Streaming vs Physical Media

@retiredfarmer

I appreciate your post and sentiments on importance of CD playback in your system.

As far as streaming goes, a decent streaming setup is far from plug n play. The biggest nemesis of any streaming playback system is the ‘noise’ emitted by your router. As you’ve probably read here, many here have gone above and beyond to reduce or eliminate the noise. I am going to go out on a limb to say that a good streaming setup is close second to a Vinyl setup in terms of complexity. Once you address the noise, streaming can be as satisfying as any other playback medium. And then there is this whole endless debate on “CD is better than Streaming” without much consideration given to provenance of a recording you are listening to on a CD and Streaming services which BTW, is the single most important differentiator as to why a CD may sound better than its Streaming counterpart and vice versa. Then there is level of commitment to electronics between CD and Streaming setups :-)

In my system (featured here in virtual systems) streaming has transcended both CD and Vinyl. I still buy CD’s and Vinyl but with clear emphasis on finding ultimate recordings. For me, it’s no longer about which medium is superior sounding.

@charles1dad  well my list of the best cd playback systems I have heard are as follows. A Linn cd12, DSC Elgar Purcell pair(yes not particularly fair as it upsamples), sonic frontier transport and DAC three, Wadia 270/27 separates, Naim CDS, Mark Levinson DAC 30.5 and driven by the Oracle transport. Of that group I bought a sonic frontier transport and DAC three. The other players I have and have had that I consider a small step below these are a Krell kps20i,wadia6, Theda universal transport and gen three DAC, enlightened audio design seperates.another step down was Roksan dp1 transport and DAC, the transport was very good the DAC I didn't care for I replaced the DAC with a chord 64 and that took it up comparably to the others In the one step down category.  I was offered the Linn cd12 at at great prices the dealer was wanting rid of it and I should have done what it took to buy that one but I past on it back in the day. 

Regards 

@lalitk  yes likely a very true statement I find that setup is the difference between good and great and part of the endless pursuit! In the main system I getting close to having the cd playback the way I want it. Building a different wall mount for my turn tables still think over if I should put them on one wall mount or two. New house so new room is what is going on at the moment. A friend of mine gave me an audio research reference phono stage and in just a quick listen I think that seems much better than the on board phono section in my Ayre k1xe. So it will take awhile to get that the way I want it but all good things come over time. Also I wonder if I should belly up and buy the cartridge I have always coveted ouch! Get it setup right first then go from there. The second table I am setting up for 78 playback. I was thinking I wanted to hear some of those one more time I listened to them as a kid. You might all laugh but as a young fellow I found an old tube radio that was my grand parents radio in a cupboard at the farm I hauled it out and plugged it in. It worked anyhow dad rewired it the powercord was falling apart due to age I loved that thing and in my mind it took many years to get anything that I found as entertaining as that old bakelite radio was it was a sad day when that died. My second system I went to a tube system lol I have the beauty of that old radio plus plus. Basically where I want to go is get my turn tables setup and enjoyable I also have an mr71 tuner to finish getting setup. I wondered about an SACD player and when one of my dealers told me they were only good for about two years of regular playback then the laser would only work on cd's I wasn't Interested any more and I decided to head along the route of 78 playback as stated before to listen to some old music I liked as a kid. I bought a used clear audio table and a rega78 cartridge so not too much into it to try and have some fun. It would be neat to hear a streamer that someone has well setup but I don't know anyone who does who has a reasonably good stereo. The problem with listening to demos in store is deciding what is wrong with the demo which piece of equipment is wrong or the setup is wrong. That is the big challenge to store demos. That's where spending many weekend all winter long in HiFi stores helped when I did that as I got to hear different pieces grouped with other items and you could more times than not the determine what each piece sounded like. Lol and then the lessons where money was involved helped very much you in fact learn more when you realize you bought the wrong thing! Lol. Funny how loonie I would have thought I am now thirty years ago this last weekend a friend was over and we were auditioning receptical s and different plugs on the power cords. I know what I like but he has a better ear than I do.   

Regards Tom 

@retiredfarmer 

Thank you very much.

@lalitk 

I do not disagree with a word you wrote. I do not stream  but I have no doubt that it is capable of excellent sound quality. It  just requires more work due to hunting and eliminating many noise entry points. CD transports are an older and now mature and sorted out medium. as @nonoise wrote above, engineers know how to get disc playback right if they are committed to putting forth the effort.

Much easier and simpler to get it right with CD transport relatively compared to digital streaming at this point in time. Routers/switches/ethernet/optical/optional LPS/ etc.  Lots to consider with streaming, but if done right the listener is rewarded for his painstaking effort.

Thus my firm belief that either chosen route can sound superb if using high quality components and a clearcut plan of approach.

Charles

The Audiolab 6000 CDT has interesting specs ensuring excellent CD playback:

• The master clock is controlled by a temperature-compensated crystal oscillator.
• the coaxial output is fed from a differential line driver to ensure a flawless digital signal reaches the accompanying DAC.
• The transport is housed in its own, electromagnetically shielded enclosure, and includes a dedicated power supply.

Not bad for the price ... but of course please note what Mojo Audio say about the Jay's Audio CDT. For any of you that have owned a Mojo Audio DAC you should know how reputable his equipment is so he should  know what he's talking about!

I understand that the Jay's Audio CDT impressed him so much he stopped making computer based audio transports. Also be aware that Audio Note in the UK firmly believe the CDT is far better than computer audio streaming.