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Why does my old CD player sound so much better than my new streamer?

Earlier this year I upgraded my system. Briefly, new Prima Luna Dialogue Premium HP integrated, new Lumin D2 streamer/DAC, kept my Tekton speakers, bought a 10 year old Muse Erato CD player, new Nordost Red Dawn cables all around.  After plenty of break in, the Lumin D2 streaming Tidal, even 24/96, does not sound close to as good as the Muse Erato.  I understand the Muse was about $10k new years ago, I paid $650 for it on Audiogon, is that the difference? It replaced my Naim I had for 20+ years and I bought it on the chance I want to listen to something not on Tidal, but now I'm going to CDs when I want to sit and listen instead of streaming. I considered upgrading to the Lumin T2, but will that be more of the same Lumin sound, which is accurate but thin and a little cold compared to the Muse.  I like the Lumin when just letting Tidal shuffle music as I move around the house, but from the opening note in an A/B test the Muse just sounds so much warmer, live and simply more enjoyable. Any thoughts or suggestions?
fsgattuso

Showing 2 responses by larryi

larryi
4,189 posts
 
How are you actually retrieving the music?  Are you using a streaming service or retrieving files from some storage device?  Did you rip your CDs, and if so, have you compared the rip to playback from your CD player?  I ask because I've heard plenty of crap sounding albums from streaming services, even those claiming CD quality.  

Everything counts in audio.  How everything is connected up matters.  I don't use WiFi for anything audio (except to control devices via a iPad), so I don't know if it degrades the sound, but, that certainly is a possibility.  One of the dealers in my area, hates USB connection, another thinks that having really high quality ethernet connections count a lot.  
larryi
4,189 posts
 
I don't think DAC technology has changed much over the past 10 years, perhaps even longer.  Some of the better DACs being made today use ancient circuits and some very old chips that have been squirreled away because they sound better than modern chips.  After all, the priority with each new generation of DAC chips is NOT sound quality--it is smaller size, lower power consumption, and more tasks handled by the chip--all for the sake of portable devices.

Some of the better, ultra expensive DACs, like those from Audio Note, and the Reference level music servers from NAIM, use chips that are 20 years old or so.
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