Hey tinkering can be fun. I’m an engineer so I tinker all the time if there is a problem. Even if not sometimes, just for fun or to try something different. No end to the variety of good sounds out there for one to experience.
Anyone else feel like it’s the Wild Wild West?
I’ve been following the streaming threads here for a while now, and I find it both exhilarating and intimidating. I mean, we all know everything in high-end audio matters to some degree or another, right (Ok, maybe except for the flat earth contingent)? From what I’m reading and from my own experience the process of optimizing steaming has near unlimited potential, and some even say it rivals or even surpasses vinyl if taken to the max. Cables, routers, optical, filters, extenders, power supplies, switches, etc., they all seem to make a significant difference despite the naysayers who say bits are just bits. I’m all in on this steaming renaissance, but most of the jewels of useful info are buried in other posts, so I’d like to have this be a consolidator post of your best streaming experiences and recommendations for others who could benefit greatly from your hard-won victories and maybe save a lot of people the agony you went through to get to streaming nirvana. So have at it — let’s empower this community in this noble task and help everyone realize the amazing potential of this magic gift to audiophiles. What say you?
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Regarding the “wild Wild West” digital is the exact opposite to me. Very diversified yet with a natural order to things that provides many safe shelters Now if the topic were modern day gun violence in the US, the wild Wild West would be an appropriate analogy. But that’s something to discuss and take a stand on elsewhere. If hifi were in fact like that, I would probably find a new hobby. |
@moonwatcher I tend to agree, but I will say I think I’m finally on to a fix and if it works I’ll be a pretty happy camper given the sound quality I’m getting for $399. And although I’m forced to use Wi-Fi now due to traveling, when I get home I’m plugging into a Wi-Fi extender via Ethernet cable, and from what I hear there’s no problem with that connection. I’m not sure this problem is unique to iFi, but that’s not much comfort and there’s absolutely no excuse for them not having phone support, which to my mind is inexcusable for a company of that size and I’m sure that’s losing them business. BTW, when I finally get this fixed I’ll do a separate post detailing the solution(s) that will hopefully help other unsuspecting victims of this nightmare. @drbay You’ve got a really nice system, but I think the Node is a significant bottleneck to better performance. Many people here have experienced very significant improvements moving up the chain from the Node and I think it would be a good idea to at least try a better streamer — you could buy through Amazon and just return it if you don’t find meaningfully better sound. In your case I’d highly recommend looking at the Innuos Zen or Zenith (depending on budget) as they’re not only excellent streamers, but their Sense software is widely reported to sound fantastic. And as a huge bonus they have a built-in server and disc drive so you can load all your CDs into it, ditch the CD player altogether (although you would need to add a DAC), and have access to all your music from your chair — plus your CDs may even sound better than through your CD player as well. Anyway, just my $0.02 FWIW. |
I agree with this. Digital is pretty easy, and comes naturally to me. I find analog on the other hand intimidating. Cartridges, arms, belts, plates, alignments, weight, and all that... very confusing for me. It’s all about the level of comfort we all have with any audio medium, just like with everything in life. We are all different people. Let’s enjoy what we are comfortable with. There is simply no right or wrong with our choices, just preferences.
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I took the easy route: Started streaming in 2019 with a Bryston BDA-3.14 streamer/dac which sounded really good to me, I have no vinyl so no comparo to do. Had some problems with rasberry Pi based streamer internal to the piece. Talked to Bryston and they (at the time) couldn't get the streamer board. So, we agreed that I will trade-in the 3.14 for a BDA-3 brand new, zero cost to me, I mean zero, no shipping and a return label for the 3.14. That my friends is customer service. Then purchased a Nucleus+ w/2TB drive installed. Hardwired ethernet to Nucleus and then USB to DAC. The DAC reclocks the digital input anyway and buffers around 10 seconds of the feed. An Apple Macbook pro running Roon. Streaming from Qobuz. It sounds amazing to me, particularly DSDx2. Could it be better? Sure. I'm with @mike_in_nc on this thread, nothing really fancy going on! Audience balanced cables to ARC pre, Audience 10ga power cables on all the front end. Total all in ==> ~$7k. A'gon should add a "Streaming" category! Regards, barts
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