2. digital
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A different world

For decades I have struggled to get digital even close to comparable to analog. Then finally a couple years ago after lots of upgrading and experimentation I succeeded. Streaming is equally satisfying with analog, very, very comparable. The full soundstage, instruments suspended in space, tonal balance, dead silent background, and details of brass cymbals … etc. Red Book CDs through my CD player are bested by my streamer with Qobuz or Tidal with hi-Rez versions.

 

A new world. It takes a while to get it. No longer confined to music you “own” to play over and over. Replay is supplanted by exploration. You love an new (or old album) and hit, “add to library”. It is yours.

So, HiFi+ magazine has an article on building a European 21st Century Jazz Library. I just start with the first album in the list and listen (add to library), the 2nd album (add to library), the third… the forth, fifth… a whole new category of incredible music to sit along side Miles Davis and Hank Moberly. Just a couple days in the life of a audiophile streamer. I could have never predicted this as a possibility ten years ago.

 

You love music? The goal of having an infinite audiophile library is now possible. It is possible at any high end level… just requires knowledge that it can be done… and I guess give up the idea that there is something special about your CD collection, or players.

 

I have a 2,000 vinyl albums, play them, usually one a day. They are fun, occasionally sound ever slightly better… but not significantly, I like them for nostalgic reasons.

ghdprentice
sandthemall
544 posts
 

@lalitk,

Yikes that's quite a set up you have! I'm sure it sounds amazing! Great attention to detail. 

To tell you the truth, I'm afraid to audition it! But would like to try it within my setup. Will see if Upscale can accommodate me.

Will certainly reach out to you to when I get to that point. Thanks for the friendly offer and hope you'll forgive my ignorant first comment.

 

ghdprentice OP
6,887 posts
 

@lubachl

 

Yes, that is correct. When you hit “Add to your library” it is adding the album pathway to my library, not the actual files.. So if you end your subscription you loose access. I was not trying to mislead.

What my Aurender’s does is to create a consolidated library of all my music: by locating all files on the storage of my Aurender, my NAS, and all the albums I added from my streamer into my consolidated library.

 

This is so important, or you would hear all sorts of great stuff and never be able to find it.

The cost of my physical music library was $80,000, the monthly cost of my Qobuz subscription is $14.99. The ongoing cost is so inconsequential in comparison to collecting physical media, I think of it as free.

 

I have own an Aurender N100… and listened to a N10, and now own a W20SE… each of those steps provided a very significant improvement in the sound quality. Aurender’s flagship.. the W20SE is simply amazing. With appropriate associated equipment it performs at the level of high end vinyl.

lubachl
90 posts
 

Thank you gdhprentice for the clarification. 

Now this, if you D/C the service for a month, then re-subscribe, is your prior pathway ie library of music permanently deleted or is the song/album list archived in such a way as to allow you to resume access to previously archived music. 

ghdprentice OP
6,887 posts
 

@lubachl 

 

I don’t know for sure. But I would put money that it would not create a problem. I have been an IT guy all my life. If I programmed it, I would embed the URL in the library as the reference. I would never delete it because what if there was an internet outage? You want the library persistent over time.

lalitk's avatar
lalitk
5,376 posts
 

@sandthemall 

Thank you for your kind words and no worries. I do applaud you for keeping an open mind. I have been streaming long time and started my journey into streaming with N100H. If you want to take a leap of faith, you can score a great deal on N100 on used market. While the older generation players like N100 or N10 offers high performance, the newer generation models are superior across the board. My impressions below based on head to head comparison between N10, N20, ACS100 and W20SE through EMM Labs DA2 DAC. 

The older generation of Aurender players has a softer, laid back and less dynamic presentation compare to the newer models like ACS100, N150, N200 and N20 and N30SA. They have a livelier presentation excelling in terms of low frequency extension and slam. I also heard slight edge in terms of perceived detail. 
 

Hope this helps in your decision making. Good luck!

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