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Streamer vs. CD Transport

I have my Arcam R Play streamer and my Cyrus CD t transport both connected to a Schiit Gungnir Multibit DAC.  The streamer only has an output for a coax connector whereas the transport has provision for both coax and optical cable. Therefore, I have the coax hooking up the streamer and the optical connected to the transport.  I like the sound of both, but the SQ from the Arcam seems to be slightly superior to the SQ of the Cyrus.
My question is, is this due to the inherent superiority of coax technology over optical technology?
Or, is streaming better sounding than CDs?
128x128rvpiano
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,653 posts
 
I might add that I mainly listen to classical, and I find the IDAGIO streaming service, even without hi-res capacity, superior sounding to Tidal or Qobuz.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
I find S/PDIF coax superior to optical. Have you tried using the coax on the transport? I run coax from both my transport and streamer to my DAC.

Another possibility is your transport is not up to the task. There may not be enough jitter correction. You could try  aftermarket footers on the transport, use a damping weight on top, try a better power cable, use power conditioning. 


rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,653 posts
 
Lowrider,

Do you have more than one coax receptor on your DAC?
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,411 posts
 
Yes, 2 inputs, but only one source can be used at a time.

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