Stepping into streaming, finally
As the title states finally I have gotten into streaming realm. Wanted ethernet streamer connectivity and started with Wiim feeding Denafrips Venus II 12th then into Pathos Inpol Remix and finally to Sonus Faber Venere. Well, I was not thrilled with the sound quality not to mention lack of cooperation from Wiim with pure ethernet path. Tried Bluesound Node, small steps. No dice with Node either. Came across EarMen Stacatto with exclusive ethernet connectivity and no DAC built in, exactly what I needed, very few reviews but took a chance. Well, all the boxes of my needs checked, with sound quality matching CDs, transported by Jay's Audio CDT2 MK3. I think that says a lot. Very satisfied, expectations exceeded.
@romanesq So what's the difference between the Finisar you are using and something like this:
https://www.dxengineering.com/parts/dxe-iso-plus-2#overview For someone like me who is not tech savvy, the DX Engineering looks like an easier fix, although I see it's not optical. IOW, what, besides the cabling, do you need to add to the Finisar? How is it powered? Does it need an enclosure, or you just run them naked? |
@knock1 if your streamer and DAC don’t unfold MQA you are probably better off just playing 16/44 versions on Tidal. |
@audphile1 I am using coax Audioquest Cinnamon. The other option is toslink, but I do not have cable on hand to play with this one and remember that when I had Wiim and tried toslink, granted the one supplied with Wiim so might had been of not great quality, this path was worse than Cinnamon. However, as @romanesq suggested, I am thinking of revisiting this connection with good cable. Also, as I had mentioned, I was surprised with Spotify bettering Tidal, it was similar while using Wiim and Node. Spotify has three dimensional stage unlike virtually flat of Tidal with all three streamers and all other components the same. What gives? |
