Solo streamer

@abnerjack

Yeah, I saw your post and basically agreed.  As you’ve no doubt noticed, I’m a streamer skeptic, but you can’t have it both ways.  You can’t claim that streamers sound different, different tonality even, and then argue that you can’t hear the difference with a revealing DAC.  These two ideas are in violent conflict.  What’s not inconsistent is if somebody thinks a $10k DAC is more “full-bodied”, “refined”, blah, blah blah, but that has nothing to do with the streamer.  DACs sound different. Duh.

@mdalton  You absolutely can't have any audiophile street cred if you don't buy in to the "everything new and more expensive is better"  shtick.  Luckily not all of us accept this spew.  Of course there has to be a base line, entry level.  How far above that one must go is an individual decision.  I think the Bluesound node is an excellent streamer.  I don't feel the need to wear a price tag as a badge of honor.

For the record, my digital setup is :  Bluestream node n130 into Benchmark dac3 hgc, directly into Bryston 4bsst2, and then Magnepan 1.7.  Sometimes I alternate the Herron preamp and the Kef meta ls50 into the mix.  The sound with these variations is outstanding to my ear, but what do I know?  I have recently found a nice pair of used Sennheiser 800, and with the Benchmark dac the sound is remarkable.  I do think the headphone amp in the Benchmark is somewhat lacking and am looking for an upgrade to the Quicksilver tube amp.  I don't feel the need for any further upgrades.  But again what do I know?  

Reminds me of my favorite all time bumper sticker. "You just think you're happy" ( Bloomington, In. 1970).  In this case I just think I'm happy with my sound. 

Last month I did what rvpiano is proposing. Bought a new Aurender N200 and added it to an ~$2k (Ayre Codex) DAC. Glorious sound quality. Haven't streamed Tidal or Qobuz yet. Been playing my files off the internal SSD. Another thread said there wouldn't be any improvement over the Oppo BDP105 and Ayre playing the same files from external hard drive.The Aurender definitely sounds better.

Thanks,

aldnorab 

I agree with those who are recommending an upgrade of the DAC.  This will surely be your best bang for the buck.  I did a DAC upgrade it it's really like getting a whole new system.  That dramatic in my rig.  Good luck and cheers.  

@abnerjack

lol!  Yeah, the dogmatists on this forum have a hard time figuring out what to do with me.  They want to put me in a box that just doesn’t fit.  I am a tubes and vinyl guy who thinks that measurements can provide insight into what we hear.  I don’t think that measurements can possibly do full justice to what we hear in the analog realm, which includes DACs, of course.  I’ve been streaming for 30 years, and I don’t believe streamers matter if they meet certain basic engineering requirements, which can be measured.  And whenever we talk about noise, I think measurements give much more accurate insight than subjective listening tests, particularly for gear where the only known differences are noise (e.g., streamers, network switches, etc.)!  Radical positions, I know.

I recognize that my passion on this stuff can be off-putting to some.  I just see this area of the industry (streamers, etc.) as full of misinformation, and it drives me nuts.  I’ve seen no credible theoretical explanation of the differences among streamers other than jitter and power supply noise.  Indeed, manufacturers brag about their low jitter, low noise streamers, and yet give absolutely no data in their specs.  It’s easy to measure, so why wouldn’t they do that?  

The only consistent source of good data on this in the mainstream audio press is Paul Miller at HiFi News, and he shows no material differences in jitter across streamers that range in price from £500 to £33,000!  Even Stereophile has stayed away from this issue.  It’s a scandal, IMHO, but I’m the bad guy for trying to protect our community from this?  

So yeah, it’s a little frustrating.  But I figure it’s worth it if I provide an alternative view that helps a few members avoid making a mistake.