DRA-100 is it a good Digital receiver?

[StarEye]

Hello,
I am looking for opinions.
I listen mostly to internet radios (Pandora, Spotify,...) and I would like to buy a digital receiver to place in my office (a room of approximately 30m2).

I am interested in the Denon DRA-100, and I am wondering if it is a good choice. I cannot find in the documentation if it can receive Pandora Radio natively, without having to stream it from my computer.

Are there better alternatives than the DRA-100?
Let me know what you think.

Cheers
Luca

 

[TLS Guy]

Hello,
I am looking for opinions.
I listen mostly to internet radios (Pandora, Spotify,...) and I would like to buy a digital receiver to place in my office (a room of approximately 30m2).

I am interested in the Denon DRA-100, and I am wondering if it is a good choice. I cannot find in the documentation if it can receive Pandora Radio natively, without having to stream it from my computer.

Are there better alternatives than the DRA-100?
Let me know what you think.

Cheers
Luca

That is a new animal, we do not have in the US. Interesting unit in a way.

It is a two channel Internet receiver 70 watts per channel.

It will not connect to Pandora, so you would have to stream that from your PC.

You can stream Spotify if you download the app to your tablet or smartphone. Then it directs Spotify to the device from your router. I think it works very similar to CromeCast, as far as I can tell. The online manual is not the best!

These Internet radios have not really caught on in the US. I do note however that there seem more Internet radios for sale, than AM/FM ones. Problem is that I do not know anybody who owns one.

The real issue is that there are so many radio stations on the world, that these devices can't find them, because they have no screen. Denon have a program for your PC, called V-tuner that helps you find radio stations.

I really think we are getting to the point in audio were everything actually needs a screen. All my systems have screens now.

So I personally use computers for all of this.

It seems to me that all you actually need is an amp connected to your computer driving a set of speakers.

It seems to me you would be better off going about it that way and it would be a lot easier.

If I am missing anything here about the nature of what you want to do, let me know.

The other thing to remember is that Windows 10 is a fantastic decoder and decodes all the codes that unit will without using Flash.

 

[StarEye]

Hello and thank you for your answer.
I didn't realise that the model was not sold in north America. I was hoping that the "US" firmware would offer Pandora as well

In any case your comments are spot on. The PC is perfectly capable of sending music archive to an amplifier or a DAC using an optical link.
With a price tag of 870 Eur (955 USD), maybe it makes more sense to use the same amount for a decent amplifier with an optical interface.

I was liking the idea of the unit accessing directly a NAS without having to switch on the PC

 

[StarEye]

In the end I went for the denon PMA-50. It's basically the same amplifier as the DRA-100, but without the internet radio capabilities. It has though a USB type-b interface that allows the use as a usb DAC.
I will couple it to a pair of Monotor Audio Bronze 2 speakers

 

[TLS Guy]

In the end I went for the denon PMA-50. It's basically the same amplifier as the DRA-100, but without the internet radio capabilities. It has though a USB type-b interface that allows the use as a usb DAC.
I will couple it to a pair of Monotor Audio Bronze 2 speakers

Thanks for letting me know. I hope that I helped you to a logical decision. What you propose sounds very sensible.

 

[slipperybidness]

I would also add that it may be worth a look into the Raspberry Pi as a streamer. I have some friends that have been setting up the Pi with Max2Play software and the feedback so far has been positive.

I love the Pi, but as of now I'm just using it to run my arcade cabinet. I have a 2nd Pi that I want to play around with some more.

 

[StarEye]

This is a very good idea.
I have a couple of raspberry Pi B+ forgotten in a drawer (they were part of a home automation project that never made the day). I found the HiFiBerry Digi+, that is basically a Spdif/Toslink daughterboard for the Pi. With the right software you can do wonders

 

[slipperybidness]

This is a very good idea.
I have a couple of raspberry Pi B+ forgotten in a drawer (they were part of a home automation project that never made the day). I found the HiFiBerry Digi+, that is basically a Spdif/Toslink daughterboard for the Pi. With the right software you can do wonders

Yeah, if you already have the hardware, then you really have nothing to lose! Maybe a little time, but likely you will still learn something along the way.

Like I said, the feedback that I've been hearing is positive, but those friends don't take audio as seriously as I do. I just haven't had a chance to work on it for myself yet.

 

[StarEye]

Well, I don't have the full hardware as I will still need the Toslink daughter board (it is quite inexpensive it cost around 40USD). Maybe you could use the digital sound output from the HDMI.

In any case I don't think you would get a decent sound quality from the headphone jack as the board is very noisy (mainly digital noise)

 

[slipperybidness]

Well, I don't have the full hardware as I will still need the Toslink daughter board (it is quite inexpensive it cost around 40USD). Maybe you could use the digital sound output from the HDMI.

In any case I don't think you would get a decent sound quality from the headphone jack as the board is very noisy (mainly digital noise)

Yeah, agreed. The analog out on the Pi is marginal, not suited for hi-fi audio. On my Pi, I'm using an HDMI to VGA converter, and that converter also has analog output. The converter output is definitely superior to the on board analog. But, yeah, even at that if I'm gonna set up a streamer then I would go with a DAC add-on (there are a few to choose from), or use the HDMI audio.