Photograph: Chris Haslam
Plugged into my father’s 20-year-old Arcam amplifier, powering a pair of equally vintage Mordaunt Short floorstanding speakers, the Streamplayer works smoothly. It did require a 3.5mm to RCA cable (more in this below) but dad’s box of old cables is a tech treasure trove. On first listen I was impressed by the ease of it all, and switching between Qobuz and Spotify Lossless certainly didn’t offend. But when playing the same song side-by-side using a mid-range Cambridge Audio CD player, the difference was obvious.
Playing the album “Music from Big Pink” by The Band, and the power and scale from the CD version easily eclipsed that of the Streamplayer. Rick Danko’s bass lines soared and the layering of the instruments was wonderfully pronounced via CD, while they were noticeably subdued when streaming. Same speakers, same amplifier, very different DACs.
It’s by no means a disaster, and the streaming convenience—in lieu of a large CD collection—is difficult to argue with. Even with quality components, the performance is only ever going to be as good as the audio quality played.
Cables and Connectivity
Atonemo makes a big deal over being able to power “all” legacy speakers. Included in the box is a single 3.5mm to 3.5mm audio jack, giving the ability to plug into active speakers, old radios, cassette players, boomboxes, and anything with a 3.5mm aux-in port.
But to power analogue speakers, you will need a separate amplifier and alternative cables, whether that’s a 3.5mm to RCA or SPDIF RCA to 3.5mm jack cable. Atonemo told WIRED they toyed with the idea of including multiple cables in the box, but opted for the 3.5mm audio jack because most hi-fi people would have one already. They also plan to sell a range of cables to suit “all” legacy speakers. I think including a couple of cable options would have been a good idea, especially at launch, just to avoid any friction points with first-time installation, as not everyone has a box of old cables as comprehensive as my Dad.
Competition
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Photograph: Chris Haslam
Atonemo isn’t the only option when it comes to breathing new life into older hi-fi components. The WiiM Mini Music Streamer ($89) is cheaper, offers AirPlay/Chromecast/Spotify Connect streaming capabilities and a XX DAC. Similarly the FiiO SR11 Desktop Streaming Music Receiver ($110) also copes with Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal, FiiO Music and PCM 768 kHz/32 Bit and DSD256 (DOP) quality. And for a further boost in audio quality plus one of the finest hi-res streaming multiroom platforms, the $379 Bluesound Node nano streamer is hard to ignore. There are also plenty of basic Bluetooth dongles available too if audio quality, or the ability to enjoy multi-room audio, isn’t important to you.
But what Atonemo has done well is remove any technical barriers to use. The app is incredibly simple—in a good way—with no bloat, or pretence it is doing anything other than facilitating streaming between your old speakers and a modern streaming platform.
Yes, it could (and probably should) squeeze in a better DAC, and a more comprehensive collection of cables, but these are deliberate omissions, not glaring mistakes. Anyone looking to tweak and tune, and generally nerd-out about bit rates, are already well served elsewhere.