Wanting to upgrade my streaming sound quality.
I would really like to get my streaming sq up to my analog sq. My equipment is a McIntosh MC 452, C47, TD 124 with an AT 150 SA on a SME M2-9 tone arm, a Rega P8 with an Alpheta 3, a restored MR 74 tuner, driving Aerial 7t speakers. My streaming now is an iPad with a usb cable into my preamp with Tidal. I would be willing to spend around $2500 . A one box solution would be preferable for a steamer/dac combo although two boxes could also work. I’m not interested in multiple clocks and separate power supplies etc. Also I don’t use CD’s for a source. I do have AT&T fiber internet with up to 1000 mb speed and my modem is only around 5 feet from my audio rack. Balanced inputs is preferable but not a deal breaker. I’ve looked at the HiFi Rose 250 and the 150 although the latter is more money than I want to spend. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m an Analog guy in a digital world.
Greg
I know you don’t want an outboard power supply, but my suggestion is an Innuos Zen Mini with the LPS. Form factor is such that the two side by side are the width of a normal component, or you can stack them. The LPS does make a real difference, or you could just get a Zen mini. I have a Zen III with outboard DAC which is pretty good. My system is posted of you want to look |
+ 1 @carlsbad |
I have been primarily an analog guy for fifty years. Wishing and being disappointed by digital. Finally over the last couple years I was able to do it. It is not likely to be cheap. You can see my system under my ID. My best bet for you to accomplish what you want would be sure to make sure you have the best DAC that MAC makes and then pair it with a first rate streamer… you might start by trying a Aurender N100 ($4K)… I am not sure of the SQ of your analog end. I recommend Aurender for a serious attempt at duplicating analog’s high sound quality. I have there flagship the W20SE and that is what it took to get there. Linn also makes great high end streamers. You need both high end streamer and DAC. In my system most components ended up costing roughly in the same ballpark. My analog end cost about $35K (TT + Phono stage) and digital ~ $40K (streamer + DAC). Obviously that is only a generalization on how to look at this. But I have tried a few high end DACs and Streamers and they are competitively priced on sound quality. Unlike the lower end where there is much more variation in price / sound quality. I would imagine scaling these numbers to fit you system might not be helpful in thinking about what it might take. It can be expensive trying to go too cheap over and over again.
Good luck, it is amazing when you get there. But no less work and money than putting together a great analog end. |
