2. amps-preamps
  3. 182613-14281

streaming and audiophile stereo

I have heard it said that an audio system is only as good as its weakest link. I want to complete a system that will give me access to lots of music by Tidal and Roon, and I want the music played through some true audiophile components.  I am used to tube preamps, and will probably go that way again, though ss remains a possibility.  The speakers I intend to use are very efficient - 20 watts of amplification would be ample.  Here's my question:  in such a system, how important, and how variable, are the audio qualities of the digital source component - the streamer - at the front end?  If it does MQA does that alone mean it is the highest quality audio possible at this end of the system?  Or do some that accommodate MQA provide better sound than others that also accommodate MQA?  I see lots of reviews of features of these components, but not much about their individual sonic qualities.  Leaving aside features and convenience, are some better sounding than others and would this depend entirely on the DAC used?

twilightround

Showing 3 responses by johnah5

johnah5
236 posts
 

here is the link

 

johnah5
236 posts
 

Here is a link to an informative paper on this.  It makes the point, and I agree, that you can only hear the full benefits of MQA if the recording was done in MQA.  Otherwise MQA is a simple means to compress data which gets uncompressed by the dac.  You also can't hear more than CD Redbook standard of 44.1K 16 bit.  There isn't music streaming above that standard that you can hear.  The upsampling is a means to put the noise in the inaudible range. 

The better "sounding" streamers are about noise reduction or lack of introducing noise into the data.  So shielding, multiple power supplies etc.  Your DAC does the heavy lifting of filtering noise..  I have the Lumin U2 mini and I am not sure the bluesound node would create an audible difference in the sound if you only use the streamer part of it. Would love to test that someday if I can get one. 

Tidal is better for me since it offers two things Qobuz doesn't. First a radio function to find new music based on a song, album, etc.   The second thing is you can add a song from anywhere on Tidal to an existing playlist.  I could not do that on qobuz because I had to use the Lumin app with Qobuz but can go directly from the Tidal app to the Lumin. 

johnah5
236 posts
 

@christianb5s4 

Hi yes I had to do the same thing. I had signed up for a year of Qobuz which just ended and the radio function and easy add to a playlist of songs that the radio function plays is sooooo worth the change. 

JH

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