2. digital
  3. 192522-149317

Everything matters

I have now been tinkering for 10 years with my streaming set up and the principal lesson learned is that everything matters. Think about it: from the wall outlet to the router to one or more switches to the streamer and dac, the latter three dependendent on clocking and all of them depending on cables and power supplies), it stands to reason that e.g. changing a USB cable is very likely to compensate for a weakness in the chain, that if addressed, would result in an overcompensation by that cable. Therefore I look at individual component or cable reciews with a very jaundiced eye. It is the performance in the context of the individual chain, that matters. As a result I have had numerous ethernet or USB tweaks, be the filters, isolators or processors, cables and LPSs in and out of my chain. For what it‘s worth, the biggest impacts ranked on SQ I experienced were from inserting 1. Etherregen, 2. LHY Audio UIP, 3. 10m clocking of Dac, UIP and Etherregen and 4. LPSs on router, switch and Etherregen.

 

My main point though remains that praising individual components irrespective of the digital chain is borderline meaningless

antigrunge2

Showing 1 response by lucky_doggg7

lucky_doggg7
130 posts
 

In the hobby of Hifi audio, the rabbit hole goes endlessly on power cords, power conditioners, XLRs, RCA, digital, and then there is the other endless money pit doodads in tweaks.  My Eureka moment was when I bought a Shunyata Sigma V2 power cord for my Niagara power conditioner.  Like the conditioner itself, the power cord into the wall outlet just makes everything just sound better, and in a meaningful way.  

My favorite tweak are Symposium's Rollerblocks and platforms.  Perhaps it shouldn't be head-scratching, but it sure seems a bit snake-oil-ish from a distance until you pop a few of those little devils below your front end components.  I was pleased with the - bringing things into focus - affect.  It just makes the good stuff you have, a bit better.  It's like sprinkling a bit of salt & pepper onto the cream cheese that's spread on a bagel, it just gives it more pop in flavor, hah!  

 

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