Does it exist: mini hifi with bluetooth/wifi speakers?

another_casualty

Interesting comments about cds.
Fwiw, I prefer them for their sound . Plus I feel like I have a solid copy of something with no software glitches etc
That’s me , and probably o p . 

Having said that , I do look at the way music technology is hurtling forward these days ..
If the o p wanted just the smart speakers ,maybe the apple mini HomePods or Amazon Echo would be  possible contenders ?? One in each room.

Before I settled on mixing my stereo keeping old and purchasing new, I was thinking of the naim cube . Look great and many favourable reviews, Except the stereo separation isn’t there yet. 

Anyway they’re too expensive , so I’ll leave it there …

outtatune

OP wants DAB radio so sound quality is probably not the highest priority

Username03725

another_casualty said:

Before I settled on mixing my stereo keeping old and purchasing new, I was thinking of the naim cube . Look great and many favourable reviews, Except the stereo separation isn’t there yet. 

Anyway they’re too expensive , so I’ll leave it there …

An opinion on the Naim Qb (Cube), and similar, if I may...

I have a Naim Muso – big brother of the Qb – and it really is a fabulous bit of kit. What it lacks in stereo separation it more than makes up for in sound quality, and if it’s a payoff between very good SQ and poor stereo on Bluetooth speakers I’d recommend the Qb or the Muso every day of the week. It really is a fine piece of kit, and with apologies to marlot whop opened this thread and specced a much lower budget others may read this and may not realise how good these things are. Yes Naim position themselves at the premium end of the market, but once in a while it’s worth pushing the boat out a bit.

Let’s not forget too that a lot of DAB stations are in mono, so stereo speakers are largely redundant.

RumRat

Anything mixed after 1968ish has little stereo separation, so, not as important to have a really wide spread as it once was. 

[Deleted User]

RumRat said:

Anything mixed after 1968ish has little stereo separation, so, not as important to have a really wide spread as it once was. 

It is just as important as ever in my mind, modern music tracks use stereo more effectively and naturally than the first attempts at using stereo.

I think it was partly down to stereo being so new and producers wanting to show off the new tech with overly separated stereo that I'd say is unnatural and nauseating on some tracks from that era. 

Mixing systems were limited as well, often only had L/C/R channel switch without any fading possible so it was either all left / all right or both channels with nothing in between. This was an advantage though given many systems were still mono, and hard stereo recombines to mono much better unless careful attention is taken to L/R phasing which was not possible with the production and recording equipment of the era.

Most people still owned mono equipment, those that had invested in stereo probably want to hear the full effect of it - and some of those stereo systems were simply built in speakers with little distance between them.

Modern use of stereo is subtle in comparison, but with a high quality audio system it becomes far more than just left and right separation - instead slight phase differences between channels gives rise to many different positions in a virtual sound stage created by the speakers.

Long live stereo!

RumRat

I don't disagree with your point about stereo, just that that any really wide separation is not really needed IMO. Of course the perception of the sound listened to will differ with each listener, so my perfect sound set up may differ from others. Disclaimer, I'm not an audiophile (people who claim to be rarely are) just know what I like...Reading the OP's request, I'm guessing they are in that category also.

Username03725

Deleted_User said:

RumRat said:

Anything mixed after 1968ish has little stereo separation, so, not as important to have a really wide spread as it once was. 

It is just as important as ever in my mind, modern music tracks use stereo more effectively and naturally than the first attempts at using stereo.

<snipped for brevity>

I think it was partly down to stereo being so new and producers wanting to show off the new tech with overly separated stereo that I'd say is unnatural and nauseating on some tracks from that era. 

Long live stereo!

Reality is that early stereos in the late 50s and well into the 60s were usually radiograms; single items of furniture about 3 - 4 feet wide with a speaker at each end so there was no realistic expectation of a wide stereo stage. To emphasise stereo a lot of music of that era was mixed with hard left & right panning, to send sounds to one end of the cabinet or the other. Add in the restrictions of 4 track studio tapes of the time where overdubs were bounced down to the remaining tracks and it's no surprise that early stereo was a bit Left and Right.

Good modern stereo gives us a nice fulsome sound stage with instruments and sounds positioned in the mix accordingly. Try it with h/phones, or in front of a nice stereo, switching from mono to stereo. The width (and depth if it's all working well) is what matters, not the extremes of L & R.

Brie

We have a few of the simpler Pure DABs but I've been thinking about this for my WFH desk.  Except there's no room.

https://www.pure.com/en-GB/stores/pure/pure/evoke-c-f6-eu/uk/p/147499

So I might eventually go for this which is closer to your price range but still needs the separate speakers.

https://www.pure.com/en-GB/stores/pure/pure/evoke-c-d4/p/151080

Have you considered bluetooth headphones - nice to be able to walk around with your sound.

Otherwise I'll add my vote for Richer Sound - excellent company, great service and marvellous prices.

MattMattMattUK

Bite the bullet, go modern and stick a Google Nest speaker in any room you want sound in, then stream via Spotify for specific playlists/artists/songs and the radio will all stream for free. 

RumRat

Username03725 said:

another_casualty said:

Before I settled on mixing my stereo keeping old and purchasing new, I was thinking of the naim cube . Look great and many favourable reviews, Except the stereo separation isn’t there yet. 

Anyway they’re too expensive , so I’ll leave it there …

Let’s not forget too that a lot of DAB stations are in mono, so stereo speakers are largely redundant.

Not correct. Most have transferred over to DAB+ and broadcast in stereo (still pretty poor though). Some, mainly talk channels, remain mono.