It's 90% DAC, 10% streamer.
With streamers It's 90% good reliable software that is easy-to-use and does not crash or hang up.
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
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- 100 posts total
I agree with @rbstehno about MQA. If you invest in a new streaming DAC, try to find one that does MQA decoding and rendering (esp. if you plan to use Tidal). FWIW, a couple of Matrix Audio products perform much better on ASR measurements than the PS Audio DS Senior, for a much lower retail price. But, notwithstanding what ASR measurements do or don't capture, many people seem to love the PS Audio Direct Stream Jr/Sr. And PS Audio products are made in USA, evidently with excellent user support. A nice feature of both the PS Audio and the Matrix products is that they support both USB and Roon-ready network connections. I prefer a network connection for reliability and ease of use. I don't find that either one necessarily sounds better or worse than the other, but sometimes I've had trouble maintaining the USB handshake when changing sources/settings or powering on/off. On the other hand, for some DSP software (like HQ Player or BACCH4Mac), you may need a USB connection. With the right recordings, BACCH4Mac (even the $1K intro edition) can create impressive spatial audio effects. Nevertheless, I find myself often returning to an ethernet connection. My system: sonicTransporter i9 (runs Roon Core); Mac Mini (intel CPU) to manage downloaded music library and to run DSP software (HQ Player, BACCH4Mac); Matrix Audio Element X (preamp/DAC/streamer); Benchmark AHB2 (power amp); JansZen Valentina P8 hybrid electrostatic loudspeakers.
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I would recommend separates and upgrading in steps. Since you have a DAC already, start with a streamer. Lots of recommendations here, anything decent will be big upgrade over the iPad. Streamers do matter! Pay close attention to reviews of the streamer software/UI, if you hate the interface, the performance won’t matter. |
- 100 posts total