Solid state - How wide can 3D image go

soundstaging is much more about your room acoustics (size, shape, control of reflective surfaces), speaker set-up, and the elimination of distortion than media types. certainly source electronics are also involved. the idea is that when system set-up is right, the music ceases to be heard as coming from speakers, it comes alive in your room. bad acoustics and poor speaker set-up and distortion (non-musical noises) localizes the music as coming directly from the drivers instead of being holographic.

and the best systems allow each recording to have a unique presentation for that recording as far as soundstage characteristics. if every recording has the same soundstage, that is not musical truth.

sure; tubes do bloom more than some solid state, but the overall system is more significant than the circuit design.

in my room with almost all solid state gear, i can get 180 degree wrap around soundstaging with the right CD files. even behind me to the sides with out of phase information on some recordings.

or......in a poor room with poor speaker set-up, the best soundstaging recordings or media (or tube gear) can be limited to between the speakers.

it’s about a good room and the care of system set-up mostly.....not even level of investment (or tubes in and of themselves) is that important to width of soundstage.

I agree that the room and placement is important, but digital equipment can definitely affect your soundstage. A key technical feature of a good streamer is low jitter, with negative results being a poorly defined or smeared image. The DAC you are using certainly figures into the equation as well. Can you provide some details on what you using for streaming and DAC? 

Hi All,
I agree with the setting up the room to get the best acustics. I can’t explain why, but what I can say is that using the Philips CD player (has a CD or Transport) I get a huge sound stage. If I then change to a Sony CDP-997 (has a CD or transport) it does not give me that big of a sound stage.

I don’t think the my DAC (Moon 280D) is the issue because of what It is able to do with the Philips CD player.

Believe, I’ve seen some time ago, Nelson Pass saying on interview to Steve Gutenberg that on the amplifiers the 2nd or 3rd harmonic had impact on the imaging.
I understand I can’t change my gear at this level, has this would require skils I do not have.

I may be wrong but based on what I can test at home, I don’t think my DAC (Simaudio Moon 280D with MiND) is the issue, has it is able to cast a wide stage when converting the information form the Philips CD player on both Optical and Coax inputs.
I think whatever I need to do to increase the sound stage/3D image, needs to be done at music server and the transport (LAN) of the music to the DAC.