A good all in one steamer/dac such as a Lumin T3 (used T2), the Aurender N200 or Hifi Rose RS150B all punch above…. (Alas, Aurenders do not play with Roon.)
Digital Dilemma
I purchased an inexpensive Onkyo C-7030 CD Player more as just a transport, but also to use as a benchmark to compare to streaming music on-line. With intentions to get the streamed content to sound as good, if not better, than the CD player could muster.
After sitting my wife down for a listen (she has better ears than me) and playing Tidal, Quboz and then the same tracks on a CD, the CD was the clear winner every time. It also seems the CD playing without using the Gustard R26 DAC didn’t even sound all that much better than when played through the CD Player only, bypassing the R26. That doesn’t say too much for the R26 DAC or alternatively, it says a lot for the DAC in the CD Player!
I am using the R26 as the renderer via a LAN connection that is optically isolated. There are a few filters and adjustments on the DAC, but tweaking those still didn’t get the sound quality up to that of the CD Player.
A lot of you say you have achieved streaming that sounds as good as your analogue systems. What do you think, do I need a betted DAC?
Showing 3 responses by wsrrsw
@navyachts +1001 what @soix said. KISS. That's why I was recommending the one box solution. Right now on Audiogone I see a Lumin T3 (new..discounted) an Aurender 200 (good price) and A HiFi Rose (also good price). Entering here may be all you will ever want. Plug, play and chill. To Roon on not to Roon is the question and that done right will also add a few K. I'm a very happy Qobuz user and use Roon for a whole house system but not for the big rig.
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No roon on “big rig” (ok sometimes). Roon works on devices aka end points that are on the network. I have two end points. One in the whole house system and the other in joy central. The native Lumin App with the Lumin AMP uses Leedh processing (what ever that is) volume control and clearly bests the sound controlled by Roon. The Roon interface tops the native software. |