3 Amazon Echo Input
£34, http://www.amazon.co.ukA bit different to the other options here – you can’t stream music
to the Input from your devices, but because it has full Alexa voice
control it does still add streaming powers to your setup. The unit
has Amazon’s great far-field microphones for picking up your
voice, and you can play music through Amazon Prime Music,
Spotify and TuneIn Radio by commanding Alexa (and Apple
Music support is imminent). It’s small and easy to hide away, but
at this price the DAC quality is pretty run-of-the-mill (and there’s
no hi-res support, of course)4 Arcam rPlay
£299, http://www.arcam.co.ukSupporting files up to 24-bit/192kHzandcompatiblewithDTS’
excellent audio-buffing Play-Ficodec,thisis a stepupin sound
quality and cost from theYamaha.EvenwithoutPlay-Fi,just
using Spotify streams or decentqualityMP3/AACfilesfrom
your usual player of choice,thisboxgivesanimmediately
noticeable boost to soundquality.Connectivityis rocksolidvia
either Wi-Fi or Ethernet. WithAirPlayandUPnPsupport,it’s
well kitted out as a streamer,too.It’sbeendiscontinued,but
currently still in stockota traditionalwired
hi-fisystemthatyou
havehonedto
perfectionoverthe
years?Okay,fancyaddingtheease
ofmusicstreamingtoit without
havingtoreplacea handfulof
expensivecomponents?
G
That’s what these boxes can help
you do – they plug into your amp
using 3.5mm or phono jacks, and
with their wireless connections
and built-in DACs, suddenly
you’re beaming tracks straight
from your phone or the web to
your speakers.We’vegota mixofBluetooth
andWi-Fisupporthere,acrossa
bigpricerange,aswellasvery
differentfeaturesets,sowhether
youjustwanttoaskAlexatoplay
Internetradio,oryouwantto
streamaudiophileaudiofiles,
we’vegotyoucovered.June 2019 | |^87
Upgrade
Streaming adapters
3
4