QUAD Platina High-end Music Streamer

 High-end music streamer joins Platina party

QUAD’s new flagship range welcomes the Platina Stream, delivering smooth and stable operation, first-class hi-res credentials, a feature-rich control app and a sound that simply soars...

Cambridgeshire, England – QUAD may be considered Britain’s original high-end audio brand, with a history of hi-fi innovation that began in the first half of the 20th century, but it has never had a high-end streamer in its illustrious lineup – until now. The Platina Stream network player joins the Platina Integrated amplifier at the launch of QUAD’s new Platina Series – the finest range of solid-state audio electronics the company has ever produced.

The Platina Stream is a perfect aesthetic match for its amp sibling. It shares the same steel chassis and thick aluminium front panel, with side-mounted heat sinks and anti-resonance feet, providing a reassuring sturdy feel. It also sports the same elegant fascia, adorned only by subtle trio of function buttons, a power button, a rotary control and a crisp 4.3in colour display. Inside and out, it is rigorously designed for exceptional performance and built to last.

The network player is a splendid match for the Platina Integrated sonically too, although it is not solely designed to be paired with this amp. It contains its own DAC stage, which means it can be used with any amplifier from any brand whether the amp has digital inputs or not. Connecting to a home network via Gigabit Ethernet or dual-band Wi-Fi, the Platina Stream seamlessly blends QUAD’s distinguished hi-fi heritage with a state-of-the-art digital core.

The Platina Stream’s circuitry is based on a top-tier streaming engine built to deliver sonic excellence by a technology partner painstakingly selected by QUAD. It utilises a powerful, highly efficient ARM processor and Linux-based operating system, delivering fast, reliable network performance for uninterrupted, bit-perfect playback.

The way streamed audio data is handled, latency eliminated and sonically deleterious noise eradicated by this streaming technology all contribute to the glorious clarity and transparency with which music is conveyed. QUAD has painstakingly designed its own digital and analogue circuitry to make the absolute most of this superlative sonic potential, working closely with its technology partner to ensure every element knits seamlessly together.

QUAD Platina Stream the app – your entire digital music menu, together in concert

The Platina Stream’s dedicated control app provides quick, easy access to integrated services such as Tidal, Qobuz, Spotify and TuneIn Radio, with an intuitive yet feature-rich interface that makes browsing a breeze. Intelligent search functions and the ability to create multi-source playlists, group albums and organise folders allow users to discover, sort and play their music however they prefer.

Acting as a versatile ‘command centre’ for both local and cloud-based music libraries, the app’s logical hierarchy and fluid gesture control ensure the experience feels as considered as the hardware itself. A lightning-fast indexer works in the background to catalogue network shares, USB drives and streaming services as a single, unified library – simply type a song title, performer, composer, label, year or even a genre, and the app returns precise results ranked by relevance.

With user-customisable functions and settings, the Platina Stream app offers the ability to build an on-the-fly playlist and save it permanently with a single gesture. The user can create playlists or folders to keep expansive catalogues organised and even collate multi-disc boxsets, remasters or themed compilations into a single location for uncluttered browsing. Long-press on any track, album, or artist and a context menu appears: ‘add to playlist’, ‘queue next’, ‘play now’, ‘replace queue’ and more. 

Unlike many apps for network streaming hardware, the Platina Stream app provides native highlighting of hi-res file types in Qobuz and Tidal, with icons to indicate their provenance. So, users always know what format they are listening to and whether they are accessing the highest quality stream available.

Further functionality will be added to the Platina Stream and its app over time via software/firmware updates. Spotify Lossless support was activated on 22 October 2025 and is available via an over-the-air update for units shipped prior to this date. More updates are in the pipeline as the Platina streaming engine continues to evolve, with a focus on the features most relevant for a high-end network player.

QUAD Platina Stream beyond the app – other ways to stream

QUAD’s companion app is not the only way to control the Platina Stream. Qobuz Connect, Tidal Connect and Spotify Connect are all supported, allowing users to stream files directly from these platforms at full quality over their network, controlled by the service’s app on their smart device.

The Platina Stream is also certified Roon Ready, with RAAT (Roon Advanced Audio Transport) protocol built in. This ensures it works seamlessly as an endpoint in a Roon-connected audio environment, controlled by the Roon app – the software of choice for many audiophiles building high-performance integrated digital music systems in their homes.

Highly regarded media streaming service Plex is another string to the Platina Stream’s bow. In this context, Plex can be considered an alternative to Roon – a platform to store, manage and play digital music, using Plex Media Server software on a PC, Mac or NAS drive alongside the music-focused Plexamp app. Both Plex and Roon are considered leaders in their field, each with its own specific advantages; Plex is lauded for its flexibility and lower cost – the software itself is free, with an optional ‘Plex Pass’ subscription unlocking additional features.

While premium-level network streamers often include integrated Roon support, Plex is less common. However, millions of music lovers, movie watchers and TV viewers around the world use Plex to manage all manner of media across their devices. By offering Platina Stream owners access to both Plex and Roon, with the option of music management and control via their respective apps, QUAD delivers the best of all digital worlds for music lovers who want to take advantage of the Platina’s sonic quality.

AirPlay 2 is included, giving another way to stream over Wi-Fi to QUAD’s new network player when using Apple devices as the source. An input is supplied for local USB storage devices, and because the Platina Stream is fully UPnP compliant it connects seamlessly with other UPnP devices on a home network – NAS drives, for example – with the option to control the streamer via third-party UPnP apps.

QUAD Platina Stream quintessential QUAD quality throughout

From its dedicated app to the technologies, platforms and streaming services it supports, the Platina Stream is built for passionate music lovers seeking a premium-quality streaming experience. It packs impressive processing power under the hood – a quad-core Arm Cortex-A53 chip running at 1.8 GHz per core provides the computational muscle for fast library handling, album-art caching and rock-solid playback control.

But no amount of processing power can redeem a streamer that lacks the ‘audio smarts’ to deliver the sonic goods. QUAD has drawn upon decades of class-leading audio design to ensure the Platina Stream offers an exceptional sonic experience, making the most of the high-end streaming technology that nestles within.

The Platina Stream’s onboard DAC stage mirrors that of the matching Platina Integrated amplifier, built around the ES9038PRO – a preeminent DAC chip from the top ‘PRO’ tier of ESS Technology’s current Sabre range. The DAC’s eight audio channels are fully utilised to deliver a balanced differential stereo signal, eradicating noise and distortion alongside proprietary QUAD circuitry including dual ultra-precision master clocks.

Sabre DAC chips must be implemented with care to extract their full sonic potential. The post-DAC active filter is a critical element – QUAD has incorporated a Class A circuit that is perfectly tailored to make the most of the ES9038PRO’s exceptional signal-to-noise performance and dynamic range.

The Platina Stream benefits from an expertly engineered linear power supply incorporating a 50VA toroidal transformer, delivering clean, consistent power to all the sensitive parts of the digital and analogue stages. The DAC stage has its own dedicated supply, featuring multiple discrete ultra-low-noise regulators to provide power separately to the left and right channels for each stage of the digital-to-analogue conversion process – a critical contributor to the Platina Stream’s sonic performance.

The post-DAC analogue circuitry incorporates top-grade components and features a balanced topology, designed to eliminate noise and distortion in the signal path. This feeds the XLR outputs directly, enabling anyone connecting the Platina Stream to an amp with balanced analogue inputs – the Platina Integrated, for example – to reap the full sonic benefits.

QUAD Platina Stream hi-res versatility and performance

Whether streaming from local storage or online services, the Platina Stream offers superlative performance across even the most diverse digital music collections. Its rear panel sports a well-appointed array of connection options: a Wi-Fi antenna and Ethernet port handle network connectivity, while USB-B and USB-A ports permit asynchronous PC/Mac connection and USB storage input respectively – so, the Platina Stream can perform as a USB DAC as well as a network player.

Analogue outputs are provided in both single-ended RCA and balanced XLR form, with fixed and variable output options – the latter engages the Platina Stream’s volume control, performing preamp duties for direct connection to a power amplifier or active speakers. S/PDIF digital outputs are included in coaxial and optical flavours, enabling the streamer to be connected to an external DAC. A USB update port, 12V trigger connections and a WPS button for easy Wi-Fi set-up are also supplied at the rear.

Hi-res audio support is state-of-the-art, handling PCM up to 32-bit/768kHz and native DSD up to 22.5MHz (DSD512) no matter how one streams to the Platina Stream – Wi-Fi, Ethernet cable or USB. Every significant hi-res and lossless audio format is catered for, including FLAC, Apple Lossless (ALAC), WAV and AIFF, alongside native DSD in DSF and DIFF form, as well as DoP (DSD over PCM).

Lower quality audio streams are upsampled to 352.8kHz/384kHz, or users can instead apply one of five DAC reconstruction filters to tune the sound from digital sources – especially useful given the variable quality of audio formats and streaming services.

QUAD Platina Stream built for a premium experience

The Platina Stream’s rock-solid build quality and clean, assured look reflect the streamer’s calm, composed operation – responsive, simple to navigate and stable as a rock. This unfussy fascia, thoroughly modern with subtle echoes of QUAD’s illustrious past, is augmented by a 4.3in full colour IPS LCD display – the same screen that graces the Platina Integrated amp, even more impressive here because of the Stream’s ability to display album artwork.

A wealth of data is available to the listener, including the presently engaged streaming service, playlist position, network type, file format, bit depth/sample rate, artist name, album and track title, time elapsed/remaining and volume level, with various options to select which information is displayed and how it appears on screen.

The display is also the gateway to the Platina Stream’s menu system, providing numerous options including the digital upsampling and filter settings, fixed or variable analogue output, left/right channel balance, time idle before entering standby, volume curtailment upon powerup and Wi-Fi diagnostic data. Like the Platina Integrated, the screen can be set to display a VU-style meter showing real-time signal levels for the left and right channels, while those who prefer their displays to be simple and unintrusive can turn animations off, adjust brightness or switch it off entirely if preferred.

QUAD Platina Stream Platina’s perfect partnership

The Platina Stream is capable of remarkable sonic transparency, handling music captured in a studio or concert hall, packaged as a digital file and streamed to your home with exceptional fidelity, extracting its full potential. This purity of sound sets it apart from other streamers and ensures it adheres to QUAD’s classic dictum: ‘The closest approach to the original sound’.

Music is delivered unadulterated by hardware limitations, signal distortion or other forms of tonal colouration; it is conveyed unfettered and unrestrained, brimming with expressive detail and hitting every emotional note the artist intended.

This performance dovetails perfectly with the Platina Integrated amp, should the two be used together. And if both are partnered by QUADs new ESL X electrostatic speakers, the sonic result is vivid, expansive and startlingly realistic – like a window on the music has been thrown wide open.

When the two Platina components are paired together, this creates a system with two separate DACs – even more flexibility for multiple source components. By utilising the balanced XLR analogue connections between the network player and the amp, the digital inputs on both components are kept free, combining to provide USB-C, USB-B, USB-A, HDMI ARC and four S/PDIF inputs, in addition to the amp’s RCA analogue inputs. An impressive array indeed!

QUAD Platina Stream price and availability

The QUAD Platina Stream network player launches alongside the Platina Integrated amplifier, with both available from November. It comes with a choice of silver or black front panel, at an RRP of £2,999.

Summary: QUAD Platina Stream

 

• QUAD’s first high-end network audio player

• Top-tier streaming engine delivers remarkable sonic transparency

• Dedicated app – a versatile ‘command centre’ for local and cloud-based music libraries

• Integrated Qobuz Connect, Tidal Connect and Spotfiy Connect

• All steaming services supported to maximum hi-res/lossless sound quality

• Roon Ready, Plex built in, UPnP compliant and AirPlay 2 included

• Ultra-resolution digital audio – 32-bit/768kHz PCM and native DSD512 over Ethernet, Wi-Fi and USB

• ES9038PRO 8-channel, 32-bit DAC in balanced differential configuration with dual master clocks

• Digital upsampling and five filter options

• Proprietary post-DAC and power supply circuitry

• USB-B and USB-A inputs in addition to Gigabit Ethernet and dual-band Wi-Fi

• Built for a premium experience, with a 4.3in colour display and feature-rich user interface

• Available from November – RRP £2,999

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