Streamers@kemela

Simliar to TV streaming services, the vast majority of the gobal population use Tidal, Qobuz, and Spotify music streaming services, each hosting over 100 million tracks, to keep up with what's new in music. Many tracks are in high-resolution audio.

Adding Streaming to your Hi-Fi System

Easy to use affordable products make streaming very straight forward. Wireless streaming can be either Bluetooth or WiFi based but the highest sound quality is obtained by hard-wiring with premium Ethernet or fiber optic cabling.

You can play complete thematic albums or assemble together in playlists your own jukebox selection of tracks. The streaming services will also put togther playlists for you based on your listening choices or based on common overall themes of mood and genre.

Service providers are compensating for the loss of a tangible album cover or CD booklet by providing additional background content about the music or the performers that you can read while listening to the music.

Hi-Fi manufacturer's streaming products stream directly from the service provider via your home network with your phone or tablet acting as a remote control sending the commands of what to play. This removes the hardware and processing limitations of phones or tablets and you can have multiple devices connected on the network and devices conroling the music.

Unlike physical vinyl records and CDs, you do not own the music with subscription services unless you purchase the digital file to download.

Streaming Services v Downloaded files

Streaming video services use over 60% peaking at over 80% of all global internet bandwidth compared to about 2% for audio streaming services. Online streaming services may use dynamically compressed versions of the music like broadcast radio and a lower bit rate to save internet bandwidth. The better streaming apps will display both the file type and bit rate (lower bit rates tend to be more compressed).

Because a lot more work is required with real time online streaming (a look ahead process has to obtain data packets and assemble them in the right order), an actively managed Switch will make a big difference in prioritizing audio data and relieving the router's work. Hi-Res audio's bitrate can be up to 4.6 Mbps(Mega Bits per second) for 24-bit/96 kHz and 9.2 Mbps for 24-bit/192 kHz formats.

In contrast, downloaded digital files are already organized and only need to be marched out over a short distance like playing a CD only with potentially higher-resolution. With less possibility for digital degration, downloaded files tend to sound richer with more dynamic contrasts enhancing listenability and engagement.

Advice and support

The digital world is fast moving and can be a bit overwhelming if you are not particularly technically inclined. You could spend a lot of time in forums and reading reviews only to get out of date information or base your thinking on too narrow a focus. With streaming products, having access to good support is more important than any other audio component and kemela is happy to assist you to get the best streaming experience which involves more than a good streaming component.