2. digital
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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

Showing 1 response by gregfisk

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
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