The problem with streaming

I’ve found that with a dedicated music streaming system like mine, the sound quality exceeds that of any analog setup that I’ve used over the last 50yrs. As a result of slowly coming into the 21st century, I now have thousands of LP’s and CD’s languishing in storage bins in my basement. 

Vuch,

I enjoy streamed music immensely, but it took awhile and some experimenting to get there.

First, and most important; I have found that the best streaming service for quality is Qobuz. I’ve had Tidal and the latest Apple Music service. If you are looking for a sound to equal or in some cases better CD players, then I would suggest you try Qobuz for a month or two.

Second, I have experimented with different streaming connectivity options. I do not have a standalone streaming box, but we will use my son’s system as an example.

His Devialet Expert Pro 220 is a DAC, a preamp + phonostage, and an amp. It has streaming capability with all the major services. The source is either 1) an Apple Macbook Air, 2) Apple iPad Pro 12.9 or 3) Apple iphone. Connectivity from any of these can be either via wireless airplay, airplay-ethernet, usb from ios device, or usb from os device. Using Qobuz as a high resolution streamer up to 24 / 192 requires that an app to be loaded via the app store (Apple) on the source device. Its a decent full-featured app, although a bit kludgy in some ways. Newer laptops do not have an ethernet port, instead relying on wifi. This limitation is easily addressed with a usb / ethernet adapter dongle.

What I have found to sound best, by a very significant margin, is USB. Airplay is wonderful for it’s convenience and sounds decent, but will not sound as fully resolved as USB. I’ve also found, much to my surprise, that the qualities of theUSB cable influence the outcome. In particular, cable length. I’ve found 1mtr to sound best. The Kimber Kable silver USB we have is not a very expensive cable, but it bests the Beldin USB cables (2mtr and 15ft) we have.

The sound we get from the above should meet your standards, and I feel, will surprise you just how good it can sound. Expensive dedicated streamers I’m sure are the ultimate,  but great results can be had as I have described.

Try Qobuz. 

For me I’d rather listen to different music every week than the same stuff I’ve listened to for 40 years. The only way to do this is through streaming. I never went down the vinyl route but I would be broke if I bought hard copies of all the new music I’ve discovered since getting into streaming 5-6 years ago.  

As has been said over and over and argued to the point of exhaustion. Streaming is not a replacement to vinyl but a compliment to all other sources of music a person has access to. For me I will take music any way I can get it. Yes there are delivery sources that are much better and enjoyable than others but don’t think they will ever create an isolation system that will allow me to play a album in my car. I still use and enjoy my Nakimichi Dragon cassette deck and the live radio concerts I recorded over the years. Many will bash this medium but I don’t care as I will take my access to music any way I can. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the music and wear a teflon coat for the criticism to come!

Wow @sgreg1 now that Dragon has been well amortized down to penny a day.  Well done.