Thank you for posting and congrats on taking the leap of faith. I hope your thread open eyes for many who still thinks streamer quality don’t matter or streaming is no where near the quality of CD’s. I will also add, everything matters in digital chain. Once you settle down with your setup, start experimenting with LAN cable and noise filters. Not sure what LAN cable you’re currently using but for starters, a high quality LAN cable like Supra CAT 8 and a noise filter like Acoustic Revive RLI-1GB-TripleC should further enhance your streaming experience.
Streamer creates a Wow experience
I started streaming by running USB from my iPad to my DAC using Qobuz, and I thought it sounded pretty good and was happy. Then I compared this to playing CDs and much to my dismay I slightly preferred the CDs. This was a depressing moment. So I reached out to you guys and several of you assured me if I got a dedicated streamer it’d be much better, and while I always believed a streamer is important and can make a difference I still found myself a little skeptical how much improvement there would be.
So I decided to heed the advice here and after some research got an iFi Zen Stream with their upgraded power supply. After getting the Zen linked to my WiFi and using mconnectHD to be able to stream Qobuz through the iFi — Holy Crap!!! I expected some improvement but I was not prepared for the huge leap in sound quality I was hearing. Every aspect of sound improved markedly and my jaw was on the floor.
Anyway, you guys were so right in assuring me a streamer would make all the difference. And this is through my HeadFi rig and can’t wait to hear what this sounds like on the big rig. Thanks for your helpful advice and getting me through this. I’m one shocked and very happy camper.
Showing 4 responses by lalitk
I would look into Aurender N150 or N200. There are plenty of dealers that can afford you in-home demo. Either of these streamers would be a substantial upgrade over your MacBook. And their conductor app is easy to navigate / browse music and robust in its operation. I also recommend a tablet for conductor app. |
“Aurender’s ecosystems are sonically quite impressive given the coupling between the hardware and software.” I understand if you prefer Roon but its not the best software for sound quality. I am not here to bash ROON but in direct comparison with Aurender Conductor app, I still prefer Conductor interface, file curation and ease of browsing music by a mile. I never wonder if I am getting the best SQ with Conductor. Again, this is my personal preference and a conclusion drawn upon last 12 months of side by side comparison. BTW, I own lifetime Roon subscription :-) |
Thanks for your post. I just want to reiterate, the use of external clock with N20, N30 or W20 requires a well thought out holistic approach and a commitment for SOTA digital streaming. Attaching a 10mhz master clock to a streamer is a half bake idea even with a high quality DAC. A external clock on streamer end alone will not yield full benefits in terms of musical rhythm, pace, timing, realism and phase coherence. In order to realize aforementioned benefits, you need a music server and a DAC with master clock inputs. The external clock can then be used as a single source to synchronize timing between both digital devices ensuring jitter-free and time-perfect data transmission.
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