The problem with streaming

There was the time when I spent a lot extra to get an older pressing of Dark Side of the Moon. It tuned out to be not so great.i have heard better sound from CD's and streaming. My mistake I am sure, but it is tough when you spend extra and not get what you wanted. I still prefer Vinyl because of the Album Art, liner notes and joy of handling something so old that sounds amazing.

I was just thinking how album art, lyrics, production info, personnel.  It was as much fun as listening to the album

"Erstwhile, there is a reason vinyl has enjoyed such a massive resurgence. It just feels good. There are many sensual reasons why we enjoy music. They all don't fit neatly into the "It just sounds better camp". Tactile, visual, pride of ownership and collection, and nostalgia all play a role."

@ricmci, you nailed it! 

Why do we buy killer stereo equipment? Surely there's more to it than only trying to obtain the best sonics we can? For me, that's the driving purpose. However, pride of ownership also plays a role to varying degrees. That extends to ownership of a collection be it vinyl, CDs, tapes, or others. 

I take pride in owning a really great pressing and trying to preserve it. For me, nostalgia is a sentiment that I'm not able to shake when it comes to playing vinyl, it enhances my overall listening experience.

We have reached a really exciting time in audio history. At long last digital can equal analog. So, for the next ten years or so, if you want the very pinnacle of sound quality you can go analog… but the shift is slowly tipping to digital.
 

The digital and analog ends of my system are equal at this point (see my system under my ID). I am upgrading my turntable with a new arm and undercarriage , just for fun . But the two are completely in the same league… I suspect the upgrade will be a small improvement, fun. But in 10 years the least expensive way to sound quality will go to digital.

I have really enjoyed analog. It has been the empirical ruler against which to judge sound quality since I was 7. But it is about to fall into history… as am I. Technology moves on, we enjoy the best there is during our lifetimes. Once it was 78rpm records.

I’m a record guy for sure and will probably never stop buying physical media. i like to own things, it brings me pleasure and most of the time it sounds better. But from a convenience perspective I cannot imagine (willingly) giving up streaming at this point. I play qobuz in the mornings when I’m working and can’t easily pick out (and get up to flip) records, I stream it in the car, I trawl bandcamp for new stuff when I’m bored, I send songs to friends via text and they send songs back to me...streaming is a joy. I recommend anyone who’s still skeptical to consider the discovery aspect first and foremost - if you’re happy living with the same Beatles records you’ve been spinning for 50 years, more power to you, but if you’re tired of what’s on your shelves you can be listening to something brand new 2 minutes from now. It is so, so easy these days

The title of this thread is the problem, I'd never begin a thread with the "problem with vinyl." There is no problem with vinyl and there is no problem with streaming, I enjoy both for all the reasons given above. Why do we always have to battle between the two, what is the real problem people have with streaming? Always seems like a Luddite argument to me, some people don't like change.

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.

The original post, on its face, appears to be a reasonable cause of doubt. However when you consider the time and energy that goes into the process of professionally converting A to D, it involves a lot of time and money.

A couple of years ago  a very famous producer was in her New York studio with the family of deceased jazz artist. She commented how are after they had remastered at the 192/24 resolution, she said “he was in the room”.
 

So I think IF a company or individual or insert the blank, takes the time and energy to remaster A masterpiece, wouldn’t they have the wherewithal to know that there are varying qualities of source material? It may be an assumption, but anyone that is serious about their trade and reputation in that field, you would think that they would want to source the best.
 

If we humble (sic) audiophiles recognize that there is better media, why wouldn’t these professionals?

BTW my Roon somehow switch the stream to Airplay, dumbing down the rez to 44/16. My wife commented “what happened to the quality of the music?“ It had been going into my preamp on HDMI. Gotta figure out how to get rid of an airplay…

re: remastering engineers botching a job/using an inferior source, asking whether they "know" what they're handed is "the good one" seems kind of obtuse. some certainly do a great job, but with material outside of niche markets many engineers are probably just given something and they do their best with it. and their best might not be what an audiophile thinks is best. some go crazy with the compression and (an audiophile might say) wreck the dynamics because that's a sound that the artist or a label person wants/expects. others master for airpods, car systems, bluetooth speakers etc because that's what almost everyone on earth uses for playback these days. and a lot engineers are probably just regular people with a job to do, and some days may just phone it in 

61 yrs old. Audiophile for 40yrs. Went from turntables - last was HK/RABCO ST-8 with mid range Grado cartridges. Then switched to Philips CD player then a series of NAD players and never used the LPs and Ebayed them - then the turntable was Ebayed (before I knew about Audiogon). Loved CDs until I witched to Bluesound Node 2i and love it. I do miss "owning" music (still have 600-odd CDs) but the Node sounds at least as good as my Yamaha Aventage CD player (which I hardly ever use - thank goodness it plays DVD's/BluRays) and the convenience more than compensates. Long live streaming. 

@clearthinker I have 28,500 LPs (7,000 78s/7,000 CDs and RR&Cassettes). I agree with every comment you made. Friends and relatives cannot tell whether I am playing an LP or a CD 75% of the time. I have many 1,000s of less perfect LPs in mastering, quality and condition. Most would not make Tom Port’s list (he said so).

I like digital as well for convenience, playing time and just as my other formats, for which an abundance of music us NOT AVAILABLE and NEVER WILL BE AVAILABLE for streaming. About 40% of my collection falls into these parameters. Now include the lack of detailed booklets and easily accessible librettos on most streamed music. Next, one day the streamed music is there, the next it maybe removed or altered (different mastering).

I stream music which I don’t have and want to hear on occasion, generally jazz, often from lower quality YouTubes. My 3,500 ethnic music recordings are 95% unavailable on streaming. About 85% of 78 rpm recordings are unavailable on streaming. I would like to stream my 78s if they were properly remastered (especially if they have adequate notes).

@mijostyn Absolutely! Recording & Mastering of a recording is the first step in achieving an accurate copy of a performance. I hate saying that I’m an audiophile because I am most interested in the music first and foremost. @sgreg1 I even listen to cassettes and R2R on occasion to rehear a great performance.

Unless one is listening to music being reproduced at a similar level as the original recorded sound, there is a loss of musical information. I say this because listening to modern pop on inexpensive earbuds or cheap computer speakers does not compute as great musical experiences for me. Unfortunately, most youth (up to Millennials) do not know music’s history, it’s variety of conception (types of music) or much concerning what music can do. Streaming is not teaching music if the listener only chooses similar style of music (and if it is usually modern pop). I know some of the posters here experiment if various musical genres-good for them, that’s the positive aspect of streaming. But note my prior problems with modern streaming.

The problem with streaming:

I had a hankering the other day to listen to some Beethoven, so I search Qobuz
and find a likely candidate (a German recording).  So I start it playing and I'm hearing this very low level rhythmic noise.  At first I thought it was something outside and far away.  I pause the music and it stops.  WTH is this I say out loud,
But let it play as it was very very low level.  

Well it comes to the final notes and what do I hear...the stylus in the run-out groove.  Really couldn't believe it.  Just goes to show ya never know.

Regards,

barts 

@barts 

Well that is hysterical. I think I have eventually gotten something like that on all formates I gave collected. 

I have both cd's and streams recorded from lp's, all are  from obscure artists from 60's and 70's.

I get it that one would want to keep vinyl setup to play releases not available in any other format or rare pressing. I have both in my now over 3k collection of vinyl.

On the other hand, vast majority of streams not available on newly released vinyl or any vinyl for that matter.

If one judges streaming solely on these commercial, popular artists recordings your  missing what streaming is all about. I'm into new discoveries, all genres, the obscure, I'm constantly finding incredible recordings and artists previously unknown to me. I'd never find, or be able to purchase much of this music without the streaming.

And the streaming not merely for the discovery aspect, fully satisfying for this extremely hard to please audiophile. Just last night streamed  Ultra Lounge 'Space Capades' (from the larger set of Ultra Lounge releases), this would be considered bachelor pad music from early 60's, perhaps exotica as well. All releases in this set are well recorded as this music partially existed as demonstration music for bachelors with high end stereo systems in their bachelor pads. So, segueing this 20th century space trip into a rather new contemporary discovery, Brazilian  Girls, 'New York City,' 21st century space trip.

Both these recordings top flight, wide open, transparent, highly resolving, far better than most vinyl recordings. I could add more recordings from last night's listening session, and every listening session, with same high level of sq. Any talk about streaming being inherently inferior sq comes from ignorance. Playback is the greatest variable in streaming, setting up high end streaming is both complex and subject to constant innovations. I've been experimenting with different setups for past six or seven years, constant and consistent  evolution over those years to get to present totally satisfying setup.

Financial resources also play a role in deciding which sources we choose to use. At the moment, vinyl is the primary source in my system. Resources are directed to improving components in the chain to attain the sonics I desire.

Along the way, I’ve bought or been given albums.

Since resurrecting my system three years ago, every component has been replaced. I’ve also started my vinyl collection over again from zero during that time. I don’t envision acquiring thousands of albums. Several hundred is a round number that I think I’ll be content with.

The second source I use is an FM tuner. The dial stays on the NPR classical channel.

Technically, I do stream a little. I have a line that plugs into my laptop earphone jack and connects to the preamp. Occasionally, I’ve listened to music from YouTube.

@reubent had it spot on. It allows me to check out music - if I like it I buy the vinyl.  Not just that but some music I can’t source - ie Carnatic South Indian music. The problem with it is buffering. I don’t have it expecting great sound but I use it as an public library - I have a quick borrow and if like it I buy it

IMHO streaming is for lazy people who don't want to spend money building a collection of top notch recordings. Sometimes you buy something that you wind up not liking. I ditch those recordings. The end result is a collection of great works and many of them are not SOTA recordings but the music is so important you are willing to tolerate less than premium sound. 

@mijostyn I sure am lazy, 3k plus albums, at least 2500 cd's, many albums collected from record shows, I'm gifted albums as its well known I still collect and play.

I think its just the opposite, streaming is for people who love music. And if sound quality is as bad as detractors say it is, must mean they really love music over worrying about sound quality all the time.

Please stop with the generalizations and put downs of streaming, can't we all get along? I'm happy for everyone who gets pleasure out of listening to music on their curated sound systems, regardless of format.

@sns, we definitely can all get along. When I said "The problem with streaming" it wasn’t meant as a putdown.

I’m sure you’re aware that there can be a huge difference in sound quality between pressings of albums since you have a very nice collection. The better your system, the more dramatic the difference in sonics between those pressings. You can probably tell the difference between vinyl and CD of the same release. If you have the best vinyl pressing of a particular release, I’m sure you know that it kills your CD version if your analog rig is set up perfectly. We spend a good deal of money on our systems, room set-ups, treatments, etc.

Because of all these factors, it is very important to me to listen to the best available source material regarding vinyl. A great pressing maximizes the potential of our components. The couple of hours I spend listening each time, hearing great sonics of releases that I love make for an amazing listening session.

All I was saying about streaming, is there’s really no way that you can be sure you’re hearing the best version because in most cases you don’t know the source material that was converted to digital.

We all have different details that matter to us when listening to music and that’s cool. It’s nice to live in the first world where there are multiple source options that best fit our preferences.

@sns, lighten up! We are only talking about audio here. There is absolutely nothing serious about it. The Russians are marching into Ukraine and threatening the rest of us with nuclear arms. They are killing people including their own. 

I said nothing about streaming sounding worse, I just hate the drop outs and I really do not mind flipping records or zooming through my computer's library. Another problem is that 90% of new popular music is, to my ears crap. Streaming is for lazy people. It is a godsend to people who have lost their vision, just ask Siri. Last I checked, the democrats have not labeled streaming a threat to the environment or inherently racist. You are free to do whatever you like, for the time being.

@vuch With Roon you do get the provenance of recordings, and then you have multiple versions of many many recordings to choose from. And finally, we always have our ears in order to determine quality of each version. While my vinyl setup no longer resolves at same high level as my streaming, there was a time when they were essentially on level playing field. There were times when my vinyl beat digital versions and vice versa. Advantage for streaming in long run is constant releasing of new remasters, while not always preferable to original mastering, they are often enough to make new version preferable. I often see these remasters on vinyl with ever increasing cost, how many times do I have to buy Beatles Abbey Road or whatever recording? I may have to end up spending thousands to get the best release with vinyl.

I lived in the golden age of vinyl, days when you could go to record shows and find all kinds of obscure releases for less than $20, many times far less. Nowadays, it seems everyone knows the value of vinyl, very expensive pursuit these days, the common guy can no longer play this game.

@mijostyn Now I see streaming is political issue for you. How that became so I can't fathom, really takes a conspiracy minded person to come up with that.

As for dropouts there should be absolutely no issues here with optimized wired network. Nearly all complaints about streaming sound quality related to poor network utilization. Get network in order with high quality dac and server and you have the beginnings of good streaming sq.

And actually, optimizing a streaming setup has far exceeded the complexity of setting up quality vinyl setup. It has reinvigorated my interest in the equipment side of audio, haven't felt this enthused in many years. Based on what I'm hearing I may be to end of pursuing streaming setup, now planning my vinyl side improvements.

@sns , I think you missed the point. Streaming is a total non-issue for me. My opinion is, for a healthy person it is the lazy way out. Just turn it on and forget about it. You do not have to create playlists of songs you actually like, or flip records not to mention clean them. Just turn it on and forget about it. It is what I do in my office for background music. But, for serious listening? I think you need to go out and get yourself a juke box, a Wurlitzer with all the colored lights. You can get stoned and watch the lights flash while you listen to scratchy old 45s. 

Where is millercarbon,  interested in his take on this subject.

MC is on...'hiatus'......(but not far away, I suspect...) ;)

Streaming, streamcasting, web noodling, instant audio....

I run into this sort of .....and use it for my own version of 'Muzak'....

...has its' own ' subtleties', although not immediately apparent....😏

Well, this is not my type of music after sampling it through.  I don't believe any vinyl or CD iteration would make any difference.  Enjoy.

In thinking more about perception of streaming being for lazy people I can see how that thought may occur.

For some playing vinyl is a ritual. Handling vinyl with care, placing it on cleaning machine, handling with care again to place on tt, carefully dropping arm onto record, adjusting VTA, VTF, cleaning cartridge. This all repeated over and over ad infinitum is ritual, just as so many of our rather reflexive or automatonic actions. This may be perceived as one's comfort zone and/or we can apply meaning to it. Rituals evoke many kinds of emotions, playing vinyl can be a precious activity when we apply meaning and invest emotions into it.

I also understand how the physical aspects of vinyl evoke various emotions. Values above and beyond the music contained on the grooves become meaningful. The art work on the cover, the long held possession of a physical object may be both inherently valuable in a monetary and memory sense. I still have some vinyl purchased well over thirty years ago, they certainly have subjective value way beyond their monetary value for me.

For others all the rituals stated above is simply work, little or no value placed upon it, and the value of the vinyl physical object is only monetary. I can understand how the vinyl aficionado could feel disdain for one who so undervalues vinyl and the ritual of playing vinyl.

But then, the vinyl aficianado  may misunderstand the streaming enthusiast.  They see we have very little cost in order to play our music, the perception being how can anything worthwhile cost so little. This seems rather like the Christian work ethic principle to my mind. I ask myself does pleasure require pain, work, suffering, I think not. I believe one can very much value music with very little cost, I know I do!

Perhaps I'm unique in that I live in both these worlds, playing vinyl and steaming are both unique listening activities I enjoy. I don't need them to be in conflict, got enough of that in this world!

Hi Everyone,

 Interesting conversation. I was also an analog guy until I actually set up digital properly. First, I want to say that I do import and distribute certain digital products and I'm not touting those products in this conversation but rather explaining that digital needs an incredible amount of work and time to get the harmonics that a great analog set up produces.

 In my opinion moving from Roon to Stylus music player with my Pink Faun server/streamer and adding my Aries Cerat DAC was the first step to understanding the true potential of a great digital set up. In order to set up for Stylus we had to convert all my .w64 files to WAVE lossless format. But there are a lot of small details, just like owning a great analog set up, that you need to perform before you can reach the full potential of digital. In term of streaming, Tidal is also MUCH better when played thru the Stylus player on the Pink Faun. Anyone that has not professionally set up a digital front end properly cannot understand how analog sounding digital can really sound. It's like the person that tells you hypothetically how a 911 Porsche drives without ever driving one. You need to drive the car to fully understand the true potential of that car. My suggestion is to test as many digital products as possible and A/B test products against each other when possible.

 We have tested over 100 different digital front ends on 6 very different systems and the end results were exactly the same in every system. The final thing I can say is that digital takes a lot of effort and time to get it to sound analog but once you do get it correct then you have access to a lot more music. This then allows you to explore different artist that you would never have heard before and for me just hearing some of the performances by these different artists has changed my perception and enjoyment of music.

This is just my opinion so please analog guys until you have tried to set up digital at this level, let's not poo, poo what I am saying.

Best regards,

For reference and perspective I am a trained musician who supposedly knows how  to listen for music as it happens in live settings all of which depends on electronic reproduction to be heard. Listening to music is a solely  singular experience of the mind. And mine just expanded. How? Well, friends, I just bumbled into the BIG change in the recordings of everything to which I listen, regardless of signal source origination, by the need for replacement of “failing” gain stage tubes. 

Four 6922 tube (variant) “rolled” into my pre-amp amp stages of “ how to copy a copy of a recorded performance of “best take” recordings “mastered” by a human listening to and live time self adjusting”  to the actual MUSIC often layered one performance at a time ( see Boston) and not (as it appears to have been) originally co-performed and co-recorded in “real time”. Music is now a process of limiting variability of quality best suited to the end of the chain reproduction equipment capacity to best replicate the original. A desired result with too many variables to contemplate while the recording is being performed. I just play the part. Written by the song writer. Or arranger. After that the performance is at the whim of industry, not me. Back to my point:

Those tubes (manufactured in one batch from 1976 ( hand made variances included at no extra cost) have opened and widened perceptive nuances of the sounds transferred to tiny electric codes magically appearing where they were not discernible by my ears prior to the new (old) better(?) tubes were installed. Or at least, so it appears to my ears! BTW I am all digital all the time. Conclusion: you are listening to a highly processed copy of actual music that is just that….a copy!  because I am also a pro musician and can report that from an actual on stage performance centered perspective, there is no “image” effect. If such is possible from the audience perspective it is probably due to the efforts of a good sound person. Just like the person at the helm of the replication being copied to recorded formats currently known to man. Recordings are replications of captured information. The after effect reproduction contraptions we utilize to create the reproduction of the performance of the original. Waiting for rediscovery hidden in the old stock original  6922. Who knew?  YMMV. 

@mijostyn you do make me chuckle 🤭. In ur own post you said you flick via ur computer library.

@sns ​​​​@worldwidewholesales i think ur points are very valid. If it’s about sound quality we often don’t hear digital at its best - likewise maybe streaming is for the true music lover who really cares only about the music and nothing about the format.

streaming - particularly during the pandemic - has allowed my ears to open to music and genres that one just can’t buy in record shops. Lp’s are appallingly overpriced now that they are ‘cool’ . I know people speak about 2-3000 record collections but it’s a bit like a ‘yard of books’ at a stately home. 2000 records at 45m length is 90,000 minutes 62.5 - 24 hour days - Hand 🤚 on your heart ❤️ who can genuinely claim they know their collection - assuming most of us work to indulge our hobby

Once streaming on my system equaled analog, CD, and stored files it became apparent the overwhelming cost and listening advantages of streaming and consequently it’s future. I have over 4,000 albums… typically I used to buy a few albums a month… that adds up over time.. so implementation a high quality streamer and for the cost of $15 / month my library almost became infinite.

You can justify a really good streamer and DAC as the least expensive solution over time… and unlimited access to music, no storage cost… and less getting up and down (I get lots of exercise). And honestly my discovering and enjoying soooo much new music has been incredible. I probably listen to one or two albums a week that I owned before streaming now. 

Digital and streaming are two separate issues. DIgital is fine. Streaming from your own computer library of hi res file is great, no networks involved. If you check out my system page I am as digital as you can get and I have full Roon capability, I just don't use it. Online streaming? You have to be out of your mind. Listening to that will powder coat your ear drums. Next thing you know you will be trying to eat online.

 Streaming is for lazy people.

This is a ridiculous comment to make, even more absurd to be repeated three times.  As though deliberately making something more difficult on one's self is a sign of being industrious.  And flipping a record isn't quite the same as an hour of Orange Theory.  Perhaps if you powered your TT with a pedal-cycle.  

That's not an attack on analog.  I have over 2000 records and an even larger CD/DVD-Audio/SACD/BD collection. There's nothing wrong with physical media.

Streaming can be frustrating in that typically very little provenance information is provided. But that is not true in all of digital - you can sort through all the masterings and pressings you want just like analog and get similar results. 

Digital requires skills that don't equate to analog.  So many audiophiles use analog logic that just doesn't apply, and then assume that digital isn't as good.  It takes a totally different skill set.  

Besides, the number of times I have to reboot Roon or my Auralic Aries to keep the music flowing can sometimes be similar to flipping vinyl.  Lazy indeed. 

As of last week, I have two close friends who are using dedicated Dell laptops as servers (Linux) with high end/quality DACs with high end/quality USB connection.  The media are CDs of theirs (about 3,000+ each of them) downloading them to thumbdrives using EAC.   The sound is spectacular and they retain ownership of the media and accompanying booklets.   They (and I) am not interested in streaming most of my music.  I've already stated why previously.   If it weren't for the time loss and complicated filing of 7,000+ CDs that I have, I would join them.   Plus, I have organized drawer filing for CDs (and 28,000 LPs).

After reading all of the comments on this thread, I decided to dive into the streaming world. I bought an Audio Quest Dragonfly Cobalt with a nice cord and I'm using my laptop with Qobuz and Audirvana.

I have to say that I'm blown away with the sonics while streaming! About 70% of what I play sounds better than my vinyl. Not a ton better but there's a noticeable improvement.

I still love my vinyl. The 30% of my vinyl that sounds better than what I've been able to find streaming gives me a sense of pride. I'll be upgrading my cartridge next to try and improve my analog setup. Streaming doesn't give me the joy of playing, holding and looking at the special pressings of my albums.

Someday I'll buy a real DAC and I know the sonics will improve even more. 

Good for you, and yes, the sonics will continue to improve as you improve your streaming setup. Sound quality potential with streaming will amaze!

OP,

Congratulations. Once you get a taste, it is easy to start realizing the possibilities. I used laptops and PCs for a long time… my moment was when I bought my first stand alone streamer (Aurlic Aries G2).

It only gets better from where you are. There are DACs of better quality and nearly any stand alone streamer can provide better sound than a laptop. It opens a whole new world.