A good LPS for digital is absolutely not snake oil as long as it is replacing a lower-performing built-in power supply. I’ve used separate LPS’ in many instances, all of them have made a positive difference. The most surprising? Adding a Farad Super3 LPS to power my Uptone EtherRegen when I owned it. Adding the EtherRegen to my digital delivery very subtly helped lower noise and improve timing, but adding the Farad to the EtherRegen resulted in a much bigger impact than what the EtherRegen brought on its own, increasing clarity to a greater extent and greatly reducing fatigue. I almost returned the EtherRegen until a friend convinced me to try his Farad. The moment I did I ordered one for myself.
Streamer creates a Wow experience
I started streaming by running USB from my iPad to my DAC using Qobuz, and I thought it sounded pretty good and was happy. Then I compared this to playing CDs and much to my dismay I slightly preferred the CDs. This was a depressing moment. So I reached out to you guys and several of you assured me if I got a dedicated streamer it’d be much better, and while I always believed a streamer is important and can make a difference I still found myself a little skeptical how much improvement there would be.
So I decided to heed the advice here and after some research got an iFi Zen Stream with their upgraded power supply. After getting the Zen linked to my WiFi and using mconnectHD to be able to stream Qobuz through the iFi — Holy Crap!!! I expected some improvement but I was not prepared for the huge leap in sound quality I was hearing. Every aspect of sound improved markedly and my jaw was on the floor.
Anyway, you guys were so right in assuring me a streamer would make all the difference. And this is through my HeadFi rig and can’t wait to hear what this sounds like on the big rig. Thanks for your helpful advice and getting me through this. I’m one shocked and very happy camper.
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@charles1dad I use the SPDIF from my Oppo as a transport so obviously could be better. But I will say that steaming with the Zen Stream is vastly superior in every way over playing CDs in my current setup. Not even close. |
- 70 posts total