 Streaming music can be done in many ways. The Watson-Amazin Analog is perhaps the easiest way if you are in for a somewhat upmarket solution. Watson is a new brand, founded by the Swiss company Engineered Electronics. And it currently only has two products, the Amazon Digital and the Amazon Analog. Both enable playing music from a computer over the network to your stereo. In this review the Amazon with Analog outputs. Let's see where it fits into your stereo. You need a stereo with a free analog input on your amplifier. The two RCA's on the Amazon Analog have to be connected to a stereo line input on the amplifier or receiver, for instance the CD or AUX input. The network connector on the Amazon is then connected to the network router using a network cable. There is no Wi-Fi option. You now have access to internet radio and tidal and cobus streaming services using the free Watson Music app on iOS or a DLNA app for Android or iOS. If you run a DLNA server program on your computer or NAS, you can play music from there too. The DLNA server program and controller apps are widely available for Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and iOS. Alternatively you can install Roon on the computer and use the Roon remote function on the smartphone, tablet or computer. Roon supports Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, iPad OS and Android. Airplay is also supported. The Amazon Analog has a remarkably shaped housing with a beveled edge on one side. It measures only 104 x 87 x 38 mm and weighs 382 grams. On one side we find the right and left analog outputs on RCA connectors. A small red LED on the left shows the device is powered on, while on the right a red LED shows that the music is playing. On the rear a 5VDC power input to connect the supplied worldwide power supply tool. Next to it the network connector. That's all folks. No knobs, no buttons, no settings, it just works. Next we find the larger circuit board with piggyback on it a small board computer based on a Texas Instrument ARM Cortex-AX processor that also handles the network functionality. Despite the fact that it can run at a gigabit per second, it is programmed to work at 100 megabit per second for sound quality reasons. There is a DDR3 memory and an eMMC Nound Flash Drive, both by Samsung. On the main board we see low drop-out voltage regulators and an ARM Cortex-M0 microcontroller. The analog output circuits are found here with the SiriusLogic-slash-Wolson-WM8742-GEDS DAC chip here and two clock crystals close by. As said there are no controls on the Yamersen analog. If you own an iOS device you can use the Watson Music app which is a proprietary DLNA controller that supports Cobus, Tidal and internet radio. So you don't need to install anything apart from the Watson app of course. Since DLNA is an open standard you can use any DLNA app on a smartphone, tablet or computer. The possibilities then depend on that app. I normally use Glider as DLNA app and it worked here too, but I prefer the Watson Music app. Another way of using DLNA is by installing Audirvana 3.5 on your computer. It will immediately recognize the Amazon Analog. Especially Audirvana users that have their computer connected over analog directly to their stereo will improve the sound quality enormously by using the Amazon Analog. Also using a moderately priced USB DAC will sound considerable less. By using the Audirvana Remote app you can place the computer elsewhere in the house and control it from your smartphone or tablet. Another option is to install Roon on a computer. Here you have to activate the connection first by going to Settings and Audio. Look for the Amazon Analog and give it a name. You then select it. If it is your only Roon endpoint it will be the only entry here. Again, you can control Roon from a smartphone or tablet. Apple Airplay is also supported so you can play music directly from Apple Music, aka iTunes or other Apple devices that can function as a source, like iPhones and iPads. In all cases the volume can be set from the app you use to control playback. It's about the easiest setup I know. Audirvana and Roon are not free. Apple Music comes free with Apple products. The Amazon products can be updated when necessary. First download the update file from the Watson site, open a browser and type the IP address given by your router to the Amazon. You can find the IP address in the opening screen of the Watson Music app, in the device listing on your router or in Roon setup audio. It is reported with vendor name EngineerSA. You then select the update file and press Start Update. On the same page you can change the name in, for instance, Amazon Living. Be careful with non-alpha numerical characters, especially if you also want to use Airplay. But neither the update nor the name change is necessary. You can use the Amazon right out of the box. The Amazon analog is well engineered. For the sound quality it is very balanced over all specs. As a DAC it equals separate DACs in the 900 euro to 1200 euro price range. The advantage is of course that the stream rendered DAC is in the same device and thus clocked from the same crystal oscillators. That makes it easier to keep jitter low, provided the circuit board design is done well. Judging by the sound it is done very well. There are no nasties like you normally find in streamers of half the price or even more. The limitation therefore isn't inside the Amazon analog. It comes with a medical great switch mode power supply by Minwell. Although being better than a 7 euro wallward, it is low on quality compared to the Amazon on analog itself. I see this often, for instance with the SOtM streamers and I understand it. If people want to buy the Amazon for its ease of operation and care less with their ultimate sound quality, they should not pay extra for an audiophile power supply. But since I do care for sound quality, I hooked up an sBooster BOTW PMP Eco 5 Volts and that made the sound more fluent, better defined and relaxed, especially in the mid-range it sounded clearly smoother yet offered more resolution. The spaciousness increased as did the focus inside the stereo image. I can only advise anyone that care for sound quality to use an sBooster or equal power supply when buying the Amazon analog. I couldn't resist to hook up the rather sophisticated Ferron Hipsus power supply I reviewed last week. The Amazon was not in the preset list so I set it to 5 Volts and plus on the inner contact. Now the sound quality was clearly more dynamic, faster, there were deeper lows, very powerful transients and further improved pace and rhythm. It sounds idiot to hook up a large 1000 euro power supply to a small 1500 euro network renderer, especially since it only draws 0.4 amps. But it places the combo in the low end of my setup 1 while with the sBooster it sits in the top end of my setup 2 and with the standard power supply somewhere in the middle of setup 2. Ease of use and audio quality go hand in hand with this network renderer. Is it a network bridge, I hear you ask. Well, I like to reserve the term network bridge to devices that have digital outputs while I use network renderer for devices that have analog outputs. Both don't have internal indexing or other consoles. They need external services to send music to them as where a network player does have indexing and controls in the device itself. Watson offers both a network renderer, reviewed here and a network bridge, the Amazon Digital. Both can use the Watson Music app or equal on a smartphone or tablet and if you want to play music from your computer or NAS and not only from steaming services or internet radio, you also need a DNA or Roon server on your computer or NAS. Or use Apple Music, previously known as iTunes or other devices that can send music over Airplay, with of course the 48 kHz limitation of Airplay. You can use supplied power supply or upgrade to an audiophile power supply to further enhance the sound quality. One last remark. At first glance you might expect the Amazon Analog to be a 500 euro device. I understand that but you couldn't be further from the truth. It's worth every cent, especially when an audiophile power supply is added. The Amazon Analog plus S booster will set you back less than 1800 euros and even with the Hipsus power supply it is a sound investment at 2500 euros. And no, I have no financial interest in power supply manufacturers. Or in Watson for that matter, but you knew that already. Which brings me to the end of this video. But know there will be a new video next Friday at 5pm central European time. If you don't want to miss that, subscribe to this channel or follow me on the social media so you will be informed when new videos are out. Help me reach even more people by giving this video a thumbs up or mention it on the social media, it's much appreciated. Many thanks to those viewers that support this channel financially. It keeps me independent and lets me improve the channel further. If that makes you feel like supporting my work too, the links are in the comments below this video in YouTube. I am Hans Beekhuyzen, thank you for watching and see you in the next show or on the HBproject.com. And whatever you do, enjoy the music.