Critical elements for hi-rez music streaming?

Thanks, Rich, for your thorough information. The transporter I had borrowed for evaluation unfortunately had a problem with its AES/EBU output and so I could not try to connect it with my NBS Professional AES/EBU cable with the Audio Synthesis DAC-2 external D/A converter (with AES/EBU input) that I am currently using for my Forsell Air Reference MarkII transport. But going through two cycles of D/A conversion defeats the idea to stay in the digital domain until the processor.

As digital S/PDIF cables I use Meridian, NBS or Transparent Audio cables which have declassified many other contenders.

Do you have any insights in the sound limitations that are caused by elements before the transporter? I thought the transporter with digital in and digital out is not likely to negatively influence the sound quality, but the elements before are.

Rogerwalk: "I stream the wav files through a network router to a different room where a network player/bridge (Logitech transporter)decodes the WAV files and sends it via S/PDIF cable to a Meridian G68 XXD pre/processor which in turn converts the signal with its 24bit/96kHz DACs into an analog signal for the amplifiers and speakers."

Rogerwalk: ""But going through two cycles of D/A conversion defeats the idea to stay in the digital domain until the processor. ""

Can you explain to me where there are two cycles of D/A Conversion? Because unless I'm missing something in your explanation, I only see one D/A Conversion.

Your connection should be Transporter digital out to your Digital in of your Audio Synthesis DAC-2 and then Analog out of the DAC-2 to your Meridian G68 Analog input, then your Meridian would be acting as a source selector and line-stage at that point, and not performing a second D/A conversion. Furthermore, if you are using digital out of the Transporter then you are bypassing the Transporters DAC. The only D/A conversion that I see in my above example, would be your DAC-2.

Rogerwalk: ""Do you have any insights in the sound limitations that are caused by elements before the transporter? I thought the transporter with digital in and digital out is not likely to negatively influence the sound quality, but the elements before are.""

Yes absolutely, you have everything before the Transporter set up correctly, there should be no sound limitations as far as I can tell in your setup, as long as you have the Digital Volume all the way up on the Transporter.

When you say," the Transporter with Digital in....." above, are you referring to the Ethernet Cable as your digital in? If not then what are you referring to in your above statement when you state, "I thought the transporter with digital in and digital out is not likely to negatively influence the sound quality,......." Do you have a second digital cable into the transporter and if so, then where is it coming from?

Some suggestions would be to try the Internal Transporter DAC on its own then feed the analog out of the Transporter to the analog in on your Meridian and let me know how that sounds, and also try the SPIDF interface on the DAC-2, since the AES on the Transporter is currently non-functioning.

You can use your Forsell/Dac-2 as the reference, although I think your Audio Synthesis DAC-2 is very old, possibly over 12 years old, is this true? If so then it's time for a new DAC Buddy! Unless you like the internal DAC of the Transporter which should out perform much older DAC's.

Let me know what's up!

Rich

Unless the internal AKM DAC of the Transporter simply out of the question, consider a ModWright Truth mod that adds a tube staged output. You can tweak the sound quite a bit by rolling tubes and shorten the signal path in the process.

Thanks, Rich, again for your time to dive into this.
The two D/A conversion cycles occur when the Audio Synthesis DAC-2 converts the digital signal from the Forsell transport to analog, sends it as analog to the Meridian pre/pro which in turn converts EVERYTHING that goes in into a digital signal. The Meridian then converts the digital signal with its 24bit/96kHZ dacs to analog for amlifier/speaker output. There is no analog pass through the Meridian pre/pro.
When I use the Lg Transporter passing the digital signal from the Ethernet cable/network (this is what I called 'digital in') to the Meridian digital input, the only D/A conversion takes place in the Meridian for its analog output.
Re the 'aged' Audio Synthesis DAC-2: Sorry, but age alone is not a reason for lack of performance with Redbook CD material (16bit/44.1kHz). I have "challenged" the old Audio Synthesis with most modern DACs in the price range up to the $4,000 (the original price of the DAC-2) me and there is simply no reason to retire it at this time. The combo Forsell/Audio Synthesis DAC-2 just declassified in my system the ultra-modern highly acclaimed PS Audio PerfectWave transport connected directly with the Meridian pre/pro. I did not test the transporter DAC though (I explained earlier that the XLR port of the transporter was defect).
So what about the influence of the router on the sound? Is bandwidth not an issue for streaming hi-rez audio files to the transporter? What about the optical drives in our PCs? Does it matter? Why does the same CD ripped and played through the transporter not sound as good as when its played on the Forsell/Audio Synthesis combo??

great thread guys. roger, how is life in paradise!?

i am very curious about the router question as it is something i have wondered too. i literally paid like $35 at walmart as i never thought i would use it for audio. now it seems as if it should be an important part of the process but i know nothing about whether it's quality impacts what i am hearing.

i have the same issue with digital conversion, i use a theta casanova which converts everything to digital with no analog pass through. if i was to use an external dac i would need a preamp with a ht pass through. that would solve your problem leaving only one d/a conversion, correct?