Because you expected it to.
Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?
Earlier this year I upgraded my system. Briefly, new Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP integrated, new Lumin D2 streamer/DAC, kept my Tekton speakers, bought a 10 year old Muse Erato CD player, new Nordost Red Dawn cables all around. After plenty of break in, the Lumin D2 streaming Tidal, even 24/96, does not sound close to as good as the Muse Erato. I understand the Muse was about $10k new years ago, I paid $650 for it on Audiogon, is that the difference? It replaced my Naim I had for 20+ years and I bought it on the chance I want to listen to something not on Tidal, but now I'm going to CDs when I want to sit and listen instead of streaming. I considered upgrading to the Lumin T2, but will that be more of the same Lumin sound, which is accurate but thin and a little cold compared to the Muse. I like the Lumin when just letting Tidal shuffle music as I move around the house, but from the opening note in an A/B test the Muse just sounds so much warmer, live and simply more enjoyable. Any thoughts or suggestions?
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- 122 posts total
f917025 what cool aid are you drinking? Do you honestly think that the thousands and thousands of audiophiles accross the world are getting rid of their CD players because their new streamers suck? We have been at this rodeo for 30 years, and often times when this situation occurs, it is a simple matter of finding out what the issue is, sometimes it is because the older unit is voiced to work better with the system as it is vs the new product which may be more transparent. Sometimes it is just a burn in warm up issue, a cold dac/ streamer or CD player will take one to two days to come back to sound quality after being unplugged and moved. Other issues could be that this listener wants a really warm or more rolled off piece of digital where the Ifi DSD pro for example which uses tubes has a fatter more colored sound than the Lumin. DSD sounds warmer based on the technlogy and how filters are applied, ask most listeners to decribe the sound quality of DSD vs PCM, We were around when DCS 20 years ago was showing how transcoded PCM files sounded distinctly different than the same file played as a PCM file. There is also no such thing as basic sound or intrinsic sound quality when a system is an aggregate of all of its parts. Think of it like cooking, you start with great ingredients, and then add a pinch of salt or pepper or other spices to bring out the flavors you wish. Most dishes even with great ingredients don't come alive until flavor enchancers are added to the meadly of the other ingredients. If you omit the salt, pepper, vinegar or acidic ingredients, and other similar flavors even the great ingredients fail to capture the palet. Same thing with a warm beer, same product pretty uninspiring at room temp unless it is a porter or stout, but cool the beer to right temperature and add the right glass and the experience is radically different. Dave and Troy Audio Doctor NJ Lumin dealers |
It is the different DACs which is contributing most of the difference in sound you hear. I have a high end CD player with a digital USB input to allow a network bridge (streamer with no DAC) to run through the same DAC. Initially CD sounded better. However by making the following adjustments to the streamer they now sound virtually identical: 1. Connect the streamer to the router via Ethernet not WiFi 2. Turn off in the streamer the following: Bluetooth, WiFi, HDMI, and any other connecting methods other than Ethernet 3. Introduce a good quality network switch (eg Cisco) between the router and the streamer 4. Use Cat8 Ethernet cable. 5. Try different USB cables. This provided subtle improvements. After these changes the sound is almost identical. |
A high quality dac ,like the new Lampizator amber 3 which is $2750 is a vacuum tube dac and night and day better then Any streamer with built in dac is you want a you are there 3D perspective enjoy the music .com just gave it a rave musicality 5 stars across the board. a good outboard dac and good usb cable , you are all set. Here is no point buying a better streaming dac even their $10k LUMIN will not touch the new Lampi Amber 3 thst I can assure you having a great designed dac and then add several Vacuum tubes to the mix even streaming will give you a much warmer real perspective ,even less then ideal recordings are listenable ,and a 2 week return policy if not happy. I sold my PS Audio dac That was $6k to buy this Amber 3 it is thst good, and can make it better still with a premium fuse and great vintage tubes ,from Brent Jesse recording ,or Andy at Vintage tube services. |
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