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Cabasse Stream Source

Cabasse Stream Source

Cabasse is renowned for making loudspeakers with multi-concentric drivers, its ultimate creation being La Sphere, a spherical loudspeaker with four drive units on the same axis. Until very recently, the company was owned by a division of Canon, so it had greater resources than most loudspeaker companies and access to a lot of digital engineers. This perhaps explains what a loudspeaker company is doing making pebble-shaped digital streaming product line collectively called the Stream range.

The Stream 1 and 3 have a built in loudspeaker for standalone operation, but Stream Source is relevant to those of us who own decent speakers, amplifiers, and the rest, and who want to add the option of streaming without giving up too much space or money. Stream Source can be used on a network both wired and wirelessly. It can receive an NFC or Bluetooth signal sent from a phone or tablet, and it can access internet radio stations with the vTuner service. All are familiar streamer features, even at this price point, but what Cabasse has added to the mix is access to the Deezer streaming service and the ability to use a standard USB hard drive as a DLNA server. This means you don’t need a network with a NAS on it when a drive full of tunes will suffice.

, Cabasse Stream Source

There is plenty of competition in the entry level streamer stakes and some of it offers direct access to the rather more popular streaming service Spotify. The other useful feature that the Cabasse omits is the ability to stream Apple’s Airplay from an iOS device, something to bear in mind if you’ve an iPad or similar. What is included, however, is the ability to run several Stream Sources around the house multiroom style, and control them from the same device so that their output is synchronised. This is still quite uncommon and puts Cabasse in direct contention with Sonos and its ilk.

 

Being French, the Stream Source has style on its side, and for that matter a conveniently compact form. It only really needs cables for power and analogue or digital output, but there are network and USB connections for those wanting to stream higher resolutions without drop out. That said, this unit is limited to 24/96 so drop outs are not likely to be an issue; as you will see, the Stream makes the most of the resolution formats it does support.

The Stream control app will run on iOS and Android platforms and is intuitive to use; you just need to remember to press the little + button rather than the album name, if you want to play the whole thing. The control app’s only real limitation becomes apparent with large music libraries. Most apps offer on A-Z list for artists, albums, radio stations etc. but the Stream Source just lists the titles, and scrolling through a collection of any size is a slow process – very slow by the standards we couch slouches are used to. Apparently, this is something that will be addressed in a future upgrade to the app. Conveniently you can adjust volume from the app, if that function is switched on at the device, and it’s easy to choose between sources.

I turned off the onboard volume control and connected the Stream Source to my network with AudioQuest Ethernet cable, an approach which avoids the need to put in passwords, and gives instant access to media on attached drives. With the analogue outputs connected to a Townshend Allegri controller and an ATC P1 power amp driving PMC fact.8 speakers, the sound was surprisingly open and transparent for such an affordable device. What initially struck me was how good it is on diction, Arab Strap’s ‘New Birds’ [Philophobia, Chemikal Underground] features a deep Glaswegian accent which is not always easy to follow for southerners like myself, but here it was very clear indeed, and thus even more explicit than usual.

What’s more, the visceral quality of the music was evident in full effect and kept me glued to the seat for the duration of the piece. The Stream Source sounds slightly midrange forward by the strictest standards of neutrality. It pulls out detail that makes voices distinctive and orchestra’s expansive, as on Daniel Barenboim’s Beethoven 7 [Beethoven for All, ‘Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92, Decca, 24/96].

, Cabasse Stream Source

Because something always has to give at this price point it is worth using a separate preamplifier with this streamer. Going from onboard to outboard volume control affords a big increase in three dimensionality of image, and a removal of harshness in the mids and highs. It’s not a subtle change. Quality of source is also pretty clear; a flash drive USB stick sounds weak and lazy compared to a Naim Unitiserve, despite the seeming advantages of SSD storage and avoidance of the network. With the server in tow Patricia Barber’s ‘Bye Bye Blackbird’ [Nightclub, Premonition] delivers a good deal of its image scale and atmosphere, this thanks to low noise and the supremacy of the recording. It really puts you in the room, a pretty good result for a shiny black pebble!

By contrast with a Cambridge NP30, the Stream Source sounds overtly open and not quite as precise when it comes to timing. The Cambridge is a little shut in, but gets to parts that the Cabasse cannot reach. The French unit, however, can cope with 24/88 streams and has some useful extra features above those of the Cambridge. The real competition comes from white box purveyors Sonos, whose products tend to emphasise ease of use over sound quality. It would be interesting to make that comparison.

 

In an attempt at diligence, I tried the Stream Source wirelessly and with MP3, but both experiences reduced quality and introduced grain, with MP3 at 128kbps being particularly coarse when viewed through such a revealing system. However, in a more realistic set up, this would probably be masked to a tolerable level – especially if you are used to the limitations of low bit rates. Wi-Fi is less problematic with MP3 in truth, and I enjoyed several pieces without too great an urge to go back to lossless files, but I did go back. Once you know what you’re missing it’s hard to make sacrifices.

, Cabasse Stream Source

The Stream Source is a little insubstantial for the money, but it’s a very revealing device that warrants use in a high-end system. The control app needs some improvements to make it appeal to music hoarders but all in all this Cabasse is a highly capable and entertaining piece of kit.

Technical Specifications

Type: Network music streamer.

Network functions: DLNA, WPS, vTuner, Deezer

Network inputs: Wi-Fi, Ethernet, Bluetooth aptX + NFC

Digital Inputs: None.

DAC Resolution/Supported Digital Formats: 96 kHz/24-bit/WAV, FLAC, WMA, AIFF, AAC, ALAC, MP3.

Analogue Outputs: One stereo unbalanced (via RCA jacks).

Digital Outputs: One TOSLink.

Frequency Response: Not specified.

Distortion (THD + Noise): Not specified.

User Interface: Stream app

Other Features: Remote handset.

Dimensions (HxWxD): 40 x 231 x 136mm

Weight: 0.5kg

Price: £299

Manufacturer: Cabasse

Tel: +33 (0) 2 98 05 88 14

URL: www.cabasse.com

Tags: FEATURED

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