As the title states, I am still unsure of if I need a dedicated streamer and if it would increase the fidelity of my music compared to how I am listening at the moment. Which is using AirPlay 2 from my iPhone to my Hegel H590 Integrated amp.
I know that the DAC in the Hegel H590 is considered quite good and it was one of the reasons that I bought the amplifier to begin with. However, would I get a better input using a dedicated streamer for around $1000 (such as the Cambridge CXNV2 for example) or would I be better off leaving things as is?
I am just not sure if airplaying music to the Hegel is degrading the signal in comparison to a streamer that would pull its own data and send it directly to the amplifier? Also, would improving my router placement and wifi signal make any difference to the sound since my Hegel is hardwired using a mesh wifi system?
I am open to switching streaming platforms if I can gain something out of it such as resolution but I’m not sure if apple music is the issue in any of this.
If the answer to the title is a no. I am curious what I would need to take the quality of my listening experience to the next level or where money would be better spent to achieve that. I do have acoustic panels in my room and have done my fair share of research on speaker placement already.
The only thing that I have been considering in the near-future would have to be the isoacoustics gaia 1 feet.
Once again, a measurementalist feigning objectivity tosses logic to the wind and resorts to an ad hominem, the perhaps laziest of all loigical fallacies:
Again... some of you guys apparently have completely incompetent distressed boxes for DDCs and DACs that only a 20k idiot box streamer can save them.
Interesting conversation. @benanders@yage what streamers have you owned/used? Yage it looks like you’re using a Raspberry Pi in your main system - I’m assuming this is still the case, yes?
The last streamer I owned was the Oppo Sonica DAC with a company-approved power supply modification. It’s still a fine DAC, but once the parent company killed the disc player lab in CA, the Sonica app and streamer functions failure rate became increasingly problematic until I was spending far more time dealing with freezes than listening to music. The DAC works and tests well enough that a used one can still sell for what I paid for the “whole package,” if not more - how often does that happen for audio kit, eh!?
Anyway, the Sonica “streamer” was supported for less than a year post-release, then every buyer was largely SOL. Since then I’ve had a few “loaner” streamers visit my system (purely for the curiosity of others - not for feeling need myself), some of considerably more cost and sophistication than the Oppo Sonica all-in-one. Blind testing didn’t result in anything consistent for the device owners, so I consider that there wasn’t [noticeable] audible difference in what various streamers were doing in my system. I purposefully omit brand/model names to prevent anyone online feeling need to dogpile to the contrary. To each their own on that matter.
Presently, I use a RPi for streamer and USB-to-DAC (have used one of the coax / TOSLINK-out hats too, which also was fine). I have a couple of 4b’s lying around but haven’t taken the time to swap out the 3b+ I started on. The 3b+ by design does have (minimal) USB bus issues in my use case, but a few split-second glitches here and there between tracks apparently aren’t enough to trigger my “FIX IT!” response. Another project for a holiday someday!
I should have said “freeware” not “open source” for the streamer OS, since there are many of the former for the RPi platform. If whichever service I’m using is discontinued, all I have to do is reformat an SD card. There are some very impressive streamers / processors on the market that use the RPi as the device’s computer. There’s probably something to be said for that ;)
Let’s not forget the intention here is not to argue whether streamers’ quality scales with device price (zero evidence for) or if there is audible difference between streamers (zero evidence for; limited evidence against). My point was there are more demonstrably sensible ways for OP to get audio kit performing better… as long as OP knows what “better” would be in the particular setup.
I think music source files of known parameters and/or DSP would be the most logistically sound (pun!) options here.
My experience has been that the streamer will need a separate DAC. The built in DACs just are not as good. I experience this both in the Blusound 2i and the innuous Mini MK3. There was a significant improvement for both when ran through a Shiit Byfrost. A high end streamer might be ok.
This is going to sound very ignorant....and I am uncertain if I clearly understand all of the streaming options....but what I use for home...
- Qobuz via 100 mbps over air internet to Fiio M11 Plus LTD balanced cable from the Fiio to the back of my Sony STR DA5700 ES receiver which feeds ML Ethos in a treated dedicated room....for me this sounds excellent.
Would an alternate streamer improve this chain?...and if so where would it go?
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