@devinplombier - There are no stupid questions, so no need to apologize for asking. One significant advantage that a fiber connection has is that it avoids an electrical ground connection. A lot of the noise in digital signal transmission is passed over the ground connection, often referred to as ground plane noise. Using a fiber connection prevents related noise from being passed into the connected device, allowing it to perform at a higher level. John Swenson is a renowned digital engineer who has written extensively about this issue and its impact. Hope that helps.
Any audiophile use computer (MacBook) as your audio streaming source?
I rarely see any audiophile talking about streaming audio digital sources from a computer. I understand MacBook can accept native lossless formats form all the various platforms, and it can store unlimited music files in any format, so supposedly it’s the best source, and the digital file is the most purest before it’s fed to the dac. Anyone compared the sound quality of computer vs other audio streamer?
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@yyzsantabarbara Well, believing that most DACs just magically 100% “handle” jitter is ignorant and minimizing its impact on digital sound is blowing hot air in my book. Most people here who’ve added a DDC with superior clocks or better external clocks have experienced significant improvements, and if most DACs just simply “handled” jitter as you state that would not be the case. Period. So you can “believe” whatever you want, but that’s a fact born out by many people’s real-world experiences here, and minimizing the effect of jitter is just peddling misinformation. |
@bill_k This is correct.
A DDC is superfluous if streamer has quality clocks, low noise, optimized outputs.
Jitter has long been understood to affect sound quality mostly in the sense of what is described as 'digititus'. Even extremely minute levels can be heard, much of the what we hear as a more analog like presentation comes from attending to jitter in both streamer and dac.
Streaming setups have to be treated holistically, this means from internet provider all the way through input on dac, this is in actuality a system. Consider the provider as source, dac as the output or to make an analogy, the loudspeaker. Any weak link, I don't care where it is will away from the whole, you are simply not hearing the full potential of your streaming setup. Why anyone would have a great dac with a lousy streaming chain prior is beyond me, just like having great loudspeakers with lousy source or amp components. Losses can exist at any point in chain, you CANNOT make up for those losses by providing excellence elsewhere. I'd actually go with the Linn philosophy for streaming chains, the idea being the source is the most important component in chain. |
I don't get it, Audiogon generally a gathering of subjectivists, yet it seems many streaming arguments come from objectivist perspectives on data being packets of zero and ones that can't possibly be affected by noise, jitter, this is ASR nonsense.
For those seeking enlightenment of at least consideration of other perspectives go to audiophilestyle forum. |
I'm currently using an i9 MBP as my Roon Server/streaming source. I spent a few days this summer ripping 600 CDs to Apple Lossless. The Roon Server is also connected to Qobuz. The laptop is connected through USB to my MCD85 2-channel SACD/CD Player from McIntosh.
The CD player is then connected using balanced cables to my MA352. I listen through a pair of bookshelf Sonus Faber speakers with an additional sub. I'm happy with the results, and the screen on the laptop is used for lyrics, etc. and the Roon Signal path is lossless. For comparisons, I also have a Sonos Port connected to the MA253 through RCA and to the MCD85 using coax. I'm sticking with the USB input directly from the i9 MBP because I think I get the best signal path that way and for convenience. I just need Amazon Alexa to control the Roon Server/Player so I can scream at Alexa to play any of my 7,500+ tracks or anything from Qobuz. If the new Mac Mini comes out with the Apple TV form factor I might switch to that or maybe the Roon Nucleus One. Either option, I don't think, matters until I put a pair of $10K+ speakers on the system. On a final note, you can argue if I'm an Audiophile or not, which may or may not disqualify my answer! :) https://store.roonlabs.com/products/nucleus-one/ https://www.mcintoshlabs.com/products/integrated-amplifiers/MA352 |
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