2. digital
  3. 173744-96

Playing CDs sounds better than Qobuz — dammit

I’ve built a decent HeadFi rig over the past few months and am quite happy with it streaming Qobuz as a source via my iPad/iPhone.  I recently brought my CD player into the rig as there are some reference CDs I need that aren’t available on Qobuz.  Well, I made the mistake of playing some CDs and compared them to Qobuz, and in every case the CD sounds better — specifically a quieter background and more transparency overall.  I’ve got good cables from the dongle out of my iPad to the USB cable that runs to my DAC for streaming, so let’s leave cables out of the discussion for now because I think this goes deeper than that.  Needless to say I’m pretty disappointed right now because I’ve enjoyed not spinning discs over the past year or so and certainly don’t wanna go back to buying CDs again.  Ugh.

So, what I’m thinking is that streaming over WiFi through my iDevices may be the bottleneck.  IF that’s the case and I need to up my streaming game, what would be the cheapest way to go to overcome the bottleneck?  My thought is going hardwired (which I can do) to something like an iFi Stream or maybe a ProJect Streambox, but just wondering if that’d get it done?  Something else?  I need something pre-made and won’t wrestle with doing a Raspberry Pi with hats, etc. as I have no patience for configuring/troubleshooting tech.  Thanks for any advice/thoughts. 

soix
bikefi10
39 posts
 

For those here discussing old cd players, Ive got a 23 year old Toshiba SD9200N DVD/cd unit. Dont know much about it, but it was $2k back then and must weigh over 20 lbs. No remote. Can only use cd player and bypass its dac through a Geshelli J2 dac. So I guess Im just using it as a transport. 

Anyone know if a new "transport" would make any SQ improvement?

Must admit cds sound better than most HiRez Qobuz  through etherneted Node 2i using J2 dac too.

Lps SQ still better and high quality lp pressings are the BEST in my rig.

soix OP
9,456 posts
 

If you upgrade your streamer to something like Innuos, Lumin, Aurender, etc. you’ll get a big improvement in performance.  I’d start there.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

maynardewm
3 posts
 

Are you sure the difference isn't just the DAC inside of the CD player vs. whatever DAC you use for streaming? 

 

I have a Primare CD32 that I connect to a Topping D90SE DAC via toslink because I think the Topping DAC is better than whatever is in the CD32. I also connect my Laptop directly to the Topping D90SE via USB and output the sound to the same amp and headphones. 

 

This way, I'm really doing a direct comparison between what is essentially a CD transport, and Qobuz. And honestly, the difference is so small I can't tell if it's just placebo. I feel like CD is maybe slightly more dynamic and has more bass, but that could be just wishful thinking, because I'm talking a like 1-2% difference.

soix OP
9,456 posts
 

@maynardewm Your computer is significantly compromising your streaming performance due to noise, etc.  I’d highly recommend at some point you at least try a dedicated streamer to see how much better Qobuz can sound.  Just my $0.02 FWIW. 

maynardewm
3 posts
 

@soix significantly? I have never heard or experienced any "noise" using a MacBook connected to a DAC to play music or in music production connected to audio interfaces when I operated a recording studio. Like I said, there’s maybe, MAYBE a difference in sound quality that is almost imperceptible between a high end CD player connected to the same DAC as a MacBook, but there certainly isn’t any "noise" that I can hear at least. The DAC is receiving data from the laptop, not audio. I’m not sure how 1s and 0s could be made noisy.

More to discover