2. digital
  3. 191532-195982

Any audiophile use computer (MacBook) as your audio streaming source?

I rarely see any audiophile talking about streaming audio digital sources from a computer. I understand MacBook can accept native lossless formats form all the various platforms, and it can store unlimited music files in any format, so supposedly it’s the best source, and the digital file is the most purest before it’s fed to the dac. Anyone compared the sound quality of computer vs other audio streamer? 

randywong

Showing 1 response by audphile1

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audphile1
5,461 posts
 

@randywong I used Mac mini for streaming using Roon and it couldn’t compete with a dedicated streamer. Lumin U1 Mini easily beat it. Yes streamers are computers but they’re designed for streaming and are optimized for it (lower jitter/noise).

As to the interface between streamer and DAC, when you use coax or AES, the clock in the streamer is critical. When you use USB, the clock in the DAC is what you’re relying on. In majority of cases with lower end streamers the USB is what the design is focused around and you would typically end up with better performance using the USB interface. Only way to know is to try. Get a nice USB cable and give it a try with the Eversolo. 
One other aspect of your streaming chain to consider is the C53 inbuilt DAC. You can improve on it with a good external DAC. 

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