honestly, I think there are folks who champion high end streamers whose arguments are the functional equivalent of those who call themselves “Creationists”. It’s essentially pseudo-science.
We Need To Talk About Ones And Zeroes
Several well-respected audiophiles in this forum have stated that the sound quality of hi-res streamed audio equals or betters the sound quality of traditional digital sources.
These are folks who have spent decades assembling highly desirable systems and whose listening skills are beyond reproach. I for one tend to respect their opinions.
Tidal is headquartered in NYC, NY from Norwegian origins. Qobuz is headquartered in Paris, France. Both services are hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud infrastructure services giant that commands roughly one third of the world's entire cloud services market.
AWS server farms are any audiophile's nightmare. Tens of thousands of multi-CPU servers and industrial-grade switches crammed in crowded racks, miles of ordinary cabling coursing among tens of thousands of buzzing switched-mode power supplies and noisy cooling fans. Industrial HVAC plants humming 24/7.
This, I think, demonstrates without a doubt that audio files digitally converted to packets of ones and zeroes successfully travel thousands of miles through AWS' digital sewer, only to arrive in our homes completely unscathed and ready to deliver sound quality that, by many prominent audiophiles' account, rivals or exceeds that of $5,000 CD transports.
This also demonstrates that digital transmission protocols just work flawlessly over noise-saturated industrial-grade lines and equipment chosen for raw performance and cost-effectiveness.
This also puts in perspective the importance of improvements deployed in the home, which is to say in the last ten feet of our streamed music's multi-thousand mile journey.
No worries, I am not about to argue that a $100 streamer has to sound the same as a $30,000 one because "it's all ones and zeroes".
But it would be nice to agree on a shared-understanding baseline, because without it intelligent discourse becomes difficult. The sooner everyone gets on the same page, which is to say that our systems' digital chains process nothing less and nothing more than packets of ones and zeroes, the sooner we can move on to genuinely thought-provoking stuff like, why don't all streamers sound the same? Why do cables make a difference? Wouldn't that be more interesting?
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Your global statement seems untrue, what about Telegärtner, Network Acoustics, Ansuz…. While it’s true that very many (most?) have tried to modify off the shelf switches to find significant sonic improvements at a more economical cost, results have commonly been marginal if any sonic improvements. I followed “audiophile switches” reviews and forums looking for the lowest cost but sonically effective solutions, but seems the costlier alternatives simply perform consistently sonically better. Why does a costlier switch perform better than a stock and/or a tricked out stock switch? In this copycat world, manufacturers rarely reveal their findings through their R&D efforts which is vexing for those who try to understand markup “value” - they will never get there. |
I meant to add "Some" in front of "Audiophile switch sellers" and I never did, but you're right. Vendors like Silent Angel and those you mentioned appear to produce their own PCBs, thereby offering an original product, which is really the right / ethical way to go - especially at the $3-4,000 price point. On a higher level, high-end switches still send network packets on their way just like Monoprice switches, and there are limits to how quiet their power supplies can be made. Speaking of which, if you go to this page and scroll down you will find a pic of the Silent Angel Bonn NX's ($3,999) main PCB. Isn't that an onboard SMPS right there at #4? |
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