Q. I have a 1980s-vintage audio system with KEF speakers and an NAD receiver. I love my system but would like to play music from my phone to listen to Spotify and Amazon Music, like I do in my car. I am not interested in a cheap $25 Bluetooth receiver from Amazon. Can you recommend a premium Bluetooth receiver for my system? I can spend up to $250, perhaps more if you think it is worthwhile.

—B.C., Bridgeville, Pennsylvania

A. Those $25 Bluetooth receivers can do a passable job, but given your fabulous vintage system I understand your desire for a better Bluetooth receiver. What I will recommend is not just a Bluetooth receiver, but a compact, high-performance component that will bring new enjoyment and possibilities to your system beyond playing music from your phone.

If you use your phone to send music via Bluetooth from Spotify, Amazon Music or Qobuz, the phone connects to the online source, converts the music to a Bluetooth signal and transmits it to the Bluetooth receiver for playback on your system. Bluetooth is a compressed format that compromises audio quality. An internet streamer connects directly to the online source via Wi-Fi or Ethernet and plays back the music in full quality without compression. (Your phone is used to control the streamer and does not actually send an audio signal.) Using an internet streamer makes a difference you can easily hear, and it consumes less resources and battery power from your phone. Some streaming services also offer high-resolution music with better audio quality than compact disc. This means you will probably get the best audio quality you will ever hear from your system, period. Most of the demonstrations I hear at high-end audio shows like AXPONA use a high-resolution streamer as their source, because manufacturers want their gear to sound as impressive as possible.

Back in 2015 I wrote about the Mass Fidelity Relay, a premium Bluetooth receiver that sold for $249. It was outstanding and I used my Relay up until three years ago, when I moved up to an internet streamer that incorporated a high-quality Bluetooth receiver. This is what I recommend for you as well.

With an internet streamer that also functions as a Bluetooth receiver, you have one component that provides the best of both worlds. Use the Bluetooth receiver function to play music and audio that is resident on your phone, and the internet streamer function to play music from online sources like Spotify at full or high-resolution quality.

I strongly recommend the Andover Audio Songbird HR for your system. Andover Audio has some legendary audio engineers designing their products, and the Songbird HR is some of their best work, receiving considerable critical acclaim since its introduction. The Songbird HR uses an ESS Sabre digital-to-analog converter, the same as many of those expensive high-end internet streamers used at AXPONA. It is also a Bluetooth receiver and is very compact, can covert vinyl records to a digital stream and is easily controlled by the dedicated Songbird app. I've used it in my own system and the sound was indistinguishable from streamers selling for $1,000 to $2,400. At $299 the Songbird HR was considered a standout value, and it is currently on sale for $199. When I visited the Andover website to confirm pricing I was able to fill out a pop-up box that emailed a code for another 10% off, reducing the price to only $179.10. That is almost $100 less than what the Relay sold for over 10 years ago, quite a step up in performance, capabilities and value. andoveraudio.com

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