2. digital
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Streaming

Hello Family,   I`m old school 76 I just don`t understand this streaming and dac business. I`m still stuck on my RTR`s, Cd player and  PASS lots of power.  It sounds very interesting.  I was once told that I could also do some serious taping using my RTR`s I`d would like someone to tell me what gear I would need and how to set it up forget my desk top or lap top.   I`ve heard terminology used like Innos zin mini, Bluesound Node, Aurender Are they streamers? what is Roon, Qobuz, Plex? whats the purpose of a dac? I`m on fixed income `what`s the best gear I can get for 1500 mostly buying used gear to began. Thanks

sheridanmartinj

Showing 1 response by 8th-note

8th-note
357 posts
 

I'll add to brunomarcs suggestion. I was going to say something similar but he beat me to it.

First, check to see if your CD player has a digital input for accessing the DAC. It is most likely an RCA (coax) digital input or a optical input called a Toslink. If it actually has a USB input you are golden. If it has any of these you are off to a good start. The reason why this is important is that the DAC in your CD player will be much better than the DAC in your computer or phone. By hooking your laptop up to your CD player you avoid the computer's DAC and are able to do the D/A conversion in your CD player.

Second, odds are you have a laptop sitting around. If so, check to see what type of outputs it has. It certainly has USB but higher end laptops sometimes have a digital out. If it has only USB and your CD player doesn't have a USB input then you will need a gizmo that will convert USB to optical or coax. You can get a Douk Audio U2 XMOS XU208 Digital Interface on Amazon for $55. You will also need to order a Toslink or digital coaxial cable depending on which one you use.

Next, I would suggest a trial subscription to Qobuz. It will have more music than you can ever listen to and it's high quality. It's only about $12/month if you pay for a year at a time. You are now streaming.

Lots of audiophiles swear by expensive dedicated streamers but my laptop setup sounds indistinguishable from the CD of the same title vs. Qobuz. I don't expect streaming to sound any better than playing a CD through $8k worth of transport and DAC (PS Audio PerfectWave MK II DAC and Transport).

My last comment (sorry for the long post) is that I may be waaaay younger than you (I'm 67) but I'm in a similar situation . I run Thiel CS6 speakers with a big Krell amp and I have over 4000 CDs and a thousand vinyl records. Even though I have more titles than I can listen to I love having Qobuz. I'm always on the hunt for new interesting music, some of which may be decades old and I somehow missed it, and now I can just call it up and listen to it at CD quality. It's wonderful.

 

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