AxiomAir App (you could use Spotify almost exclusively via Connect though)

I believe the whole App is being completely rebuilt and there is talk of Qobuz support. So that might mitigate two of those reasons...