We Need To Talk About Ones And Zeroes

@mdalton

That thread you linked is very good indeed. It features some definitive viewpoints.

I don't need to read anything from anybody anymore. I know the truth.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Ok I'll chime in...the equipment we buy whether its an 80 dollar wiim mini or the top of the line wiim, will in many cases will be wholly adequate because it isnt the weak link in the chain. Many of us or at least some of us have quite limited financial means to buy stupid expensive equipment and I put myself in that category. Choices are made based on bang per buck, feature set and yes overall performance too. Streaming hi bit rate audio is on most affordable equipment going to be just as good as physical media held in your hand. Are there issues with streaming? Well sure there are...sometimes its just not good, but most of the time it is superb. The physical media is better, more stable and provides consistent performance. Its also a lot more 'work' - getting up from something I am working on to change a CD is not a welcome interruption. Streaming avoids that event and just keeps going like the energizer bunny. Choose a stream and get to doing whatever it is you need to do while you enjoy some tunes in the background...maybe a fave comes on and you crank it up and take a  'song break' from your work. Or maybe its a kick back evening, a few drinks some good music from a favorite channel...at near concert levels. Oh yeah I have done a few of those. OR maybe its streaming in the kitchen while you make dinner. Streaming is compelling, both for its really high quality and for its convenience. I may never replace all those CDs I lost in the fire...but the jury is still out on that. As far as the equipment you use, choose what you like you only have to justify your choice to yourself. If a 30,000 dollar Streamer/DAC is what it takes to make you happy then go for it, my 339 dollar Wiim Ultra streamer and the emotiva amp that follows it along with a cheap 10" sub and a pair of Opal bookshelfs from Dayton audio represents a roughly 2000 dollar investment that makes my desktop system an amazing experience. Especially for the money. None of these components are the best in their category probably, but the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. And it just works. No fuss, Astonishing performance especially for piano music, which in my experience is extremely hard to reproduce accurately. Yet I find myself listening to mostly Piano music on this cheap little system.  The drawbacks: it does not have the dynamic range to play at live levels for orchestral or rock concerts... but that isnt how I use this system. Living in an apartment with neighbors requires a certain amount of restraint in using the loud pedal. So...it is enough for the circumstances. And I think that is the real message here, we all have different living situations and have differing requirements and preferences. There is no 'one size fits all' in making these choices. My vote is for streaming for its convenience and not requiring storage space for the physical media. Since I lost most of that in the fire, replacing the media and the storage cabinets to hold it all is a sizable investment that is getting harder by the day to justify. I am trying to simplify my life not make it more complicated. I don't know if any of this resonates with those following this thread, but as Mark Knopfler would say "do your worst" :)

I don’t know if any of this resonates with those following this thread

@livinon2wheels 

It certainly resonates with me. I believe the choices you’ve made show admirable self-awareness. More often than not it’s not so much what we do that matters as why we do it. Best wishes for a prompt return to normal after the tragedy you’ve experienced.

I cant tell the difference between Tidal MAX recordings and the same high res on the HD in my Aurender N20 > MSB Cascade > MSB M500 Monos > Estelon Forzas.

My general understanding is as long as the bits arrive faster than they need to be used up (filling the buffer), that a decent DAC will convert them nicely to analog.

I dont subscribe to the "hifi router" camp lol , nor switches or CAT6 etc.

USB was developed almost 30 years ago to replace and consolidate the old serial, parallel and PS/2 ports for PC peripherals, and later became ubiquitous in small electronics chargers.

How this pedestrian interface became quasi-standard in high-end digital audio is puzzling.

USB evolved tremendously over the decades and USB4 is a powerhouse, however many of today’s high-end DACs and streamers are still stuck in the USB 2.0 era.