Newbie Looking for Advice on Streaming Music


Hello Audiogon world.

I am new to this hobby but I think it will suit me well as it looks like it is an endless pursuit of perfection of sound without ever really getting there.  I love the endless possibilities, difference in thought, technology driven aspect mixed with old school art.

I am in the process of building my first 2 channel set up and recently picked up a Primaluna Dialogue HP and a pair of Sonus Faber Chameleons for starters.

Im looking to stream music from Tidal to the new equipment as simple as possible without compromising sound as much as I possibly can (budget permitting of course)

I have been doing some research and I must say this part of the equation is rather confusing with a lot of technical speak that gets brought into the discussion which is a bit overwhelming for a newbie trying to soak it all in.

Do I need to purchase a high quality DAC?
Can I just buy a streaming box like the Paradigm PW Link or Def Tech W Adapt and hook it into the Primaluna?
Do I go with the Halide Design DAC HD D/A Converter from computer straight into Primaluna?
I also read about the wyred4sound modified Sonos Connect.  Does that plus into a DAC or straight into Amp?

Apologies for all the newbie questions.  I did try searching and doing some research but found myself getting confused.  If someone could help me clear up what I will need that will set me on the path to researching the best value for my budget for each component I will need to accomplish my goals of streaming my music from Tidal.

Thanks in advance.  I think this will be a fun hobby!

Don

donblackie
@audioengr 
Steve

Thanks for all of your input in this thread.  Can you let me know where I can read more about your wifi solution you mention above?

Thanks

Don

I'm afraid I don't have anything to read.  It's a $1K option for my new $13K Overdrive SX DAC, which has Ethernet interface.

I use this WIFI solution interchangeably with my wired Ethernet and they sound identical.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

@audioengr 
Understood.  You seem like someone that is very passionate about this stuff.  I like to read about things I am buying so I can understand them better.  Understand that you might not be marketing this as a product.  If you plan to in the future, put out some literature and let me know so I can do some studying on it before I purchase.

Thanks!

Don

Don - I can always sell one if you want one.  30-day money-back.

I will never add a webpage for it or put photos on my DAC webpage.  Maybe I could put photo on my audiocircle forum:


Steve N.

Empirical Audio

@audioengr

Just looking at your oscilloscope plots, I would say you have plenty of triggering issues - this would explain why you get bimodal distributions and distributions that look a mirror image of each other.

You would be much better served by analysis of the final analog output of the DAC - any jitter will show up as distortion of the known digital input signal.

The APx555 by Audio Precision is designed to robustly test for jitter by injecting known signals.

https://youtu.be/2ac1bJih05k