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Streamer vs. CD Transport

I have my Arcam R Play streamer and my Cyrus CD t transport both connected to a Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC.  The streamer only has an output for a coax connector whereas the transport has provision for both coax and optical cable. Therefore, I have the coax hooking up the streamer and the optical connected to the transport.  I like the sound of both, but the SQ from the Arcam seems to be slightly superior to the SQ of the Cyrus.
My question is, is this due to the inherent superiority of coax technology over optical technology?
Or, is streaming better sounding than CDs?
128x128rvpiano
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
I own a Bluesound Node2i and found improvement when replacing the stock PC with a good aftermarket.
I started thinking that what makes the Node a budget device is the lack of a high quality power supply. The PS in a streamer like the Aurender would be vastly superior to the Node. Better internals in the Aurender goes without saying.


rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,653 posts
 
I got the Arcam streamer because of a review favorably comparing it to the Bluesound.
pengun
79 posts
 
Just rip your CDs, an SSD is superior to any transport.
pengun
79 posts
 
 Just did a listen test on the same 44.1 CD files, both from an HDD and from an SSD. Both to the same DAC and to my system. The SSD is an NVME one and there is no SATA bus at all.

 No comparison at all. The SSD trounces the HDD is so many areas its not a fair contest. Now imagine how much worse your transport sounds. ;)
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,653 posts
 
HDD, SSD, NVME. SATA 

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