Classical Music for Aficionados

@phomchick Again I'm afraid I have to disagree with you because
 the direct Steam DAC still suffers from the Garbage in Garbage out principal. As an example my friend suffered from the principal   that it did not matter what the digital source was you could not get better quality by giving it a better source and bits was bits syndrome. I told him to come down with his digital gear( a laptop and a desktop ) and we would play his gear against mine. We agreed to stream a piece and play also from a hard drive. As I had thought his laptop put up a  dull uninvolving sound and his desktop was a little better. I then played my laptop and he was saying a see I told you so with his eyes . I then connected up my PC and it was a different ball game completely, my machine demonstrated much better dynamics and far more detail to the files. Now we were both musicians and we know how instruments sound and he was in complete agreement that my source sounded so much better.

jimwhat instrument(s) do you play? 
guessing: piano

No unfortunately not piano but classical guitar and Renaissence  Lute for about forty years.

Jim
please describe your guitars and lutes
i play an old Guild F30 flat top steel string, have others, fancier,
but the Guild plays so easy I seldom play any other
i play simple stuff, dylan, beatles, fingerstyle (no pick)
got a piano last year, an old Yamaha U1
learning to read!
it would be wonderful to play classical music,
but I started so late in life

Hi Jeremy, I had a few guitars in the years I was playing . I had two wonderful Lowden guitars , a jumbo one ( boy that thing could project and one that was the same size as the Martin D19 which was a lovely guitar to play. I also had a few nice classical guitars of which my favourite was a bespoke one made by William Kelday the man who makes guitars for Tony McManus the Scottish fingerstyle guitarist. In 1973 when I was taking lessons in classical style guitar I found out that I liked to play renaissance lute music and at the time to buy a lute was totally prohibitive as they could only be made as one offs and the cost was sky high. I did not let that deter me so I managed to get some plans and some tone woods and made my own seven course lute. It actually turned out not too bad and I then started playing William Byrd, Francis Cutting ,John Dowland and my idol JS Bach. I played those instruments for many years and I still have the lute lying unused in a cupboard for a good few years. I gave up some years ago when I was discovered to have diabetes and due to peripheral neuropathy I couldn't feel the strings beneath my fingers so I had to give up playing altogether.I now only listen to music but have to admit that it is piano music most of all that I am interested in.