2. digital
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Next step up on the streaming food chain?

I’ve been enjoying my Auralic Aries G1 for nearly 3 years now. If I wanted to explore a significant step up in my streaming quality, and not a small incremental increase in quality, what devices should be on my short list? Aries G2.2? Grimm MU1? Something else? The G1 is awfully good, however, I still perceive an extra layer of dimensionality and roundness with my analogs set up (see profile for details) that I would love too achieve in the digital realm. Or am I barking up the wrong tree, and should I focus on my DAC, a Bricasti M1, and try as non-oversampling R2R dac? FWIW, I think the Bricasti is excellent- it was the first DAC I ever heard that made me say- "that sounds terrific" instead of saying "that sounds great for digital"

zavato
mclinnguy's avatar
mclinnguy
740 posts
 

Only your ears will let you know if the additional funds necessary to enjoy the higher priced streamers and DAC's is worth it. Add Antipodes and Innuos to your streamer/player list. If you want to tackle the streamer/player and the DAC in one shot look at the Grimm MU2. 

Happy researching, hunting and demoing. wink

soix
9,962 posts
 

I think you’re on the right track looking to upgrade your streamer and will very likely close the gap significantly between your streaming and analogue performance.  The MU1 would certainly be a big upgrade as would anything from Aurender from the N200 on up.  The newer Innuos streamers also look interesting and come with their excellent Sense app, but I’ve not read any reviews of them as of yet.  Best of luck. 

kennymacc
494 posts
 

I’ve been an audiophile for over 40 years. Approximately 3 years ago, I was so enamored by the unbelievable advancements made in the sound quality of streamed music, along with it’s otherworldly convenience, I decided to get rid of my CD player (I haven’t used a turn table is over 20 years) and concentrate on putting together an awesome streaming only audio system. And, I accomplish my mission with flying colors!!! All I can tell you is that, in order to achieve an amazing streaming experience, everything accumulatively matters when putting the system together. For starters, you must pay attention to the details of the fundamentals, like: choosing high quality ethernet cables, streamer, DAC, router, audio switch and server. Also, what I found that made a huge difference and actually took my streaming sound quality to a whole other level, was the tweaks that I use to further purify the network audio signal. Tweaks like the LAN iSilencer, and also the Puron plug-in conditioner devices that I use. These tweaks help to further remove hash, grunge, and noise from the audio signal in the system, creating a blacker background in the music, with marvelous effect. I’m extremely pleased with how my streaming only audio rig turned out. Now, it’s just me, my cell phone/iPad remotes, and the amazing music. I still rip some CD’s to my hard drive and enjoy them, as well. Happing listening.

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