2. digital
  3. 1371227248

after TT upgrade, digital sounds like crap- help

I listen to mostly digital, and a bit of high quality 180g, 200g, etc vinyl. I upgraded my turntable, cartridge, and rack yesterday. I'm having a problem now in that my digital chain is sounding quite pale in comparison to some of my favorite vinyl. It's not sounding bad, just a bit cold, stale, hollow, etc in comparison. I'm not down with this at all.

I'm wondering if anyone may be able to suggest a method (maybe new piece of gear) to help fill out, warm up, etc my digital chain. The vinyl is just sounding wider, warmer, fuller. The stereo width difference on a lot of the stuff I listened to last night was quite dramatic.

My system is comprised of the following:

1. B&W 683's
2. McIntosh MA6300 (used as preamp, power amp, and phono stage)
3. Mac Mini and Sonos Connect running, Audirvana for hires, Spotify and MOG
4. Oppo BDP-105 (used as DAC for Mac Mini via USB and Sonos via coax)
5. Rega RP3 + Elys2
6. Audioquest cabling where it counts
radambe
jetrexpro
506 posts
 
I have the same experience after replacing the old belt on my P3-24 with a Rega White belt and Groovetracer sub platter. It is more musical than my tube CD player. My 74 year old mother commented on the difference when she was visiting!!
Since my wife and I listen to classical, jazz as well as rock and our CD collection is huge we need both formats. My Ayon CD player does a very good job and didn't break the bank at around $2000 used. We enjoy CD's very much.

It does make me wonder how much better ultra expensive DACs and CD players fare against vinyl. Think about Audio Note Dacs that cost over $20000??? I would like to hear them side by side with vinyl. And if you believe that digital cannot compete with vinyl, at what price point is the sweet spot for digital?
jwm
918 posts
 
My Modright Oppo 105 sounds better than the Playback Designs I had which sells for 17,000.00. The Oppo with mod is around 4,000.00.
lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,417 posts
 
I'm curious, you bought the Oppo BDP-105 for the sole purpose to stream music and not to play movies or CDs? Did you research any DACs in that price range at the time?
Seems like most people here use it for it's excellent multi-purpose functions. Again, just curious.
gregfisk
118 posts
 
Maybe I'm missing something, but if you don't own a single CD, how are you ripping your music? If you don't rip your music in a lossless format you will not get near the resolution your mac mini can achieve. Also, jitter is a big deal but if you don't have a good dac and your music isn't in lossless you will never get close to vinyl. The Havana dac used is about 6 or 7 hundred dollars and will get you a lot closer to your records. Another good dac if you can find one used is the metrum octave.

Good Luck,

Greg
tonyangel
309 posts
 
Greg makes an interesting point. If you don't own any CDs, where is your music coming from? iTunes and MP3 downloads?
If this is the case, then that is your problem.

You really can't even begin to assess the performance of your digital play back until you feed it some decent files. Ripped CD (or downloaded music) at 16/44.1 at the least.
More to discover