@richardbrand - being old enough to remember the launch of CD doesn't make you that old...
Yeah, I was gonna say 
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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@yoyoyaya - Thanks, I got lucky. A local business went under and I managed to pick up a bunch of their equipment super cheap prior to the public auction. Thing is, if you know what you are looking for, you can pick up a lot of refurbed Cisco and HP Enterprise level gear pretty cheap. The key is knowing how to do the programming and setup the switches and routers. And you also need an out of the way place to put them, cause they can be LOUD. |
Just a warning, before everyone goes out and purchases enterprise networking gear. DON'T! Not unless you fully understand networking, layering, NAT, porting, etc.. Most of all know CLI commands. These switches are super hard to setup and maintain. They also make a TON of noise, and use a lot of power. Some like Cisco will not work unless you purchase a license. That can cost thousands. You will also not be able to get any support on these without a contract. Yes, you can get them dirt cheap! Used to have a fiber switch that was almost $30k in my house. Now I just have some Cisco mid-range stuff that is far cheaper/eaiser to live with. |
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