If you stream music from the internet, I can't recommend this more highly


I had been using a Roon Nucleus to stream Qobuz, with my Chord Qutest directly connected to the Nucleus. I thought I was getting pretty decent sound quality. And then I got a marketing email from Small Green Computer touting some of their optical gear. The basic idea is that normal cables and connections used to stream from the internet pick up noise of one kind or another (radio frequencies and electromagnetic something or other). But fiber optic cables and their connections/interfaces do not. I don’t know anything about anything, but it made theoretical sense to me, it wasn’t a huge amount of money ($1,400), and with a 30 day return policy I figured I could always return it if I didn’t hear any improvement. Well, I didn’t just hear a slight improvement; it was like turning on the lights in a dark room. Much greater clarity and detail, much better micro and macro dynamics, better timbre to acoustic instruments -- overall just more lifelike. Two quick examples: I’ve listened to some of Steely Dan’s top songs 100s of times over the course of my life, and this is the first time I’d ever noticed a particular and very subtle sound characteristic of Fagen’s keyboard in Babylon Sister. It’s hard to describe, but it’s like there’s a slight sound of air being exhaled by it. The other example: the specific timbre of whatever percussive instrument is used at the beginning of Copeland’s "Fanfare for the Common Man" (a recording by the Minnesota Orchestra). There’s more of a metallic sound than a drum skin sound to it that I didn’t know was there before. The metallic sound starts in the center and then projects out and to the sides, like a wave washing over you. Anyway, I’m just thrilled about having stumbled upon the whole "optical" thing and felt obligated to let others know about it. If you stream music over the internet, I highly recommend giving it a try. (The product I got was the opticalRendu, with the linear power supply option, and the Fiber Ethernet Converter Bundle option.)
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richtruss: That sounds like an interesting approach. I might give it a try at some point, especially since you offer a return window.

treynolds: Sorry, I’m not tech savvy. I can’t explain it. Maybe richtruss or sonic79 can offer an explanation? All I know for sure is that the sound quality improved and it’s not subtle.

philgo01: I think SGC servers work with just about any streaming service EXCEPT Amazon. But that’s just servers. I have to think that the optical technology could be used with Amazon somehow. That’s my next venture. If I can get optical working with Amazon HD, I think I’ll be done as far as my end-game music source is concerned. Regarding ROON: no, it won’t work with Amazon, because Amazon is preventing it -- won’t allow it.

djones51: "The devices do work, the thing is it doesn’t matter unless your DAC is junk." My DAC is hardly junk. It’s the Chord Qutest -- considered by many to be the best DAC at or near its price point ($1,700). One of your other comments seems to suggest that you agree that the Quest is a quality DAC: "The Qutest is very good at noise rejection."

arafiq: Thanks. It’s good to know that others can confirm the improvement in sound quality. One of the posters above (douglas_schroeder) wrote an excellent article about his experience with optical, which agrees with our experiences: https://www.dagogo.com/audio-blast-sonore-systemoptique-signature-rendu-se/?fbclid=IwAR3jp6Gth94SMBi...
I posted this on another thread. It is how to get the OpticalRendu and fibre for maybe lower cost and simpler design. I have not read this whole thread.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/dac-preamp-amp-recommendations/post?postid=2088310#2088310

@feliks you can try to add a filter between the computer and the dac instead. It might be better than the Node 2i. In general computers are "noicy" and generates a lot of overlay on the electrical signals. All streamers are computers but they are normally done in a way to reduce these problems. For something as cheap as the Node 2 they probably could not do much, you might get he same quality with a simple Raspberry Pi or almost any computer. For the more expensive streamers they spend a lot of time and money to make the problems go away. 

Here is one filter, you can also find cheaper ones like the AudioQuest Jitterbug and many in prices between these.
nano iGalvanic3.0 by iFi audio | Galvanic Isolation for USB 3.0 (ifi-audio.com)
i agree with others on the steaming posts that the best way to stream music from tidal or Qobuz is to use a fiber internet network if you want dead quiet transmission. If you have to use any other cable, then you have to apply bandaids to get rid of the noise.
If you use a computer/music server that sits on your rack and connects to your dac thru usb (these music server are just dedicated computers), then you have to apply bandaids to usb to improve sq. If you want to stream music from the internet or from ripped music on your hard drive, then all you need is a dedicated computer located in another room running Roon or other apps like Audirvana/jriver/pure music and use Ethernet to connect to your dac. This setup will sound better than most music servers that are attached to your dac using usb.
This is Andrew from Small Green Computer.

A number of people have asked me to make an in depth video on the subject of optical isolation. Here it is.

https://youtu.be/iwtzN5spDUg