Alternatieven

Still, things can get a little better here and there. The search function in Tidal is a bit scanty and because all albums are listed below each other we have to scroll a bit longer than with the BluOS app. On the other hand, the Signature app puts a few features that we don’t have at BluOS. For example, we can arrange albums in Tidal alphabetically by artist or album and by release date or by ‘last added’. Especially this last feature we like to use because a lot of great music has been released the last few months!

We are very pleased that Atoll has taken the trouble to develop its own app for both IOS and Android. Not every company invests in this. Wouldn’t you rather use a different app? That’s not a problem either. For example, we played for a while with the MConnect app (paying), which is used by several manufacturers, and that too is going very well. The choice is yours.

Multiple choice

The Atoll ST200 Signature streamer has a dac so you can get started right away. It has become a beautiful Burr-Brown that can handle just about any format, including DSD. Both front and back we find a USB-A input. Especially the one at the front is very handy and we often use it on the NAD M50. We also see four digital inputs, (2x coax, 2x optical), two digital outputs, (1x coax, 1x optical) and even bluetooth is among the possibilities.

In addition to all that digital violence, two more analog inputs can be seen on the well-filled back. That should be enough to connect all your sources. Surprisingly, in addition to being a streamer with dac, this unit is also a preamplifier. And not just a quickly assembled digital case, but one with analog volume control and a fully symmetrical class A output stage.

Atoll clearly does not opt for the cheap solution, but tries to offer a high-quality solution for every part. That’s admirable, especially considering the price tag. We tested both the streamer and the preamplifier extensively. Let’s mention that due to network issues we had to stream via wifi for a while and the signal didn’t drop out once. A fine observation.