Discerning a difference between streamers is difficult...only me or common for all?

I mainly listen to classic rock, jazz, r&b and blues so maybe my music taste is also not as demanding.

I tell ya, if all I ever listened to was Jimi Hendrix, or the Doors first album, I probably wouldn’t even have a home stereo- I would just listen to it in the car, the wife’s Sonos, or maybe through the home theatre.

And I do LOVE Jimi Hendrix, he is a musical genius, but the more resolving my stereo has become over the years/decades the worse this music sounds on it.

And one of my all time favourite albums, the Yes album, I don’t listen to much anymore.

There are many excellent sounding other classic rock albums, and blues albums however. I just whipped through this thread @dhite71 so my apologies if I missed it, but when determining changes in your system you are listening to something with a decent recording quality of for example Keb Mo, Guy Davis, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters -Folk Singer, King Crimson, Stevie Ray Vaughan? or the many hundreds of wonderful jazz albums that today’s audiophile can stream?

@tkunau are you having issues functioning? Could you please delete all 8 of your duplicate posts above by clicking on the top right of each post?

@wsrrsw thanks, I’ll check that one out. By the way, I was browsing some older threads (which I frequently do), and have not yet thanked you for your recommendation for Cyrus Chestnut- fantastic tunes and exceptional recording quality! Others who like jazz and aren’t aware check out the vivacious track "Decisions, decisions" from album Earth Stories.

And more inline with this thread, if someone plugs in an "upgraded" server/streamer/renderer "properly", and still can’t perceive any sonic improvement in the resonance of the lower piano notes on "Grandma’s Blues", then I suggest save your money! And waste it somewhere else, like on Taylor Swift tickets.

@romanesq 

I’ve made gains with fiber internet, then CISCO boxes and fiber running to a streamer......Fiber is probably the biggest game changer (from fiber router) making these gains possible. YMMV

I have read that a few times over the years, and saw some Youtube videos where some swore by it- cheapest tweak to improve your streaming sound. So I tried it-

I got a Cisco switch with sfp output, figured out how to configure it and entered the commands to get it to work, got a 50' fibre cable and the modules, and connected them after the router and before the EtherRegen. I believe I can hear the difference, but it is very slight, and I concluded that I prefer the generic cat7 copper ethernet cable over the fibre- less "glassy"  I get more of a difference in the sound by changing any other cable in my system. So for me it was a waste of $200, but you don't know until you try. 

I have read numerous posts from Lumin users who claim to get the huge "game changer" benefits you subscribe to. 

amplification quality with speakers are big drivers and IMHO, the amplifier is the first place for investment then speakers. 

It would be nice to get some ATC actives, or a Grimm system where one doesn't have to worry about this- I admit it does appeal to me. 

@efoo 

After visiting a fellow audiophile a while back and doing some cable swapping in his system containing a brand new Mcintosh pre/amp combo, I would say if someone was wanting to discern differences between cables or other upstream components, that would not be the gear to have to do that. Maybe that is a good thing though.

What do you have for cables?

and Happy Holidays to you too!

I don’t dislike Mcintosh, but I did own a Mcintosh pre and a set of power amps years ago and moved on. Notice my handle on here starts with "mc".

I will add that I brought my $2000 Apollon class D amp to this fellows house, and we plugged it in place of the Mcintosh, and I’ll quote what he said: "I think I overpaid for my amplifier".

But I would never bad talk Mcintosh, or try to talk someone out of owning them. People own gear for a multitude of reasons. I still like their look.

I just got a little Yamamoto tube amp that has 45 tubes, not because I thought it would sound "better" than my Coda, but because it is a work of art, and it sounds lovely. Pride of ownership abounds. Maybe it is less inconspicuous regarding cable changes, or streamers, whatever- I enjoy listening to both.