Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?

Bo - What modifications do you do to the Sbooster and what do you charge for it? 

Streaming music (uncompressed) suppose sound as good as CD player if you used same DAC. I like Tidal streaming esp with MQA. If I have collection of SACD and 192/24 HiRes music and they do sound better than 44.1/16. However, I enjoy reading CD booklet while listening to mt CDs. I enjoy the music regardless of format.

We don’t share the details of the modifications. We also modified Sbooster in the US. The costs are 189 euro excluding shipping to the Netherlands. When I have time we will place an advertisement on Audiogon. With photos and more details.

I own for over 25000 dollars on music on my Lumin L1. And I also bought a lof of DSD music all over the world. But hi-res recordings are not always better than just 16-44.1khz recordings. I have a lot of 16-bit 44.1khz recordings which are even better than good DSD recordings.

It really depends on how it has been recorded. Most recent hi-res and also MQA recordings are very limited. This is due to the way it has been recorded. I listen to new music for about 5-7 hours each week. The average sound quality is getting worse, to be honest.

Artists earn most money these days by live concerts. This has a negative outcome on the level of both music and sound quality. The way of recording; hi-res PCM, DSD or MQA never guarantees you any better quality.

But the best DSD recordings are by far the best available in the world. But DSD is not used a lot. There are also enough rather poor DSD recordings. But playing the same music by a modified music server and modified power supply together makes all kinds of streaming of this music by Tidal and Qobuz one big laugh.  

Last week we sold another modified Lumin L1 with a modified SBooster. He said on the phone; " I stopped streaming music this weekend" . I did it a lot, but now I understand your words: "This is so addictive and not even comparable" And tonight we had contact again and he said: " " Each evening I listened for hours in a row. This is so nice. "

We will soon let our clients speak. We started with different people in the US as well. When these systems are full adapted they want to share it with you. You can even visit them when you want to. In our country, we do it all the time. We send new clients to our clients all the time. Audio is all about shootout and comparison.

Bo, do your CD rips sound better than your CD player? 

I own a D2, and AudioTroy gave very helpful and useful info on dialing in the D2. First, set the audio volume to fixed. Second, enable DSD decoded playback. Third, if using Roon, set Roon to upsample to DSD and adjust the phase and filter settings to those recommended by Lumin. Fourth, use a decent power cable. Finally, if your preamp/amp permits, use the balanced outputs of the Lumin.

I thought those changes dialed the D2 in just great. I later added the Sbooster linear power supply, and heard solid improvements, namely much firmer and defined bass and lots more detail.

Very happy with the D2/Roon combo, such that I am not tempted to go to the T2.