Streaming, Getting the Signal, Then What?

danager

Trying to get your streamer the cleanist electrical signal might help.  If you use dimmer light switches turn them off or all the way on.  Removing any switching power supplies from the circuit and feeding the streamer with ethernet not WiFi is an easy way to optimize your sound.  I haven't tried all the tweaks like running my router with a LPS or replacing the Ethernet cable with fibre but in some instances it might reduce  background noise.

Interesting you should post this. In May '23 I completely rewired my listening area creating two 45' home runs from new, premium SquareD panel and replaced ALL my loft's 15/20amp breakers with premium breakers, all seated and torqued to manufacturer's spec using about $900 worth of McMaster-Carr silver paste. The two 45' home runs to my equipment is 8 gauge into separate PSA Power Port Classic receptacles. My electrician thought I was crazy. "You're the boss."  Mu sources are fed through a PSA PowerPlant 15.

Also, I like this and the input from audphile1

The biggest change to your sound without throwing money at it is to bypass the preamp and use the. DAC s volume control.  

I'll check back in tomorrow,,,

The biggest change to your sound without throwing money at it is to bypass the preamp and use the. DAC s volume control. 

I hate DAC volume controls. The only one that came close to the Benchmark LA4 preamp's volume control at ALL volume levels was the Lumin X1 which uses the LeedH algorithm. For me a DAC with a volume control is a bug and not a feature. 

Wow, I gotta say, reading that the DS Mk I is noisy and grainy threw me for a loop. I can say with 100% certainty that mine is neither of those things, quite the contrary. I absolutely would not change DACs if I were you. I'm sure there are better DACs in the world but not at anywhere near what the DS Mk I goes for these days. The dual I2S inputs are still pretty rare and such a nice feature to have. I2S definitely sounds better than other connections.

I have no experience with the AirLens but I doubt very seriously that's holding you back either. Fiber conversion did clean up my signal quite a bit and I have not noticed any of the bad side effects that some claim come with that method. I also run my signal through an Ether Regen (original version). I feed it with the fiber optic. I can't swear that makes a huge difference but it certainly doesn't hurt. I power the Ether Regen with a LPS.

I'm confident you'll get to the bottom of your issue and I don't think it'll cost you an arm and a leg either. If it were me I'd concentrate on the signal delivery to your components, which I think is what you're doing anyway.

@veemike you are soliciting recommendations without specifying the problem you’re trying to solve. Don’t know why you’re so surprised that you’re getting recommendations from every possible angle. 
Sounds like your objective is to tackle the low hanging fruit which in this case is your network chain, and add switches, converters , filters and linear power supplies. The easiest and the cheapest game to play. Until you look at how much you had spent and what you got back sonically as ROI. 

Remember, the real improvement is in the components, not tweaks. 

Also, I wasn’t the one who recommended eliminating your preamp. Don’t want to take the credit for the idea that I think is a one step forward two steps back type deal. 

Anyway, good luck to you and keep us posted. 

If you are using a combination modem/router my one remaining suggestion is to use a gas discharge surge suppressor at the entrance of the cable to your building.

I use a lot of things which are Ethernet connected, and a surge coming in from outside via the cable modem could take a lot of things out. OTOH, if you are 100% Wifi, then the only risk is to your router.

I don’t think there’s a realistic router upgrade from what you own. The best you can do is perhaps use a PC/laptop or phone WIFI analyzer to make sure your router is on otherwise unused channels. Even a strong Wifi signal can suffer from noisy neighbors, and the analyzers are free.

New routers and receivers may have faster transmit speeds, but music streaming is lightweight. It’s not going to make anything sound better if you improve your download speeds by a factor of 100, but putting your router on unused channels will.  I think newer routers do a better job.  6 years ago they all seemed to cluster on the same 2 channels, causing a real headache for apartment dwellers.