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Going from computer audio to dedicated streamer

A few days ago I purchased a Bluesound Node 2. Immediately after hooking it up I noticed a more relaxed less digital sound than I was getting from my Mac mini into my Wyred 4 Sound Dac-2. My hookup for the Mac was via a good usb cable into a Musical Fidelity Vlink192 coax into the Wyred 4 Sound. It is every bit as detailed as streaming Tidal through the Mac but is more "musical" and relaxed. An example would be on high dynamic contrasts the Mac could sound harsh and a little piercing in the highs. This was with every speaker I have owned. Not that it sounded bad overall, actually sounded quite good but I am loving this upgrade so far. No more messing with Amarra or Audirvana for me and dealing with the associated crashes etc.   
I am curious of others experiences good or bad moving away from computer audio to something else.
Also is anyone running an external hard drive with their music collection and running though the Bluesound or similar device and how is that working out?   
mofojo
mofojo OP
2,304 posts
 
Yes I am currently running the node directly into the w4s via coax. The Vlink or similar reclocking device is to improve the jitter before entering the DAC. Sounds very good as is but I am curious if any improvement could be made with a device like this.
ghosthouse's avatar
ghosthouse
4,316 posts
 
@mofojo
Gosh, don’t be spending any more money on my say so ! :-)

I was just curious if you might have tried the V-Link in the path and to find out if I was alone in thinking it made a difference.

It has been a good while since I first hooked up the Aries. Things are getting a little fuzzy. I’m pretty sure I first tried it with coax out direct to the Gungnir. While the Aries Mini DOES have a USB out, my Gungnir does not have USB in. (Hence the V-Link) Thinking a simpler more direct path would be better, I went with coax out from the Aries when I first got it.

What is NOT getting fuzzy is that I was initially disappointed with the Aries>>Gungnir sound compared to the MacBook>>V-Link>>Gungnir. The sound was kind of thin (best I know how to describe it). For whatever reason it occurred to me to try the V-Link in the path using the USB out from the Aries. What a relief ! The sound really came alive...much more fleshed out and (dynamic?). Maybe it’s due to jitter (lack thereof) but I was thinking something else at play. It wasn’t a subtle improvement.

Anyway , if you can get that W4S Remedy with an in-home trial period, would be an interesting experiment. I’d be very curious what you think.

mdelrossi1
79 posts
 
@mofojo 
I'm running a synology NAS as my music drive. Just point the Node to the folder on the NAS and it indexes the music and plays just fine. the only problem is album art. My collection is a mess that I made in iTunes and doesn't  transfer well. I'd say half of my collection need to be fixed.

project for a rainy day.

samac's avatar
samac
499 posts
 
@mofojo 

I've had my Bluesound Node 2 for nearly a year. Like you I heard an immediate improvement; more musical, refined and easy to listen to. I'm very glad to have the computer out of the way and I can't see ever going back to USB.

I believe I'll also try the W4S Remedy soon. Too many good reviews and user comments not to give it a try.

Cheers,

Scott
rbstehno
1,470 posts
 
Went from a nice Mac/audirvana setup to the auralic Aries and a big jump in performance. The Aries was hooked up to my w4s dac 2 dsd using a aq diamond USB. Since the Aries had a Fenton clock in it, I didn't need to use the w4s recovery USB reclocker. The GUI interface iPad app is fantastic, I could use the ds lightning app or the lumin app to control the Aries. 
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