I had two great sounding systems in my house. The main system was substantially more expensive than my second system. My main is using an Auralic g2.1 (G1.1 at the time of comparison) while my second system was using a Node.
here’s the odd thing to me… when I put the node into my main system the SQ notably decreased, as in immediately evident. However when I put the auralic into my second system I didn’t notice really any bump in SQ at all. It sounded great with both and I never had any desire to upgrade the node there. I wish I could pinpoint why this is, but it just is. I’m happy with each in their respective places.
Discerning a difference between streamers is difficult...only me or common for all?
I have struggled to appreciate the upgrade to the streamer in my system. A couple years ago I had an Audio Research DAC 8 being fed by a Bluesound Node 2i. I picked up an Aurender N10 and did not appreciate anything so sold the N10. I tried a couple all-in-one units. First was the Aurender A20 and I was happy but curious about dCS. I got a Bartok 2.0 and felt the music was more natural sounding from the Bartok and sold the A20. I have always wanted the Audio Research DAC 9 to match all my other AR gear so got one that showed up on eBay a couple weeks ago. Since I couldn’t use the Bartok to stream I ordered a new Bluesound Node Nano so I could utilize the DAC 9 immediately. The pair sounded wonderful but I did not compare it to the Bartok. I ended up getting a quick buyer and it was already gone. The following week I purchase an Aurender W20. I was prepared to have my mind blown....but no. Some albums I could not tell any difference in the sound and others I think the W20 sounded slightly better but again...nothing huge. For the money and the space the W20 took on my shelf, I sold it. Over the years I always appreciate upgrades for all other components. This makes me feel like I am losing my mind. Have any others experienced this regarding streamers? I want to try more. Auralic and Lumin are on my list.
Thanks,
Dana
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Ten years ago I bought the original blue sound vault. At first it was good enough. Over time I went back to vinyl. About a year ago i started to convert my system to optimize streaming. I bought a holo spring 3 level 2 dac and used the vault as a streamer. The improvement was more than subtle but not huge. When the new blue sound nodes came out I bought the "older" n130 node and used it as a streamer. The improvement in sound quality surprised me. Timber, tone, depth and separation of instruments improved. I thought the node/holo spring 3 combination sounded very good but a tad warm. I bought an innuos pulse. The change in sound was subtle but important to me. There was more sparkle to cymbals and a little more sizzle to the high notes of a French horn. What surprised me was that I could now understand what more of what the singers were saying. Not a big difference, but enough to keep the innuos. By the way the innuos app is very usable for someone who does not like computers. |
I’m not going to doubt what you heared but… Some of the things that can mask the difference between components and cables in a system: 1. Room acoustics 2. Speaker positioning 3. Objects like large furniture between listening chair and speakers 4. Excessive bass Something to consider when you’re comparing components. But you said you hear large differences in phono stages so perhaps your system is streamer/transport agnostic. Have you tried a CD transport compared to your streamer? |
OP, to get the most out of your digital, you have to optimize the whole chain from the wall to the DAC. This includes going to a fiber optic connection which can be a bit of work. The server/streamer to get is the Taiko if cost isn't a consideration, almost as good is the Playback Designs stack which would entail replacing your current DAC. A lower cost alternative would be the Lumin U1 and L2 streamer/file server stack which is what I use. |
@dxbwineguy Interesting results, but your test did show that there are difference in streamer SQ. Can you describe the differences and why everyone preferred the WiiM?
I recently bought a WiiM Pro for one of my sons and I just ordered a WiiM Ultra as a Christmas present for another son. I've never tried inserting one into my system. Might be interesting to try it.
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