Using streaming as a main source ---DSD, FLAC, MQA Streamers and DACS

@willywonka

MQA is much more popular than these forums would indicate because of some very outspoken people. Not everyone hates it, but the haters have an obsession to make sure everyone in the world understand how bad it is.

This is very true!

Most rock music has been mastered in 96KHz so I really don’t know how so many 192 KHz recordings genuinely exist.

MQA seems to have upped it’s game since it was called out by Golden Ears.

Nevertheless it’s only really relevant if you’re a hardcore fan. The Steve Wilson re-masters of Yes, Jethro Tull and King Crimson et al are superb and are now mostly the references of these recordings. Aqualung has been truly transformed, even the SACD was very lacking.

Steve Wilson’s solo albums are great too if you like prog rock.

@kiwiscott You said you were looking for a $5k Bluesound, have a look at an N200 new or used, it’ll do everything you need and more.

Just a thought.  I suggest a used Lumin U1 Mini with a linear power supply.  Lots of these on the used market.  Along with that you can pick up a used PS Audio MK1 DAC for about $2000-2500.  Use the AES/EBU connection.  Great economical way to get very, very good sound.  Excellent sound stage, very good imaging, very accurate timbres.  That is if the rest of your system is up to par.  

I was a fairly early adopter of streaming. My mistake was buying a low-ish end Denon streamer around 2012. Denon no longer provides support for various streaming platforms on that old unit, so it became an iPhone playback unit via a Firewire cable (no Bluetooth). The unit is now collecting dust in a closet.

I recently purchased a Cambridge Audio CX 81 which has an okay onboard DAC with an USB B input. I'm just streaming from a PC using an upgraded USB cable. I have an Amazon HD account which includes a very small library of 24/96 and an even smaller library of 24/192 files. The general playback is 24/48 which does sound at least comparable to CD's (on my system).

As I am just a Stereo Enthusiast (Audiophiles have much larger budgets than I do). I find the PC makes a decent streaming source. And after my experience with a Gen 1 streamer, I am reluctant to buy a dedicated streamer. Besides, with my entry-level system and 67 year old ears, I don't think spending many thousands on an Aurender would benefit my system, that much. Maybe a used Bluesound.

@motown-l -- a couple of thoughts...

-  Getting about a decade's worth of use out of a digital technology product is actually very good. Nothing to complain about there!

- There are a number of people that make a good argument that having 24 bit music files (compared to CD's 16 bit depth) is more important to good sound than whether they have 96K or 192K sampling rates. Personally, I find the care and attention to the recording by the engineers and producers way more important than the specific file format used.

- And though heresy to some, I find my Raspberry Pi makes for an excellent streamer for both my local collection and Qobuz subscription. It feeds a Schiit multibit DAC. I'm in the camp that finding a DAC you like is way more important than which computer picks up the signal and sends it to your DAC (and ALL streamers are computers, whether dedicated to just one function or not.)

mlsstl - Thanks for the informative reply. I agree that a well engineered recording, whether analog or digital, does make the biggest difference. I also appreciate the discussion of bit rate vs sample rate.