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  3. 179569-176920

Advice for Streaming Newbies - Best Bang for Our Bucks

Hi All,

I'm currently building up my 'streaming only' system having read more reviews and forums in the last three weeks than in the preceding three months!

I'm a firm believer that I don't need to spend thousands upon thousands to get the best out of Tidal but conversely, there are good investments to be made to get the best sound.

I'd like to call on your collective wisdom for either general recommendations or specific product recommendations that give good "bang for the buck".

To start the ball rolling, my specific system looks like this:

Tidal Premium

5G Mobile Router with stock PSU (on separate extension lead)

Audioquest Pearl CAT6 Ethernet Cable to English Electric 8 Switch with stock PSU (on shared core extension lead with 2 x ifi AC iPurifiers)

Chord C Ethernet Cable to ifi Zen Stream with stock PSU (12v iPower 2) (on shared core extension)

Wireworld Chroma USB3.0 to ifi Zen DAC v2 with ifi iPower X  (on shared core extension)

ifi 4.4mm Connector to ifi Zen Can with stock PSU (on shared core extension)

Topping PA5 with stock PSU (on separate extension lead)

Audioquest Rocket 11 Speaker Cable to Wharfedale Diamond 12.3 Speakers

I have an ifi iPower Elite on Order and two more iPower X's

Possible upgrades I am considering:

Improved PSU for the Router

Improved Power Cable to the iPower Elite

More use of iPower Elite's

eno Ethernet Filter

Gigafoil v4

Improved Ethernet Cables

Improved USB Cable

Additional AC iPurifiers for other extensions

Starting from a basic system what areas of investment have yielded the best results? An improved PSU on the DAC or the Swtich? An ethernet filter? A better ethernet cable? etc.?

jabbaman
hickamore
651 posts
 

@fuzztone @laoman ++ Forget Tidal and go straight to Qobuz. Tidal uses MQA which you will soon find unlistenable. Others can speak more usefully about hardware for your particular situation. Most important advice is just get the better streaming source now, so you needn't wait until your ears force you into it.

panzrwagn's avatar
panzrwagn
514 posts
 

Threads like this make me wish I was in the audiophile accessory business. 

pennpencil
117 posts
 

Definitely, try Qobuz. I’ve tried all the streaming services and Qobuz sounds the best on my system. your iFi zen stream works with tidal natively. To work with Qobuz, you have to buy mconnect in the App Store for $6. I use iFi zen with the rme dac and it’s great with Qobuz.

jabbaman OP
56 posts
 

I can certainly give Qobuz a try - nothing to lose. I will have to look into mconnect.

@gdnrbob - my setup is detailed in the original post.

However, this was intended to be less about me and more of a generic sharing of advice for all streaming newbies.

@panzrwagn - can you elaborate? are you seeing something that you believe is wasteful or unnecessary? all advice is welcome.

jabbaman OP
56 posts
 

One thing to note, if you subscribe to Qobuz via a web browser rather than the Android App, it is £3 per month cheaper! There's obviously a Google Play Store tax there.

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