Connection from router to streamer.


We've all seen the discussion on analog vs digital, and cables.  But what about the source TO the streamer.  I have a Bluesound Vault - which I love, and I have it wired directly to my router so I don't have the added question of sound quality over wifi.  

I have spent hundreds (if not thousands) on cables from the tt to the amp, better speaker cables, upgraded cable from the streamer to the amp, etc, but I still use the old coax from the router to the streamer.  Isn't this kind of nullifying the other upgraded cables since the signal is already compromised from the initial source?

mojo771

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

Like all components you must consider the quality of the component. The better the component, the more important the interconnect.

I have had streamers at the$1K, 3K, 5K, 10K, and now my streamer is $22K. In general the better the component the more you get out of the connection wire. I will say that in the case of streamers, the better they are, the more they make up for poor network.

My Aurrender W20SE streamer ($22K… yes it is worth every penny in sound quality) is connected to a wall wart wifi extender, but with a high quality Ethernet cable to that. Yes, the Ethernet cable mattered.

My rule of thumb is, in general, streamer = DAC = preamp = amp in investment and wires should be around 10% of components to be optimal. They must be carefully chosen to be compatible, But that has worked for me multiple times.