The problems of jitter and timing were solved a decade or two ago! Nowadays a $200 Ch*nese streamer is indistinguishable from the four/five figure touted offerings of the High End (hand me your money, please!).
Check in: How quickly are streamers and servers evolving?
This is a question for those who have been trying streamers and servers recently, watching reviews and product launches, or who just know their stuff and keep up with the technology. I am trying to separate market hype and churn from what is happening, technologically.
Many have said that DAC technology development has slowed down enough for people to feel comfortable spending real coin on a good DAC. Good to know.
So my question is: How quickly do you think streamer and server technology is evolving? Is it still a moving target -- in other words still worth being somewhat cautious about perhaps waiting before dropping serious coin as the technology is soon to change again? Or are we slowing down?
(For those who think these technologies can be accomplished in economical ways (Raspberry Pi, etc.), I'm still curious about your opinion about the speed of change, regardless of whether high dollar expenditures are unnecessary.)
Of course the other yet integral issue is how fast music catalogs are keeping up with the hardware changes to supply the new hardware with files that it can play. I just watched Darko discuss the Spotify move to CD quality (which he celebrates and for which explains the rationale), and it seems most of the music out there continues to exist at CD quality only, not higher resolution.
(Oh, and before someone chimes in with how analog beats digital so why bother...please don’t. I know you think that.)
Many have said that DAC technology development has slowed down enough for people to feel comfortable spending real coin on a good DAC. Good to know.
So my question is: How quickly do you think streamer and server technology is evolving? Is it still a moving target -- in other words still worth being somewhat cautious about perhaps waiting before dropping serious coin as the technology is soon to change again? Or are we slowing down?
(For those who think these technologies can be accomplished in economical ways (Raspberry Pi, etc.), I'm still curious about your opinion about the speed of change, regardless of whether high dollar expenditures are unnecessary.)
Of course the other yet integral issue is how fast music catalogs are keeping up with the hardware changes to supply the new hardware with files that it can play. I just watched Darko discuss the Spotify move to CD quality (which he celebrates and for which explains the rationale), and it seems most of the music out there continues to exist at CD quality only, not higher resolution.
(Oh, and before someone chimes in with how analog beats digital so why bother...please don’t. I know you think that.)
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I think the OP is answered. Here's where this thread seems to dead-end for me. Thanks to @jjss49 @corente @headphonedreams for offering detailed answers with justifications about where things stand. Plus, your sense of what that implies for the best ratio of effort/reward ratio at the moment. From what I see here, no one has offered a good reason to think that the streamer/server side of things is as stable as the DAC side. Many have argued well that this side of things is still changing rapidly (tied, as it is to the technological churn of the computer industry) and "investments" is a word deserving of quotation marks. These edited comments from above will stick with me: @jjss49 - dac technology is quite stable/mature...very good sounding dacs are less expensive than ever, from chi-fi and other makers -- this brings very good sound to the budget audiophile, and puts alot of pressure on makers of 3-4-5-6 grand dacs on really delivering something superior... they are really making super high quality output stages as in megabuck line stages with excellent circuitry, isolation, parts quality, often with tube buffering to get purity and beauty in tone to go along with the excellent resolution that can be gotten out of the d/a conversion stage... @corente DAC's: ...have reached the technological maturity...there will not be major changes in the next years, except perhaps the DSD ratio. |
Completely missing the point. But whatever. There's a lot to be said for, "Get off my lawn." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NelBNtNm8l0. Most appropriate funny reply in a dogs life. Not exactly PC. Right on Clint. |
- 78 posts total