Digital Gear & Upgrade Question, What do I need?
Calling all Digital Gurus,
I currently have my library on a NAS drive connected to my network (all wired). It is feeding 2 systems into a PSA DSD and I access and control using various windows computers running JRiver. The SQ has been more than acceptable but I am sure it could be improved.
I have a third system at my work office, there I am also running JRiver but library is on a 1TB SSD drive and sent via BT. Again, works well enough but SQ could use improvement. I have been considering upgrading that system with a PSA DSD Jr and running through work network.
Now, perhaps it makes sense to upgrade my main system with better gear, so my questions are:
A- What gear is required (DAC, Music Server, whatever)
B- Recommendations
Would switching from JRiver to some software be worth it?
At work, I stream internet radio through the computer via BT receiver to pre. If I upgrade main system the PSA DSD (newer) would go to second system and unit that is there would to go work.
Budget is fairly open up to 10k but biggest bang for the buck is a plus
Rest of system is:
ARC 5se
Pass 260.8
Magnum Dynalab MD 809T
Shahinian Acoustics Hawks
SteveA
A nice relatively easy upgrade would be Roon Nucleus with Roon subscription into your present dac, pretty much plug and play. Sound quality improvement with this easy peasy setup would be substantial. Get a linear power supply for Nucleus, another nice step up. A cheapo tablet like DragonTouch through Amazon would be used as interface. Your dac could also use upgrade, I won't even attempt to steer you here.
Small green computer
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@stevea11757 -You have awesome downstream components. I had a 5SE and have heard it paired with your Pass. They are a great combination. Considering the musical quality you get from these, I would choose Aurender and a DAC like a Musutec 005. These can be had within your budget. There is synergy with your existing components. I have an Aurender and just purchased the DAC mentioned and am just so pleased by the overall sound quality. Check out the threads in the digital comments for more info, if this piques your interest. All best, David |
IMO, what you really want to get away from is streaming using Bluetooth, as that's most likely using lossy compression. Personally, I use a Raspberry Pi with Volumio for streaming duties. I can cast from my phone (YouTube Music, Qobuz) via BubbleUPnP to the RPi. I also added a shared folder as a source which I can access through the browser-based interface. The bits get converted by a USB DAC. If you'd like to experiment a little before buying a dedicated server and you're somewhat technically inclined, try installing Kodi (free open source) on a spare machine if you have one. It has similar functionality to Volumio but can run as a Windows app. Connect a USB DAC to the PC and hook the DAC up to your stereo. I use Kodi on a system based around a Mac mini.
Good luck! |
yage if I end up upgrading my main system the office system will inherit a PSA DSD that I can wire into the network. I use Kodi to stream for the TV never really thought about using it s/w for accessing library. sns Not a big fan of Tital at the moment, have tried subscription services in the past and I always end up looking for something that is not in their catalog. Willing to think about it down the road however. to all who mentioned the Aurender N10, the more I research the better it sounds. I semi like the idea of getting away from a pc based s/w to an iPad (with the exception that I just gave my air to my son, as I saw no need for it....who would have thought....) As a second set of questions to anyone familiar with the N10, if I were to get that and hold off a bit on replacing the PSA DSD DAC (as PSA is almost ready to launch their next DAC line) would I gain anything in SQ worth the investment with my present DAC, knowing I will need to replace that soon in order to hand down the equipment from system to system (and the N10 is eating up 80% of my budget,) There are some on the used market in the 4500 area which could leave me enough to do both...
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