Computer Audio..Stream or download?

Lalitk, I suspect that soon cds will not be issued, I doubt that streaming will ever amount to much either although it may be very convenient. I have many HD downloads and they are better but PCM is not the way to go either. So what is the answer? I am fortunate to have many old SACD, mainly from Japan and now have them on my SSDs in native DSD and have a music server that plays them now in double DSD and soon in quad DSD. I realize that this is basically pro gear, but it is so much better than what else you can buy. I must say that I also have a Polish Stereo192 DSD dac with I good many modifications within. What you really need is a very low latency computer with built in SSDs.

I know all of this is pie in the sky stuff, but I suspect mainstream companies will soon go this way if someone finally moves to true HD downloads. Reputedly, SONY is transferring all of their master tapes to quad DSD files. Now all we need is for them to be made available. There are also companies recording now in double DSD but what I've heard none are of top musicians or singers.

One thing is certain CD players are a dying component. I should say, however that ripping cds to my hard drives and playing upsampled to double DSD pushes the filter out so far that you can hear the full information on CDs. 44.1 is midfi.

Tbg LOL !!!

"I doubt that streaming will ever amount to much"

Oh man - Streaming is what the entire world is evolving too.

Not just for HI-FI but streaming is pretty much revolutionizing how we share information with everything.

Not too long in the future there will be no need for any physical media and it will all be streaming...

Fsmithjack, you may be right right for people accustomed to earbuds. I need realism rather than 24/7 noise. Frankly when I'm at the club, I have to wear ear plus to keep the racket out (what some think is music. But I do agree that CDs are going to pass away. I wonder where streamers will get their music. I doubt if streamers can do much more than 44.1 sampling rate. I listen at nearly 3 million sampling rate.

Fsmithjack, I just committed to a Aurender N100H. I should have in-house by end of next week. I thought it would be good start. I will post feedback by end of August.

Tbg, like yourself I am hanging on to my SACD's and CD's. I realize CD players are a dying breed, but some Hi-end manufacturer still continue to churn out CD player that cost thousands of dollars....I guess some purist still buying those players. I am quite content with my Krell Cipher SACD/CD player.

Cheers!

If you are going to do a lot od DSD playback or use HQP to upconvert all to DSD, i would strongly recommend looking at Lampizator. Used, as DSD only L4 Lampi will run you about $2,500.

I think the DHT versions will give you even more and a Lite 7 is the cheapest entry point there. Lampi uses "chipless" DSD and its unlike anything else in digital to me. Lots of guys with deep pockets and SoTA setups are jumping for the top model, the Golden Gate, but its quite pricey at $18K approx. They are also pairing that with the new Lampi server, the DSD Komputer which is a maxxed out CAPs style server for about $7K or so.

I myself have a Big7 and am delighted by it.