If using Roon (highly recommended) get a dedicated music server and for me it can down to interconnects and power cords. I went for a combined steamer DAC and solved all my streaming interupts and connection problems.
Do I Need a Dedicated Streamer?
Hello everyone,
As the title states, I am still unsure of if I need a dedicated streamer and if it would increase the fidelity of my music compared to how I am listening at the moment. Which is using AirPlay 2 from my iPhone to my Hegel H590 Integrated amp.
I know that the DAC in the Hegel H590 is considered quite good and it was one of the reasons that I bought the amplifier to begin with. However, would I get a better input using a dedicated streamer for around $1000 (such as the Cambridge CXNV2 for example) or would I be better off leaving things as is?
I am just not sure if airplaying music to the Hegel is degrading the signal in comparison to a streamer that would pull its own data and send it directly to the amplifier? Also, would improving my router placement and wifi signal make any difference to the sound since my Hegel is hardwired using a mesh wifi system?
I am open to switching streaming platforms if I can gain something out of it such as resolution but I’m not sure if apple music is the issue in any of this.
If the answer to the title is a no. I am curious what I would need to take the quality of my listening experience to the next level or where money would be better spent to achieve that. I do have acoustic panels in my room and have done my fair share of research on speaker placement already.
The only thing that I have been considering in the near-future would have to be the isoacoustics gaia 1 feet.
My equipment:
Hegel H590 Integrated
KEF Reference 5 Meta
Metra Velox Speaker Cables
Thanks for reading.
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- 103 posts total
I have a streamer/dac, lumin x1, and A nucleus for roon. And this connects into my Gat cj pre-amplifier. The lumin is superb and using a separate Dac which I have I wanted to avoid due to all the additional interconnect crap and all the temptation to periodically replace the dac. I don’t find this necessary anymore and see no value in doing it. So the inclusion of a dac within the streamer in this case ideal and it took a while to find it and was well worth the search. a Streamer does mystical things that most have no clue about. The nucleus houses an operating system necessary to operate roon. And then you got the endpoint within the streamer that again does mystical things to allow all the necessary machinations to transform Data flow coming in from the nucleus. I think it Hass to do with a bitstream and clocking and changing the compression rates and all kinds of crazy stuff and no one really understands except those few who actually do. Do you need a streamer to do quality work on your music? probably yes. |
@rick_n Thank you for that response. I will definitely be trying out your Tidal suggestion since it is essentially free.
In the meantime, I will continue doing more research on the topic (obviously all of the responses here are a major help as well. |
I appreciate all of the responses. Now that it is clear that I do in fact need a streamer to take really complete my system. I am curious if there is a numerical percentage that could be attached to the level of improvement I would experience if I were to go from Airplay to a dedicated device such as a Lumin D2?
I am still a bit of a novice when it comes to all of the streaming platforms but will venture out and give the others such as Roon a try. I hope to report back in a few months with a solid conclusion on my findings and an awesome streamer to boot! |
Give Roon a try first. Install Roon Core on your mac mini and link to Qobuz or Tidal from it. Then use your Hegel as Roon end point. It will be an improvement over airplay with more coherent and clear presentation. |
- 103 posts total