Qobuz sound quality intermittent issues?

@audphile1
When I had the Auralic Aries G2 I was using a Simaudio Moon 650D with 850P power supply. The special power supply really lifted the performance of the DAC. If I remember correctly you can program the Aries to reboot nightly.


Today I am using a Audio Research Ref CD9se as a DAC, which is an unbelievably good one. My dealer dropped off a Berkeley Alpha 3 for a couple week ($22K) and the ARC CD9se was almost indistinguishable, but ever so slightly more natural sounding and $5k less. The sound was so close it took me a couple weeks of comparison to be sure there was a difference.

@dpac996 Thank you. Yes, my system is unbelievably rewarding to listen to now. The speakers sound as good as they look.

@ghdprentice awesome setup! Had Audio Research CD3 MkII years ago and to this day regret selling it. Can only imagine how good your cd player sounds with years of experience and digital evolution behind ARC’s belt now. 
Yes you can program the Auralic to auto-reboot but it results in unit freezing up. I brought this up with the AURALiC team about a year ago and it’s yet to be resolved. Not s big issue but still. I sat down to listen last night when it was quiet in the house everyone asleep and confirmed that reboot of the streamer did the trick. It sounded amazing. Details, tone, soundstage, dynamics all in spades. Was listening to Tidal and even though my dac doesn’t do MQA the system sounded as good as it should. 

Sorry, sounds like you have been having a similar experience with your Aries that I did. All issues went away when I bought an Aurender, first a 100N then the W20SE. The differences were profound. My system is simply spectacular with a library that is nearly infinite in size. Aurender knows how to build streamers. They put enormous effort into quiet power supply and the software works flawlessly with large buffers to make up for any transient internet issues. To me Auralic performed like mid-fi, Aurender performs like high-end.

In case your interest in the Aries is driven by not having access to an Ethernet connection, the solution is simple. Buy a wall wart wifi extender (~$60 ) and plug in next to your system. Then you just need a short Ethernet cable to the wall wart… and you are in business with any streamer.

@ghdprentice ethernet not an issue. I have one extender close by. I’ll read up on Aurender but so far last two days the system has been sounding great. 

Wanted to post an update….

Since my last post, the Qobuz sound quality had fluctuated several times. It’s gotten back to normal then back to garbage again. Same symptoms - cardboard bass, glaring mids, muted highs, constipated soundstage. Acceptable for background music while you’re on a zoom call but not much use beyond that.
Qobuz recently reduced their subscription fee. In a world where prices only go up…they must know they’re effin it up.
Tidal on the other hand is stable and sounds wide open.