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Best DAC/Streamer for low quality music formats Mp3,Youtube,etc

Hi Gang. Looking into get into separates in the near future and with the vast assortment of high quality streamers available I'm trying to determine which ones could "potentially" make the best of lossy mp3 files. Majority will be 320 KPS. Sometimes lower. A lot of the music I listen to isn't available in better quality formats and some are even 256 or 192. Hell some of it is YouTube lol. I know this isn't ideal. Just curious what streamers/dacs are generally considered best for not bringing out the worst with these formats. Budget is between 1,000-3,000. Willing to go higher if necessary. That being said I listen to music in higher quality formats when available so I need something that would be able to perform well with both ends of the spectrum.  For my new system I'm either going to go with a tube intergraded that would compliment my turntable and the speakers I want (Klipsch heresy or forte) or something more comprehensive that would already include a dac/streamer that fits my requirements. Have a large mp3 collection and stream from both Tidal Hi-FI and Spotify. Will sometimes use YouTube as a music source too when sampling albums.
128x128unclecorky
sjeesjie
51 posts
 
Wow, a budget of 1000 - 3000 for streaming low quality music.. I think the higher end systems lay low quality sound bare. Maybe lower your budget a little bit?
melvinjames
416 posts
 
Not sure if this will be helpful but during the hot summer months I use a Marantz HD-AMP1 which has an ES9010K2M on board. (The DAC is a bit older and certainly not Sabre's flagship.) When playing lower quality streams from Spotify/Pandora/etc. I prefer it to my other DAC's which include an MHDT Lab Pagoda, Chord Qute EX, and dB Audio Labs Tranquility. Obviously, implementation is key but you might want to explore DAC's which use Sabre's technology.
unclecorky's avatar
unclecorky OP
2 posts
 
SJEESJIE- That's the dilemma, though. Only about 30%(give or take) of my streaming with be from low-quality sources. The rest will be Tidal's Flac format or MQA when it's available. I don't want to go for a less capable DAC/streamer at the expense of the better quality sources I utilize. Need something that can play nicely on both ends of the spectrum.

MELVINJAMES- That is helpful, thank you. I was looking at the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge, which I believe uses a sabre chipset. I know one of the Peach Tree Audio's Intergraded uses Sabre technology too. Not sure which model, but I remember reading that when I was researching intergraded systems.

sjeesjie
51 posts
 
If I was you I’d buy a Bluesound Node 2i. That would sound tremendously on your tube integrated. It costs half of your budget, so you can take your wife to a nice dinner and show her that Audio isn’t all that bad :-) If you’re still missing “something” you can add a nice DAC eventually (Chord Qutest, Mytek or RME-ADI 2) and you won’t get any better SQ wise.
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